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Show DAILY HE RALD a | Iran on brink of uranium enrichment | Days away from thefirst steps of the process, Iran | could be within three years of building an atomic bomb from diplomats representing countries on the U.N. Security LOSANGELES TIMES Council. The diplomats were VIENNA,Austria — With efforts to halt its nuclear programat an impasse, Iran is moving faster than expected and is now just days from making the first steps toward enriching uranium, according to diplomats who havebeen ° briefed on the program. If engineers encounter no The virusis genetically simi- lar to the strain that caused the Iraqi documentsthat say the Russians had“sources inside the American Central Command”andthatintelligence was passed to Saddam through powerful Security Council it now appears they want to senior diplomat in Vienna:“The Russians see that as a slippery sh Officials say that Iran is on the verge of beginning to feed “The largest contributing factor to the complete defeatof Iraq's military forces wasthe continued interference by Saddam.” excerptfrom the Pentagon'sreport womanfor Russia’s U.N. mis‘sion in New York,said the 1918 flu pandemicthat killed 40 million people worldwide There have been 105 human deaths from the H5N1 virus so far, according to the World allegations were false. “To my mind, from my understandingit’s absolutely non- military leaders, not including said, adding that the U.S. gov- Iraqis said they received from senseandit's ridiculous,” she prepare for the possible pandemic visit www.pandemicflu.utah.gov. ernmenthad not shown Russia the evidencecited in the report. “Somebody wants to say some- economy would grind toa halt attack, supported by special forces entering from Jordan andparatroopersflying into northern Iraq.) » That the ground assault on Baghdad would not begin until the Army’s 4th Infantry Division was in place, around April 15.(In fact, the 4th Infantry, rupted, A pandemic couldlast a year been the sources at Central Command's war-fighting head- or more, with outbreaks oc- quartel curring in waveslasting six to eight weeks. Death tolls nation- capital of Qatar, No Russians “Wedon't wantto be alarm- ists,” Herbert said. “But society will not forgiveus if we don't prepare.” It will take a mutation of thevirus to make it possible to wide could reach2 million. Leavitt said the avianflu will eventually reach American shores. He said every family, busi- spread betweenpeople.If that ness andlocal government happens, Utahis at as much should havea plan. Ina Wyo- tr wehave person-to-person transmission anywhere,the risk fish and powdered milk and nee as any otherstate, Leavitt is everywhere,” Leavitt said. Planning goes beyondstock- piling vaccine, Herbert said. A pandemic would overwhelm itals, shutter businesses: andclose schools. The state’s ming speechearlier this month, Leavitt proposed families purchase extra cans of tuna the Russians: » That the movementofU.S. troopsinto southern Iraq from TheIraqi documents leave unclear who mayhave no evidenceto proveit.” yet a transmissible virus, and prepared. Amongthe information the Kuwait wasa diversion.(In fact it was the main avenue of as workers stayed homesick and supply chains wereinter- said thestateis better off being Saddam. thing, and did — andthere is Health Organization's Website. The highly lethal H5N1 is not maynever be.Still, Herbert sure that the centrifuges and official said. the Russian ambassador. For checklists and more information on how to believe Iran intends to build escalatethe situation,” said a pear to be faltering in the face of disagreements overthe best Maria Zakharova, spokes- countries. Iran's progress, engineers at a pilot plant in Natanz arelikely to start crucial testing to en- 10 years, the diplomats said. Iran insiststhatit is onlyin- Continued from Al Prepare matssaid. Washington andits Brit- ernofficial who closely follows ish, French and German allies years, much more quickly than the commonestimateoffive to ity, which requires enriching uranium to a much lowerlevel. Newinformation about the status of Iran’s program came Bird flu experts said. According to one non-West- members. “We'regetting conflicting signals from the United States; terested in producing electric- Continuedfrom Al and its previous statements, of linked centrifuges. The pilot can hold up tosix cascades of 164 centrifuges each. It could take many months to complete that work, the diplo- the pipes connecting them are properly vacuum sealed in the next couple of days. They are likely to begin feeding uranium build a bombwithin three Davis Conference Center Friday. Even as Iran moves forward, diplomatic efforts to persuade it to halt its nuclear work ap- vhich is at Camp As Saliyah just outside