RTÉ News - September 9th 2002
The author of an independent report on Iraq's military capability has said the threat from President Saddam Hussein is growing all the time.
Dr John Chipman said Iraq could build a nuclear bomb in months if it obtained plutonium and uranium from abroad. The report was commissioned by the independent think tank, the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies.
Dr Chipman also found that if Iraq acquired uranium, it could put a nuclear warhead on a missile capable of hitting Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Israel, Turkey, Jordan and Iran within a year.
Report says Iraq probably hid weapons
The report is a wide-ranging assessment of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's weapons programme.
It says that Iraq has probably managed to hide stocks of biological and chemical weapons and a small number of long-range missiles from United Nations weapons inspectors.
The report comes just a day after the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, returned from talks in Camp David with President Bush.
It is likely to strengthen the case that Mr Blair and Mr Bush are making for action against the regime in Baghdad.
Mr Blair has promised to publish his own dossier of evidence to back up his claim that Iraq has the capability to develop weapons of mass destruction.
