Using Clues From Libya to Study a Nuclear Mystery

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By DAVID E. SANGER and WILLIAM J. BROAD
Published: March 31, 2005

WASHINGTON, March 30 - In the 15 months since Libya turned over to the United States nearly two tons of illicit uranium it had planned to use in atomic weapons, the radioactive material has become a pivotal, if mysterious, piece of evidence for investigators unraveling the nuclear black market.

The Bush administration, joined by United Nations inspectors, now say the uranium most likely came from North Korea and helps to build a case that the North has exported dangerous nuclear material to Libya, and perhaps beyond. The officials drew on scientific tests, secret documents and interviews with key players in the black market, which taken together are potentially highly incriminating. But the evidence is also circumstantial.

In interviews this week, administration officials and foreign diplomats disclosed that Libyan officials had also surrendered financial ledgers to the United States that provide a guide to the front companies involved in the nuclear network set up by Abdul Qadeer Khan, the Pakistani scientist. One large payment, American officials contend, was directed to North Korea, presumably for the uranium hexafluoride that arrived in Tripoli in 2001. But American and foreign officials who have seen the financial documents or been briefed on them say they do not prove a direct payment from Libya to the North Korean government.

In short, a year into the investigation of the case of the uranium cask, what is still missing, in the words of one senior American official, is "the knockout piece of evidence." And that, in the minds of some critics, has left the Bush administration's case open to continuing doubt, particularly given the intelligence failures before the Iraq war.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/31/politics/31nuke.html


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