How Iraqi Nuclear Scientists Were Eliminated?
Author: Dr. Abdullah al-Nafisi
Publication: Al-Mushahid as-Siyasi, United Kingdom
On the eve of the occupation of Iraq in 2003, Israeli intelligence (Mossad) handed over to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) lists with the names, addresses, and phone numbers of Iraqi nuclear scientists. These outstanding specialists had previously worked at Iraq’s nuclear reactor “Osirak” — the very same one that Israel destroyed in an airstrike on June 7, 1981. Many of these scientists survived the attack, and the former Iraqi regime supported them, assigning them to various universities across the country so they could continue developing their expertise in nuclear physics.
In fact, this list was circulated among U.S. Marines at military bases in the Persian Gulf. The American military command issued a direct order: these scientists were to become the first targets after the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime. Marines were tasked with storming the homes of these specialists, forcibly kidnapping them and sending them to the United States, or eliminating them if necessary. That is exactly what happened. The operation of terror and extermination of Iraq’s scientific elite began as early as the second day after the fall of Baghdad. American forces began hunting scientists, researchers, intellectuals, and doctors — especially members of nuclear and chemical teams.
At the top of this list was Dr. Huda Saleh Mahdi Ammash, known to the American military as “Mrs. Anthrax.” She was an outstanding scientist and head of the microbiology department at Baghdad University. After receiving her PhD in microbiology, she conducted numerous studies on chemical radiation and biological weapons. On May 9, 2003, she was arrested by U.S. forces in Baghdad.
She was one of only two prominent women scientists on the U.S. wanted list. The other was biologist Rihab Taha, who was also arrested by the Americans.
In the end, the U.S. military managed to abduct more than 70 Iraqi nuclear specialists and transfer them to Florida in the United States. Those who refused to cooperate with America were immediately killed in their own homes. The number of murdered specialists reached 310 — Iraq’s leading scientists in the field of nuclear physics.
The aim of the West and Israel in this operation was the destruction of Arab brains, which they considered more valuable than any other target. As former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright once said:
“What can we do with Iraq other than destroy its brains? Brains that not even atomic bombs can destroy. The destruction of Iraqi minds is more important than dropping a bomb.”
