Father of Iraq's nuclear bomb program says U.N. should investigate what

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

inspectors knew before U.S.-led war

http://www.nola.com/iraq/index.ssf?/newsflash/get_story.ssf?/cgi-free/getstory_ssf.cgi?a0485_BC_Iraq-Nuclear&&news&emergency


BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) -- The father of Iraq's nuclear bomb program, speaking publicly for the first time since U.S. forces occupied Baghdad, called Monday for a U.N. probe of what nuclear inspectors knew before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

Jafar Dhia Jafar, speaking during a discussion about the repercussions of the occupation of Iraq organized by the Beirut-based Center for Arab Unity Studies, said U.N. inspectors had "reached total conviction" that Iraq was free of nuclear weapons before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

"It was clear that reports of the United Nations to the Security Council should have been clear and courageous," Jafar said. "I believe the United Nations should also investigate ... the facts that were known before the war and why they (nuclear inspectors) did not declare them to the security council."
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