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U.N. finds new nuclear
development in Egypt
BY GEORGE JAHN
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
VIENNA, Austria — The U.N.
atomic watchdog agency has found
evidence of secret nuclear experi
ments in Egypt that could be used in
weapons programs, diplomats said
Tliesday.
The diplomats said that most of
the work was carried out in the 1980s
and 1990s but said the International
Atomic Energy Agency also was look
ing at evidence suggesting some
work was performed as recently as a
year ago.
Egypt's government rejected
claims it is or has been pursuing a
weapons program, saying its nuclear
program is for peaceful purposes.
"A few months ago we denied
these kinds of claims, and we do so
again," Egyptian government
spokesman Magdy Rady said. "Noth
ing about our nuclear program is se
cret, and there is nothing that is not
known to the IAEA."
But one of the diplomats said the
Egyptians "tried to produce various
components of uranium" without de
claring it to the IAEA, as they were
bound to under the Nuclear Nonpro
liferation Treaty. The products includ
ed several pounds of uranium metal
and uranium tetrafluoride — a pre
cursor to uranium hexafluoride gas,
the diplomat said on condition of
anonymity.
Uranium metal can be processed
into plutonium, while uranium hexa
fluoride can be enriched into
weapons-grade uranium — both for
use in the core of nuclear warheads.
The diplomat said the Vienna
based IAEA had not yet drawn a con
clusion about the scope and purpose
of the experiments. But the work ap
peared to have been sporadic, in
volved small amounts of material
and lacked a particular focus, the
diplomat said.
That, he said, indicated that the
work was not directly geared toward
creating a full-scale program to make
nuclear weapons.
The diplomat said Egypt's program
was not "cohesive."
"It’s not like Iran, where there was
a clear plan to produce" uranium
hexafluoride, the gas that turns into
enriched uranium when spun in cen
trifuges, he said.
He also warned against compar
isons to South Korea, which conduct
ed larger-scale plutonium and urani
um experiments in 1982 and 2000
without reporting them to the agency.
Iran, which the United States ac
cuses of having nuclear weapons am
bitions, developed a full-fledged ura
nium enrichment program over
nearly two decades of clandestine ac
tivity revealed only in mid-2002. Iran
says it plans to enrich only to levels
used to generate nuclear fuel and not
to weapons-grade uranium.
In Vienna, IAEA spokesman Mark
Gwozdecky said the agency would
not comment on the revelations
about Egypt.
Cairo has denied in the past that it
is trying to develop a nuclear
weapons program.
The country appeared to turn
away from the pursuit of such a pro
gram decades ago. The Soviet Union
and China reportedly rebuffed its re
quests for nuclear arms in the 1960s,
and by the 1970s, Egypt gave up the
idea of building a plutonium produc
tion reactor and reprocessing plant.
"We've seen the reports, and I
don’t think we have anything to offer
at this point except what we’ve said
all along, which is, we expect all na
tions to cooperate with the Interna
tional Atomic Energy Agency," White
House spokesman Scott McClellan
said. "We're sure they will look into
this matter, and I would just point out
that Egypt is a signatory to the non
proliferation treaty."
Egypt runs small-scale nuclear pro
grams for medical and research pur
poses, and Rady said the IAEA is
monitoring that program.
"Nothing about our nuclear pro
gram is secret and there is nothing
that is not known to the IAEA,” he
said. "We don't have a secret pro
gram for energy. All our program is
known."
Plans were floated as recently as
2002 to build the country's first nu
clear power reactor. But no construc
tion date has been announced, and
the pro-government Al-Ahram Week
ly reported late last year that the
plant site, near the coastal town of
Al-Dabaa, might be sold to make way
for tourism development.
Governor, his six bodyguards
murdered in factious Baghdad
BYNICKWADHAMS
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BAGHDAD, Iraq — The governor
of the Baghdad region, known
for cooperating closely with Ameri
can troops, was assassinated along
with six bodyguards as he drove to
work Tliesday in yet another bloody
day of insurgent attacks that
exposed grave security flaws in
Iraq with elections less than a
month away.
