Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein could have a nuclear weapon in a matter of months if he can get his hands on enriched uranium or plutonium from abroad, a London-based think tank said on Monday.
”Were he to be able to obtain fissile material from abroad, to steal it or buy it in some way, we certainly believe that he has the ability to put together a nuclear weapon very quickly, in a matter of months,” said John Chipman, director of the International Institute of Strategic Studies.
Speaking on BBC radio just before the independent institute published a report on Iraq and weapons of mass destruction, Chipman said it would ”take a little longer” for Saddam to be able to arm ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads.
”Until that time, he would have to deliver them from a plane” or through some other means, he said.
Chipman said that, according to available evidence, Iraq also had a stockpile of chemical and biological weapons, and the ability to create more.
US President George Bush is trying to rally international support for a military strike against the regime of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. – Sapa-AFP