Doha, the wereauthorized tobe at the closely guardedbase. classified version of the report, titled “Iraqi Perspectives Project,” is not being madepublic. It was assembled by U.S. Joint Forces Command, ~ which reviewed a vast array of captured Iraqi documents and interviewed Iraqi political and whoseoriginally planned invasion route from Turkey was blocked by the Turkish government, was not yet onIraqi territory when the Baghdad groundassault beganApril 7. Thus, by design or chance, the information from the Russians They said Iran also was like- ly to begin assembling more centrifuges in mid-April to put together additional cascades the first step toward enrichment. That move is in keeping with Iran's experience level strategy and distrust a major technical problems, Iran could manufacture enough hly enriched uranium to MATTHEW HATFIELD/Standard Examiner Bird talk: Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services MichaelLeavitt speaks to a crowd during The Governor's Summit: Utah Plans for PandemicInfluenza at the briefed by senior staff of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which monitors in Iran. The diplomats spoke on condition of anonymity because the briefing was private. ‘ uranium gas into centrifuges, possible. hexafluoride gas into a series of 164 connected centrifuges within about two weeks,the Diplomats and experts say Iran has foregone usual testing periods for individual centri- fuges and small series oflinked centrifuges,instead appearing nuclear weapons, and must'be stopped before learning how to enrich uranium. They view the ability to operate a series of centrifuges as a technological tipping point “If you can do one centrifuge, you can do 164,” said Emyr Jones Parry, British ambassadorto the United Na- tions. “If you can do 164, you probably do many more. That means youhavethe potential to dofull-scale enrichment. If you can do enrichmentup to 7 percent, you can do 80 percent. to be trying to put together as If you cando 80 percent, you can produce a bomb.” actually reinforced a U.S. military deception effort.) » That the main focus of U.S. ground forces moving toward Baghdad from the southwest was the area aroundthe city of Karbala. (This was true. After crossing a bridge over the Euphrates River outside of Karbala, the 3rd Infantry Division had a clear path to the Iraqicapital and Saddam's chances of stopping the assault had ended.) Col. Barry Venable,referred manyas possible, as quickly as » That U.S.troops moving throughsouthern Iraq would not attempt to occupycities but instead bypass them.(This was true and was a central feature of an invasion plan that stressed speed andtactical surprise.) Thelead authorof the Penta- gonreport, Kevin Woods,told inquiries seeking commentto Central Command. At Central Command headquartersin Tampa,Fla., officials did not immediately respondto a re- quest. Pavel Felgenhauer, a respect- ed independent Moscow-based military analyst, said Friday that a Russian military intel- ligence unit, known byits abbreviation GRU,wasactively workingin Iraq at the time of the U.S. invasionofIraq. Theinformationabout a Russian intelligence link to Baghdad wasa smallpart of a muchbroader report by Joint Forces Commandthat attempts to explain the forces and motivations behind Iraqi military decision-makingin the monthsleading up to the reportersat a Pentagonbrief- invasion andinthefirst several weeksafter Baghdadfell learn the Russians had passed in April. The report paints a picture of an Iraqi regime that was largely blind to the threatit ing that he was surprised to intelligence to Saddam, and he said he had noreason to doubt the authenticity of the Iraqi documents. “But I don’t have any other knowledgeof that topic,” Woods added,referring to the Russian link. In Moscow, a duty officer with Russia's Foreign Ministry declined to comment onthe report late Friday. A Pentagon spokesman, Lt. faced, hampered by Saddam's inept military leadership, pre- occupied by the prospect of a Shiite uprising, and deceived by its own propaganda. “The largest contributing factor to the complete defeat of Iraq's military forces was the continuedinterference by Saddam,”the report said. store them under the bed. On the Tonight Show, Jay Leno poked fun at the but Leavitt was steadfast. “Weall need to be prepared,” he said. Thirtyyears wiser... anddoingit differently than your parents did. Utah County You're making smart movesto feel young at heart. It helps to have health coverage that works ld of Utah MedAd BlueCross Bl This is our for your liféstyle,like Ri affordable PPO coverage for peopleeligible for Medicare.Seeif combining yourhealth News coverage with prescription drug coverage is right for you with MedAdvantage + Rx. 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