Figure 1.--.

Kadir Hamza played a central role in Saddam's nuclear bomb program. He was trained at MIT and then forced to return to Iraq when his father and family was threatened. Since his escape from Iraq, he has provided detailed information on Saddam's nuclear program. His personal account also provided insights as to why Iraqi scentists in 2003 were terrified about being question by U.N. weapons inspectors.

Parents

Childhood

Education

Hamza was a bright student in a country that values education. In the Arab world, it is said that books are written in Egypt, printed in Lebanaon and read in Iraq. Hamza graduated from the Univerity of Bagdad with a degree in physics. The Iraqi Goverment provided a scolarship to study in America. He earned a Ph.D at MIT and begun teavching in Florida.

Saddam

Saddam took over as president in 1979. Even before this, as vice resident, and head of the security services, he exercized enormous power in the government. Everything began to change in Iraq with Saddam's rise to power. People could no longer talk freely. Saddam decided that the only way in which the Isrealis could be confronted was to build an atmonic bomb. It was during this period that the program was initiated.

Return to Iraq

Hamza liked and was impressed with the United States. He was forced to return to Iraq. His father and other family members werethreatened.

Family

Hamza married in Iraq and had three sons.

Nuclear Program

Hamza at 30 years old began working as a nuclear physicist in Saddam's Iraq in 1970. He started out with a blank piece of paper. He made a list of what was needed. First a nuclear reactor was needed to ptroduce fissionable material. Then a deliversy system was needed. Hamza remembers working 2 years without interference. he first ime he remembers saddam was a viit in which the staff was berated for not framing a portrait of Einstein--an indicator of a lack of respect. The scientists involved in the program received lavish gifts, cars, homes, jewlry, and high wages. Anyone who stepped out of line was arrested and tortured. Afterwards they knew better than to step out of line. Ali Sharistani, head of the Iraqi Atomic Energy Commission, was immediately arrested when he informed Saddam that the nuclear program violated international guidelines.

The task of building a bomb was a huge technical challenge. Kamsa was excited about the nature of the work. He reasoned that it would take 20 years to build a bomb and by that time Saddam would be gone. In the mean time the funding from the government would help build the infrasrructure for a peaceful atomic energy program. The project was enormously aided by reports provided by the Eisenhower Atoms for Peace progrm. This provided the blueprint. The next step was a nuclea rector. Hamza was sent to Paris with a blank ckeck. The cover story was that the reactor was for peaceful use, but French contractors fully undersood. The cost increased from $50 million to $250 million. It was built near Paris. In a mysterious expolsuon the core was cracked. The scientists involved were afraid to report this to Saddam and they accepted the damaged reactor. The Iraquis with the assistance of French technicians were months away from bringing the reactor on line. Isreali fighters knew precisely what to hit. They destroyed the reactor on June 7, 1980. Saddam orfered them to rebuild, but it would take years. The scientists decided to work on a dirty bomb.

Iran

Saddam became president in 1979 and was immediately confronted with the Iranian Revolution. Saddam saw the Iranaian Revolution as a serious threat. The Shite Iranians could appeal to the Shite population of southern Iraq. Iraq's 1980 invasion resulted in an 8 year war. The death toll exceeded 1 million. Only the use of nerve gas by Saddam in April 1988 forced the Iranians to sue for peace. Khomeni said at the time that it was like swollowing hemlock. As the Iran war dragged on, Saddam began showing an increased interest in the progress of the atomic program.

Kurds

The Amphal (phon) campaign against the Kurds in Northern Iraq killed somewhere between 70,000 and 150,000 Kurds. Most sources report about 100,000 Kurds were killed. [Frankel, p. A1.] The order given for the campaign by one of Saddam's close relatives provides an order for free and unrestricted fire and for the execution of all males between 15 and 70 years of age. Over 1200 villages were destroyed. It was during that campaign that Saddam employed chemical and biological weapons against the village of Alaja (phon) where he killed some 5,000 people, overwhelmingly women and children, because the men were working in the fields. [Cook] Saddam's use of poison gas agianst the Kurds is well documented. Saddam's cousin Ali Hassan Majeed is a senior Bath Party official known as "Chemical Ali" and was responsible for the use of the gas. [Frankel, p. A12.] The images of Kurdish villagers Saddam gassed with mothers holding their children in their death agonies are hard to forget. Human Rights Watch has uncovered documents that show the brutality Saddam unleashed on the Kurds. About 5,000 Kurds suffered horrible deaths in the gas attacks. Soldiers were ordered to execute wounded civilians, kill any civilian found in designated areas, execute after interogation all civilians between age 15-70 found in "prohibited" villages. [Frankel, p. A12.]

Kuwait

Iraq in 1980 was one of the wealthiest countries in the Arab world. The cost of the war, however, had banlrupted the country. Saddam had borrowed money to help finance the war from Kuwit and the Gulf states. Once the war was over he demanded that the debts be forgiven. When Kuwasit refused, he ordered an invasion. The United Nations Security Council imposed a embargo on exports to Iraq. The Iraqi scientists wre only about a year from a working bomb. Cut off from importing needed material, work came to a standsill. The Coalition air campaign destoyed four of the 7 major facilities used ny yhe nuclear campaign. Only 4 days after the ground campaign began, Iraq agreed to a ceasfire.

Change of Mind

After 20 years in the nuclear bomb program, Hamza had had ebough. He was horrified by Saddam's use of poison gas. He realized that Saddam if he had an atmomic bomb would not hesitate o use it. It was at this time that he began thinking about how to escape from Iraq. But this meant that he would have to figure out how to get his family out as well.

Escape

Hamza after the invasion of Kuwait in 1980 was able to disengage from the atomic bomb program. Some of the facilities were destroyed in the America air campaign. U.N. insoectors after the casefire further complicated work on the bomb. The Goverment instructed the scientidts to masintain a low proile. Hanza got a job teaching in the Univerdsity of Bagdad. He was then able to escape Bagdad into the Kurdish sector in the north and then cross the border in o Turkey during August 1994. He had, however to leave him family behind. He immediately contcted the CIA and asked for help in getting his family out of Bagdad. The CIA was not at first helpful as theycould not confirm Kamza's role in the nuclkear program. Is was not until April 2, 1995, as result of press reports, that Sddam realized that Kamza had made it out of Iraq. Saddam realizing that a loose nuclear scientist was a public relations nightmare, tried to lure Hamza back to Iraq. Kamza's eldest son described how The Iraqi Secret Police (SSO) thretened to torture his mother and younger brothers if his father did not return. Hamza knew that te SSO would both kill him and his family if he returned. The COA finally verified his claims and in a daring operation during October 1995 extracted his family and flew them to Washington.

Created: March 4, 2003
Last updated: March 4, 2003