US Accuses Iraq of Seeking Tubes for Nuke Bombs

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, December 03, 2002

US Accuses Iraq of Seeking Tubes for Nuke Bombs

The United States on Monday accused Iraq of trying to acquire aluminum tubes which could be used to make nuclear bombs.

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The United States on Monday accused Iraq of trying to acquire aluminum tubes which could be used to make nuclear bombs.

"This is something that the president (George W. Bush) has said publicly, that Iraq did, in fact, seek to buy these tubes for the purpose of producing, not as Iraq now claims, conventional forces, but for the purpose of trying to produce nuclear weapons," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters.

The spokesman was responding to questions about a local media report that the Iraqi government said it sought to acquire the tubes only for building conventional weapons.

"It's, on the one hand, mildly encouraging that Iraq would now admit to what it's been doing. But on the other hand, a lie is still a lie because they sought to produce these for the purpose of production of nuclear weapons, not conventional," Fleischer said.

The United States has repeatedly accused Iraq of seeking weapons of mass destruction, making its disarmament as a precondition to avert a possible military showdown. But Baghdad has denied that it has any programs to develop weapons of mass destruction.

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