It is not fair or right to interrogate Iraqi scientists. If they deny the existence of weapons of mass destruction, the United States government will accuse them of lying. On the other hand, if they admit the existence of weapons, they may well face execution and be the unintentional source of danger and misery to their families.
These unfortunate scientists who happen to be Iraqi and work in that country have become victims of politics which is not the way the media have portrayed them.
There are, no doubt, high-ranking Iraqi officials who deserve to be interrogated and challenged on this subject. They are the ones who surely know whether there are weapons or not. And they should be punished if they are proved to have lied.
The scientists who have been given such wide media exposure are no more than foot soldiers in a large army. The plan which was designed to target these scientists charged with producing weapons is a malicious one. The scientists were targeted in the hope that they would reveal the whereabouts of the weapons — allegedly hidden in a bunker somewhere in the Iraqi desert.
These scientists have found themselves suspects because their names appeared on the American list. The first scientist who was questioned brought a government official with him; that way, there could be no doubt about what he had said. In addition, by doing so, he saved himself from any official repercussions or even possible execution.
Iraqi scientists, who, while studying physics, chemistry or biology in their student days, dreamed of becoming leaders in their fields, now dream only about finding themselves outside the circle of suspects. Some of them were assassinated and others fled the country but remained under surveillance — especially the Iraqi scientists who left the country after the Gulf War in 1991. No one has clear and accurate information about those assassinations and who was behind them. Were the perpetrators the Israelis or the Iraqi government itself?
These scientists, however, who were considered among the best were persecuted one day and followed and spied upon the next. They had not committed any crime, even those who may have been involved in the production of weapons of mass destruction. It is Arab politicians who must bear the blame. They thought that by producing weapons, they could have power and peace. Instead, political leaders ended up using these weapons in wars which brought destruction to the country and may end up costing the scientists their very lives.
Iraq is a rich country and a developed one. Great effort has been put on making a nuclear bomb and this fact calls into question the practice of politics in Iraq. If Iraq had exerted the same effort on — and put its qualified people to — building and reform, a very great deal could have been accomplished.
If they would change the aims of nuclear factories and reactors to peaceful ones and use chemicals to manufacture fertilizer, then the Iraqi people would dwell peacefully and securely at a great distance from the dangers of war, invasion and destruction.
Arab News Opinion 5 January 2003
