U.S. Hires Ex-Saddam Scientists

Hundreds of Iraqi scientists who worked on nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs for Saddam Hussein will be paid by the United States to work on postwar projects, partly to keep them from selling their deadly expertise elsewhere.

The two-year program will begin with a $2 million U.S. contribution, and the United States may provide an additional $20 million later on, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher announced Thursday.

It will prevent the scientists "from providing their expertise to countries of concern or groups of concern," he said.

The program has some similarities to the U.S. hiring of German scientists who worked in atomic and missile projects during World War II and payments to Russian scientists to discourage them from offering their skills to potential adversaries of the United States.

"We are giving people an opportunity to contribute to the future of Iraq," Boucher said.

Before he was deposed this year in a U.S.-led war, Saddam had hundreds of scientists and technicians working on a wide range of weapons programs.

Postwar Iraqi officials approved the program, Boucher said. The first step is to establish a new office called the Iraqi International Center for Science and Industry in Baghdad, the spokesman said.