Other assaults Tliesday killed five
American troops as well as 10 Iraqi
commandos, bringing the death toll
in the last three days to more than
70. Despite the violence, which U.S.
troops and Iraqi security forces have
been helpless to prevent, American
and Iraqi leaders insist the Jan. 30
vote will go forward.
White House spokesman Scott
McClellan acknowledged security
"challenges" in Iraq but said the
election timetable would not
be changed.
"For much of the country, the situ
ation is secure enough to move for
ward on holding elections," McClel
lan said. "There are a few areas that
we're continuing to work to improve
the security situation, so those areas
will be able to have as full a partici
pation as possible in elections."
While it's true that many areas
of Iraq are calm, there are vast
regions, including the capital, that
are extremely dangerous. In places
like Fallujah, which was bombed
to ruins in a U.S.-led campaign in
November, and the northern city
of Mosul, there has been little head
way in preparing for the vote.
The attacks have prompted Sunni
Arab clerics to call for a boycott, and
Iraq's largest Sunni political party
announced it was pulling out of the
race because of poor security.
The country’s Shiites, many of
whom are in the government, want
to take power, but they also want
the Sunnis to participate in the
vote. A low turnout because of the
fear of violence or a Sunni boycott
could undermine the legitimacy of
the country's first free elections
since the overthrow of the monar
chy in 1958.
McClellan confirmed that Presi
dent Bush spoke with interim Prime
Minister Ayad Allawi on Monday, but
said they did not discuss postponing
the vote. They focused on "some of
the ongoing challenges as Iraq moves
forward toward a free, democratic
and peaceful future," he said.
Several Iraqi leaders, including the
defense minister and the ambassador
to the United Nations, have suggest
ed a delay as a way to get Sunnis to
take part, but other officials support
Allawi and want the vote to be held
on time.
"So far, there is no postponement
...of the elections, and they will be
held on Jan. 30,” Foreign Minister
Hoshyar Zebari told reporters. He ac
knowledged the vote will "take place
under very difficult circumstances,
which will be a big challenge for all
Iraqis and their government."
Those challenges were made clear
yet again Tuesday.
The militant group of Jordanian ter
rorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Al-Qai
da in Iraq, claimed responsibility for
killing Gov. Ali al-Haidari and his
bodyguards, according to a statement
posted on a Web site known for car
rying such claims.
"We tell every traitor and support
er of the Jews and Christians that
this is your fate,” the statement said.
Its authenticity could not immedi
ately be verified.
Al-Haidari's three-vehicle convoy
was passing through Baghdad's
northern neighborhood of Hurriyah
when gunmen opened fire, said
the chief of his security detail,
who asked to be identified only as
Maj. Mazen.
"They came from different direc
tions and opened fire at us," Mazen
said, reached on al-Haidari's cell
phone.
Al-Haidari was the target of an as
sassination attempt last year that
killed two of his bodyguards. He is
the highest-ranking Iraqi official
killed since the former president of
the now defunct Governing Council
—- Abdel-Zahraa Othman, better
known as Izzadine Saleem — was
assassinated in May.
Al-Haidari worked closely with
the U.S.-led multinational forces on
rebuilding the capital. In an inter
view published Tliesday in al-Muta
mar newspaper, he said infrastruc
ture in Baghdad was improving
because of cooperation between his
office and the troops.
In Thailand, Secretary of State
Colin Powell said he was saddened
by al-Haidari's death.
"It once again shows that there
are these murderers and terrorists,
former regime elements in Iraq,
who don't want to see elections,"
Powell said. "They want to go
back to the tyranny of Saddam Hus
sein's regime, and that's not going
to happen."
In the American deaths, a road
side bomb killed three U.S. soldiers
in Baghdad, and a soldier and a
Marine were killed in other attacks
outside the capital, the U.S. military
said.
The three soldiers killed in the
capital were with Task Force Bagh
dad, and two soldiers were wound
ed in the attack, the military said.