This World Net Daily article on Khidhir Hamza by Sherrie Gossett "’Saddam’s Bombmaker’ Hit in Assassination Attempt – Hamza touted as authoritative source on nuclear program" raises serious questions about Hamza’s credibility. The first part of the article reports on an assassination attempt:
An Iraqi newspaper – Iraq of Tomorrow – along with Iraqi scientists and members of the expatriate community are reporting that U.S. emissary Khidhir Hamza, has been the victim of a bomb attack.
…
Hamza’s book "Saddam’s Bombmaker," was cited as a source for the White House’s "Apparatus of Lies" report on the situation in Iraq.
Then comes the subject of this post. The central charge comes from David Albright, for whom Hamza worked for two years after his defection from Iraq:
Hamza’s reputation suffered however after physicist David Albright, President of the Institute for Science and International Security, reported that Hamza had exaggerated his credentials.
Last year, Albright told Australia’s Lateline, "I must apologize that we no longer can in any way recommend Dr. Hamza. I unfortunately now believe he is deliberately distorting both his past credentials and his statements about Iraqi nuclear capabilities then and now."
Albright said, "I believe that his statements are often inaccurate, they’re inconsistent," adding, "I think he’s distorted his title dramatically." Following his defection, Hamza had worked for Albright’s institute for two years.
On February 26, 2003, WND revealed the contents of a UN document marked "SENSITIVE", from UNSCOM and the International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA, that revealed the United Nations concluded a document provided to them by Hamza was a "fake."
The UN document is a record of the de-briefing of defector Hussein Kamel, son-in-law to Saddam Hussein and previous head of the of Iraq’s Military Industrialization Corporation, in charge of Iraq’s weapons program. The interview was conducted in Amman on 22 August 1995, 15 days after Kamel left Iraq.
The eight-year old document also records Kamel as saying Hamza was a "professional liar" that was "so bad" he was allowed to leave Baghdad.
Hussein Kamel is credible – it was primarily from debriefing Kamel that we discovered the true extent of Saddam’s nuclear program, and how far advanced it was mid-1995. The UNSCOM inspectors had found nothing during 1992-1995. Directed by Kamel’s testimony UNSCOM was able to dismantle the program.
Regarding Hamza (or Hazem), back on Feb 26, 2003 Sherrie Gossett reported on Hamza’s credibility in her article "U.N. interview of Hussein Kamal covers Saddam’s weapons programs". Where Kamel says about Hamza "He is very bad", I think he meant that Hamza’s competence was sufficiently low that he was allowed leave Iraq. Here is a portion of Kamel’s testimony:
In one exchange in the document, Kamal is asked about a document linked to Khidir Hamza, commonly referred to in the West as "Saddam’s Bombmaker." Hamza played a very public role in his recent congressional testimony on Iraq’s nuclear weapons program.
Zifferero: This is my last question. (At this moment, Zifferero showed the general a document.) This document was claim (sic) to be sent to you, minister, by one of the members of the special committee.
Kamal: It is a false document.
Zifferero: We are of the same conclusion.
Kamal: It is full of mistakes. The author has no knowledge. The first phrase in the letter is wrong. The data (in the upper right hand corner) is wrong. It is not correct.
Zifferero: It is a fake document.
Kamal: It is not the work of Iraqi intelligence, but some other. Possibly Egyptian. How did you receive this document and who signed it?
Zifferero: It was received by fax, and we have only the first page. It was received in April ‘95.
Kamal: They would never have written to me such details.
Zifferero: Dr. Khidir Abdul Abbas Hamza is related to this document.
Kamal: We call this person Hazem. He is dark, tall, bigger than me. He is a professional liar. He worked with us, but he was useless and was always looking for promotions. He consulted with me but could not deliver anything. Yes, his original name is Khidir, but we called him Hazem. He went to Baghdad University then left Iraq. He is very bad. He was even interrogated by a team before he left and was allowed to go. He used to work in the building opposite the Rasheed Hotel. It was a design center.
Returning to Sherrie Gossett’s Dec 25, 2003 article, she has collected corroborating testimony, including the claim that "the real prime movers of the nuclear program had been Dhafir Selbi, Jafar Dhia Jafar, and Humam Abdul Khaliq":
Testimony from other Iraqi scientists was similar. Dr. Imad Khadduri and others, previously told WorldNetDaily that Hamza had worked in the position he claimed to hold for only 6 months, and was dismissed in 1987 for inferior performance.
The position he claimed to hold, Dr. Khadduri said, was actually held by Dr. Khalid Ibrahim Said who headed up "Group 4" activities under the secret PC3 group.
According to the U.S. government, Dr. Said died in a hail of bullets after he failed to stop quickly enough at an American checkpoint in Baghdad on April 8, 2003.
An Associated Press report later raised doubts about the situation surrounding the death of Said.
Scientists and witnesses said that Khalid Ibrahim Said was killed not when he tried to "run a roadblock," as U.S. inspector David Kay had said, but when a U.S. tank crew blasted his civilian vehicle without warning on an open street.
Dr. Hamza returned to Iraq, being sent by the administration as an authoritative source to investigate the status of the Iraqi nuclear program.
Khadduri previously told WND that although Said held the position Hamza claimed to, the real prime movers of the nuclear program had been Dhafir Selbi, Jafar Dhia Jafar, and Humam Abdul Khaliq.
Imad Khadduri also said that during the Persian Gulf War, he had been asked to copy onto an opto-magnetic disc some personal documents that Jafar Dhia Jafar gave him.
The information indicated Jafar had been exaggerating the progress of the nuclear program to Saddam Hussein.
Dr. Imad Khadduri, a 30-year veteran of the Iraqi nuclear program, has never been questioned by the U.S. government about the status of the Iraqi nuclear program, which he says has been defunct ever since the Persian Gulf War.
But Clinton’s DCI disagrees, and "remains an ardent defender of Hamza":
Notra Trulock III, former director of intelligence in the Clinton administration remains an ardent defender of Hamza.
"Hamza was no liar," Notra Trulock previously told WND. "He revealed the depth to which the Iraqis and others use the IAEA as cover for espionage and intelligence collection at US labs."
My bottom-line on this is that Ralph Hitchens was correct in his comment here: "in my opinion anyone who takes Hamza seriously has left the reality-based community."
i started writing abook about the INP in conjunction with prominent scientist & engineers that worked in the program,you will read some important milestones that the program went through that was never revealed before & surely it will set many records straight.