Until then the Iraqi scientists had been working in large trucks, disguised agricultural watering rigs, perfecting the design of an unusual Hiroshima gun-type bomb.

The Iraqis had become masters at hiding their military activities for fear of an attack by the Israelis. The Russians supplied them with a timetable of U.S. satellite movements and every few hours the disguised laboratory trucks moved around to keep up their high stakes game of chicken.

Farzad Bazoft was born in Iran and left that war-ravaged country in 1985 for Britain. Shortly after his arrival, Bazoft began to pen a few pieces for the BBC and then for the Observer. According to some, Farzad Bazoft had been identified by the Israeli secret service Mossad as someone who could spy for them. There are allegations that when Bazoft arrived in London, he came across an Iraqi businessman and the two became friends. This man, who was a Mossad caseworker, remained in Bazoft's life as he set roots in London's émigré community. Later, Bazoft was imprisoned for an unspecified crime and when released was cultivated by his Mossad contact to spy for that agency. Although there is little solid evidence to prove this allegation, one thing is clear. The intelligence community agrees that on April 29, 1998, the Baghdad Palestine Hotel was abuzz with international arms dealers hoping to unload their ware on an insatiable Saddam. The hotel registration details show that Farzad Bazoft was also there as a reporter for the Observer on the very same day.

Bazoft returned to Iraq in September 1989 as a correspondent for the Observer. This was a short period after a huge explosion had shaken the Al Hilla region of Iraq. The British newspaper Independent reported that the explosion had killed at least 700 people and injured countless others. Bazoft was permitted in Iraq to report on the rebuilding progress by Iraq after its war with Iran, but he had decided to investigate the cause of the explosion instead. Bazoft, accompanied by a "friend", British nurse Daphne Parish, went to the Qaqa region in Al Hilla and collected soil samples as part of his investigation. Once back in Baghdad, they were both arrested and for several weeks, their whereabouts were unknown. The next time anyone saw Bazoft was when he appeared on Iraqi T.V. on a videotaped confession where he admitted to being a Mossad agent. Given the Iraqi regime's well-publicized propensity to use torture, Bazoft's confession is suspect at best. Those who deny Bazoft's involvement with Mossad explain that he was collecting samples in the Kurdistan region to prove that in fact Saddam had used chemical weapons against his own people. had taken place on the day in question.

Was it a mere coincidence that only 4 days after Bazoft's arrest there was a larger tremor under the Razzaza lake where a weapons test is said to have taken place? Writing for the Sunday times, Gwynne Roberts reveals that upon inspecting the Sulaymaniyah seismic station in Iraq's Kurdish territory, she found out that in fact a tremor of sorts
Since the area is otherwise earthquake free, the shaking may have in fact been as a result of under-ground weapons testing.

The British government tried to use diplomatic channels to free Bazoft. Margaret Thatcher enlisted the help of King Hussein of Jordan as well as some arm-twisting by Harold Walker, the British Ambassador to Baghdad. Despite worldwide appeals for clemency from almost every quarter, Saddam Hussein had spoken and he was not about to change his mind.

On March 10, 1990, both Bazoft and Parish were found guilty of espionage. Parish was sentenced to 15 years in prison but was released on July 16, 1990 in response to a plea by the Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda.

Bazoft was not so lucky. He was executed by hanging on March 15, 1990 at the Abu Ghreib prison.

In a bizarre testament to the cruelty of the Iraqi regime, Bazoft had been unaware of his fate until a British Embassy official turned up at the prison on the eve of his execution to say good-bye.

On March 28, 1990, Her Majesty's Customs Officers at London's Heathrow Airport intercepted a shipment of nuclear tugers bound for Iraq. Once again, on April 10, 1990 the shipment of gun barrels destined for Baghdad was intercepted. Saddam's dream to have a nuclear bomb to save him from eviction from Iraq was not realized.

Famed Abu Ghreib Prison