July 19, 2002: Australian Intelligence Notes Differing Opinions on Purpose of Aluminum Tubes

Australian intelligence services issue a joint assessment stating: “All known weapons-grade fissile material was removed from the country after the Gulf War.… Iraq’s attempts over the past two years to buy dual-use items suggest a covert effort to make weapons grade uranium in gas centrifuges, but the evidence is patchy and inconclusive.… US agencies differ on whether aluminum pipes, a dual use item sought by Iraq, were meant for gas centrifuges.… Iraq is likely to have a nuclear program… though it is unlikely to be far advanced.” [New York Times, 10/3/2004]