[A-List] Iraq: that old supergun thing, again

["Michael Keaney" <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>]

Saddam acquiring technology for 'long-range supergun'
By Kim Sengupta and Rupert Cornwell
The Independent, 10 October 2002

Saddam Hussein has been acquiring the technology to build a long-range
"supergun" capable of firing nuclear, biological and chemical weapons,
German prosecutors allege.

The claim follows the charging of two Germans who allegedly bought cannon
drilling equipment and shipped it to Iraq via Jordan four years ago.

The investigation into the Mannheim-based firm Alriwo began last year.
Hubert Jobski, from the prosecutor's office, said yesterday other arrests
were expected, and the two men under arrest could each be sentenced to 15
years if found guilty.

"We are convinced that from Mannheim the equipment went to Iraq," said Mr
Jobski. "Others will be accused in the case, and we hope to wrap it up very
soon."

The prosecution says that one of the accused men, Alriwo employee Bernd
Schompeter, bought equipment worth about £220,000 from another company
called Burgsmueller in north Germany.

Meanwhile, George Tenet, director of the CIA, contradicted President George
Bush in Washington by stating that President Saddam was unlikely to attack
the United States with either conventional or weapons of mass destruction in
the near future. But he warned that the Iraqi leader might do so if an
invasion by America became inevitable.

In a letter to the Senate Intelligence Committee, Mr Tenet released
previously classified testimony in which a senior CIA official said the risk
of an unprovoked attack by President Saddam was "low".

If cornered, he "probably would become less constrained", either by using
the weapons himself or giving it to a terrorist group to carry out an attack
on the US "as his last chance of taking a large number of victims with him".

The CIA and the White House sought to deny there had been a split, insisting
that the Tenet letter was "consistent" with President Bush's views.

In any case, the letter is unlikely to damage Mr Bush's chances of securing
a massive endorsement by Congress of a resolution authorising him to use
force against Iraq. A core of Democrats, led by Robert Byrd of West
Virginia, are vowing to use every possible procedural tactic to stall the
debate. This could mean final Senate ratification will not be until next
week.

Washington said that the gun attack in Kuwait on American marines on Tuesday
was the work of al-Qa'ida.