Paper: Iraq Had N-Bomb

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was within three months of testing an atomic bomb when U.S.-led allied forces launched the Persian Gulf War, The Observer newspaper said Sunday.

It quoted sources close to a U.S. team responsible for debriefing Saddam’s son-in-law, although Washington has not officially confirmed any dialogue with Lt. Gen. Hussein Kamel al-Majid.

If confirmed, the report would mean that Iraq already had finished building a bomb when its army entered Kuwait and was on the brink of testing it.

U.N. inspectors discovered Iraq’s clandestine nuclear program after the 1990-91 gulf war. Since then, there have been differing estimates of how close the Iraqis were to building a bomb.