6/15/1991

According to Saad Tawfiq, an engineer who worked on a uranium-enrichment program under scientist Ja’afar Dia Jafar in Iraq, in June 1991, “Saad and other members of Jafar’s team were called in to the presidential palace and told by Jafar that the [nuclear] program was over and that they must now get rid of all of the evidence of its existence. ‘My orders were to destroy or hide all incriminating evidence, and leave only the equipment that could be shown to be dual-use technology.’ In the space of seventy-two frantic hours, Saad and other scientists loaded equipment onto 150 tractor-trailers and escorted them out into the western desert. …the truckloads were turned over to Saddam’s Special Security force to conceal and bury.” [The 15th of the month used for date sorting purposes only.]

 – James Risen, State of War, Page 101