A.Q. Khan offered Saddam nuclear 'package' deal: Post

Washington, March 10 : An agent linked to disgraced Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan had offered Saddam Hussein a USD 150 million nuclear "package" deal guaranteeing Iraq a weapons-assembly line capable of producing nuclear warheads in as little as three years, the Washington Post reported today.

The offer made in 1990 to then Iraqi president as troops massed on his border near the start of the Persian Gulf War included not only weapons designs but also production plants and foreign experts to supervise the building of a nuclear bomb, the daily said citing documents uncovered by a former UN weapons inspector, David Albright.

Iraqi officials at the time appear to have taken the offer seriously and asked the Pakistanis for sample drawings as proof of their ability to deliver, the documents show according to the nuclear weapons expert, who describes the proposed deal in a new book, the Post said.

Khan's alleged interest in selling nuclear secrets to Hussein has been reported in numerous books and news articles. But the newly uncovered documents suggest that Khan's offer of nuclear assistance was more comprehensive than previously known, the daily said.

A 1990 letter attributed to a Khan business associate offered Iraq a chance to leap past technical hurdles to acquire weapons capability.

"Pakistan had to spend a period of 10 years and an amount of 300 million U.S. dollars to get it," begins one of the memos as cited by the Post

"Now, with the practical experience and worldwide contacts Pakistan has developed, you could have A.B. in about three years' time and by spending about USD 150 million."

"A.B." was understood to mean "atomic bomb," Albright wrote in "Peddling Peril: How the Secret Nuclear Trade Arms America's Enemies," released this week.

Aid from the Pakistani scientist could have accelerated Iraq's quest for a weapon if the Iraqi leader had not run out of time, writes Albright, a former UN inspector who now heads the non-profit Institute for Science and International Security.

One memo cited in the book promised to provide "all the vital components and materials" needed to make fissile material, and added that "two to three Pakistani scientists could be persuaded to resign and join the new assignment" in Iraq.

Pakistan says Khan acted alone in seeking to sell his country's nuclear secrets. But Khan, in a series of memos and letters obtained by The Post, says he carried out the instructions of senior government and military officials.

--IANS