MUCH OF THE RECENT political controversy about the existence in Iraq of a nuclear program (and WMD) has focused only on the narrow issue of the alleged attempts by Iraq to acquire uranium from the small African country of Niger. Ignored in the debate have been Saddam Hussein's public statements on the subject. The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) in Washington, D.C. has documented several of these statements in three separate dispatches between November 2001 and June 2003. All of these dispatches are widely circulated and can easily be accessed through memri.org

MEMRI's special dispatch of November 8, 2001 carried news from the Iraqi daily Babil about Saddam's meeting with the heads of the Iraqi Nuclear Energy Authority (NEA) and the defense establishment. It quotes Babil:

President and leader Saddam Hussein met with Dr. Fadhel al-Janabi, chairman of Iraq's Nuclear Energy Authority, and a select group of outstanding researchers and engineers from among the warriors of the NEA and the military industry. . . . His excellency told those present and the Iraqi people: "When the human mind has a . . . great objective, it will not be sidetracked from its goal."

Reporting on another such meeting, apparently held on January 11, 2002, the Iraqi news agency wrote: "President Saddam Hussein commended Iraqi NEA warriors on their achievement which fill the hearts of the Iraqis with faith and pride." The use of the term "warriors" to characterize those who worked at NEA may suggest they were not engaged in peaceful pursuits. At the meeting, al-Janabi told Saddam: "As time goes on, your sons, the mujahedeen [warriors] become more determined and energetic, not only to overcome difficulties, but also to invent new and advanced ways to accomplish their work."

These, and subsequent meetings, were reported primarily in the daily Babil which was owned by Saddam's son Uday. Given the strict control over the press during the Saddam regime, no news item, whether fact or fiction, and, especially, no item about Saddam himself, would be reported in the press without the approval of the regime.

ON May 7, 2002 the Iraqi government daily Al-Thawra carried a report on another meeting between Saddam and the head of NEA. At the meeting, Dr. al-Janabi submitted to Saddam a report on "the achievements created by the brains in the Atomic Energy Authority for servicing the objectives of the Great Iraq."

A few days later, Babil reported on still another meeting of Saddam, al-Janabi, and "a select group of researchers and engineers" from the NEA and the military industry. According to the report, al-Janabi assured Saddam of the group's commitment to make "quick progress and comprehensive development in ten years." He added that the achievements of the organization would serve as "a symbol for the nation and humanity as a whole." This meeting was followed by another one in which al-Janabi was quoted promising Saddam "a commitment to work day and night to add new advanced technical components" toward constructing "a towering Iraq."

In a statement made at the end of July, 2002, Saddam offered effusive praise for the nuclear team. He underscored their scientific achievements which had revealed "the metal of Iraqi man and his steadfastness to seize upon the opportunity for progress and development." In January 2003, Saddam belittled the work of the international inspectors then in Iraq. In a speech to the leaders of the Baath party on the occasion of the 82nd anniversary of the establishment of the Iraqi army, Saddam accused the inspectors of engaging in a fishing expedition because, he said, they knew that Iraq had no nuclear, biological or chemical weapons. But he added ominously: "The potential of the Iraqis will be as great as Allah wishes, and this, the inspectors cannot assess. Can anyone know the great potential that Allah would want for a people who rely on Him and believe in Him?"