SHILLING FOR THE ADMINISTRATION? :

Sizing Up Hussein: Iraq said to be seeking ingredients for atom bomb (Michael R. Gordon, Judith Miller, September 8, 2002, The New York Times)

More than a decade after Saddam Hussein agreed to give up weapons of mass destruction, Iraq has intensified its quest for nuclear weapons and has embarked on a worldwide hunt for materials to make an atomic bomb, Bush administration officials said Saturday.

Over the past 14 months, Iraq has tried to buy thousands of specially designed aluminum tubes, which U.S. officials believe were intended as components of centrifuges to enrich uranium.

U.S. officials said that several efforts to arrange the shipment of the high-strength tubes were blocked or intercepted, but they declined to say, citing the extreme sensitivity of the intelligence, where they came from or how they were stopped.

The attempted purchases are not the only signs of a renewed Iraqi interest in acquiring nuclear arms. Hussein has met several times in recent months with Iraq's top nuclear scientists and, according to U.S. intelligence, praised their efforts as part of his campaign against the West.

Iraqi defectors who once worked for the nuclear weapons establishment there have told U.S. officials that acquiring nuclear arms is again a top Iraqi priority. U.S. intelligence agencies are also monitoring new construction at potential nuclear sites.

You can barely wait to read the next Maureen Dowd column in which she says that President Bush hasn't made the case that Saddam is dangerous. Do the Times' editorial writers read the news sections? Posted by Orrin Judd at September 8, 2002 5:35 PM