WASHINGTON — Several of Saddam Hussein's senior weapons scientists, fearful of their fate if arrested by U.S. forces, have telephoned former U.N. inspectors here in recent days seeking guidance on whether and how to give themselves up, inspectors and others said.
The Iraqi scientists, including two who helped run Hussein's secret nuclear weapons program in the 1980s, said they can provide documents and other evidence to assist teams investigating Iraq's illicit efforts to procure sensitive equipment, components and raw materials from Germany and other countries.
One of the nuclear experts who called early last week has disappeared from his home outside Baghdad, raising concerns that he has fled the country. U.N. inspectors who raided his home earlier this year, after receiving a tip from the CIA, found sensitive documents about enrichment of uranium.
The uncertainty among the Iraqi scientists over how U.S. forces will treat them, or even whether they can be prosecuted for war crimes or other charges, appeared to add another obstacle to the hunt for illegal Iraqi arms. The Pentagon-led weapons search and intelligence-gathering effort already has been slowed by staffing, logistics and communications problems.
Despite scores of tantalizing clues and false alarms since President Bush launched war on Iraq more than six weeks ago, U.S. forces have found no proof of any illegal Iraqi weapons or production activities. Iraqis now in custody have denied any knowledge of unconventional weapons, U.S. officials said, or have insisted under interrogation that Hussein destroyed his illegal arms programs years ago.
Bush, speaking Saturday at his ranch near Crawford, Texas, said he remains convinced that U.S. forces will find evidence of Hussein's weapons of mass destruction, which he had cited as the main justification for invading Iraq.
"We will find them," Bush said. "It will take a matter of time to do so."
Secretary of State Colin L. Powell echoed that confidence Sunday. "I'm absolutely sure they [the Iraqis] had weapons of mass destruction, and I'm sure we will find them," he said on CBS' "Face the Nation."
Special U.S. weapons teams have searched more than 100 suspected sites in Iraq, including those that the CIA had identified as the most promising targets. Unless scientists or others point the way, Pentagon officials have said, up to 3,000 factories, armories, vaccine plants, university laboratories and other facilities may need to be searched.
