Saddam Hussein Had Secret Uranium Enrichment Program

In the year 2000, two years after Iraq expelled U.N. arms inspectors, two Iraqi scientists paid a discreet visit to Saddam Hussein in his presidential palace.

They had come to brief the Iraqi dictator on their progress in enriching uranium using plasma separation. If successful, their efforts could have given Saddam the fissile material he was seeking to make a bomb.

"You can tell that one of the scientists is nervous on the tape," former FBI translator Bill Tierney told NewsMax. "He is telling Saddam of all these wonderful things they can do with the plasma process, which they initially developed in the 1980s for the nuclear weapons program.

The scientist tried to convince Saddam to change course and use the technology for purely peaceful purpose, but the Iraqi dictator just listened politely. "You can imagine him nodding his head as you listen to the tape," Tierney said.

Tierney believes the tapes will vindicate the pre-war analysis of Iraqi WMD programs. "If anything, after translating 12 hours of these tapes, I believe the U.S. intelligence analysis didn't go far enough," he told NewsMax.

Tierney worked with U.N. arms inspectors in Iraq in the late 1990s, and experienced Iraq's "cheat and retreat" efforts first hand. He will release the original Arabic tapes and English language translations Saturday at the Intelligence Summit, a privately-funded conference in Arlington, Va. As non-U.S.-origin materials, they are not classified.

The plasma enrichment program was so well-protected by the Iraqi regime that U.N. arms inspectors had never discovered it. "This not only shows the capabilities the Iraqis had, but also the weakness of international arms inspection," Tierney believes. "Arms inspection regimes just don't work."

40 civilian airliners downed with missiles ?

U.S. officials see MANPADS as threat 2nd only to nukes

It's a threat that doesn't get much ink.

But U.S. elected officials of both parties, along with intelligence analysts and defense experts, agree that the second most feared weapon in the arsenal of terrorists � after nuclear weapons � is the MANPAD, the shoulder-fired missile that can take out a commercial airliner loaded with hundreds of civilians.

U.S. government sources estimate there are as many as 750,000 man-portable air-defense systems in arsenals worldwide � with as many as 500,000 virtually unaccounted for.

In the case of these weapons, it's not a question of if they will be used or when. According to U.S. government officials citing the latest intelligence briefings more than 40 civilian aircraft have already been attacked with such weapons in the last 30 years.

France: Iran's Atomic Program Is a Military Cover

France plainly accused Iran today of pursuing a nuclear program that can only be intended for military purposes, just two days after Iran said it had resumed enrichment for civilian purposes.

The declaration by Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy raised the pressure on Iran, ahead of talks next week in Brussels and Moscow with European Union and Russian officials, as Iran tries to avert a showdown at the Security Council in March.

"Today, it's simple; no civilian nuclear program can explain the Iranian nuclear program. So, it's an Iranian clandestine military nuclear program," Mr. Douste-Blazy said on a morning news show on France 2 television.

Mr. Douste-Blazy's words drew a swift reprisal from Iran.

"I advise Mr. Douste-Blazy to speak diplomatically and not to increase tension," Ali Larijani, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, told Iranian television.

The tone of Mr. Douste-Blazy's words suggests increased frustration with Iran's defiance, and from a country that could be in a position to be a power broker.