Word: secret
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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BIOLOGICAL These are the inspectors' biggest worry right now. Before the Gulf War the Iraqis had a secret germ-weapon program that brewed up and tested huge quantities of several lethal agents, including 8,500 liters of anthrax, 19,000 liters of botulinus and 2,500 liters of aflatoxin. (That's theoretically enough to kill everyone on earth.) They had "weaponized" them by loading them into bombs and missile warheads. Iraq claims it unilaterally destroyed all those weapons after the war, but has never offered proof. U.N. inspectors have been checking more than 80 suspected areas for clandestine storage...
...Before the war, Saddam had been pressing ahead fast at 10 sites, and some analysts believe he was within months of acquiring at least a rudimentary atom bomb. The inspectors believe they have dismantled the program, but some of its weapons components and equipment have never been recovered. The secret overseas purchasing operation Saddam set up before the war is still functioning, and it could be put to work to buy and import nuclear technology...
...matter how tempting it might be to blow away Saddam's Republican Guard or some of his secret police headquarters, the Clinton Administration was hoping it would not come to that. The real issue here could not be more serious: weapons of mass destruction in the hands of a regime prepared to use them. A few, or even a large number, of bombing runs cannot take them completely out of Saddam's hands. But if the inspectors keep working, they will be able to finish the job of purging Iraq of those weapons. That is what Washington wants most...
...several sources have told TIME that there is an ongoing and secret grand jury investigation into the affairs of two incarcerated career criminals who say they can return the stolen art in return for certain favors--including the $5 million reward. And one of those two cons, New England's most notorious art thief, who in 1974 brokered the return of a stolen Rembrandt, has told TIME that he once cased the Gardner with a man who, years later, arranged the heist without...
This attitude is revealed in two other controversies: the Communications Decency Act (the Internet censorship law overturned by the Supreme Court in June) and encryption (a still unresolved conflict concerning government efforts to stop the spread of uncrackable computerized secret codes). In both these cases, unlike in the tax issue, the Webbies are basically in the right. But their indignant absolutism, their refusal to recognize any valid concern on the other side, is obnoxious. Government is right to be concerned that criminals and foreign enemies will be harder to spy on. And parents are right to be worried about some...