What are spy satellites seeing in Iraq?
Alan Boyle Although the government imagery is closely held, a private think tank has released commercial imagery showing new construction under way at an Iraqi nuclear center. Space Imaging’s photos of the Tuwaitha nuclear complex, 25 miles southeast of Baghdad, were posted to the GlobalSecurity.com Web site last month. Since then, the images – and most likely similar pictures taken by spook spacecraft – have caused a stir on both sides of the face-off. The White House sounded an alarm over the construction, while an Iraqi Foreign Ministry official brandished one of the images as he claimed that the complex was used purely for industrial and agricultural purposes. GlobalSecurity’s director, John Pike, says the satellite imagery alone generally can’t determine what Saddam Hussein is up to, at Tuwaitha or elsewhere in Iraq. “You’re faced with a choice of either intrusive inspections or a friendly government to tell you what’s going on there,” Pike told MSNBC.com. “The satellite imagery c
