Reply #16: Yes, here's some of his past statements, with links

[lostnfound]

My take on it so far is that he was NOT the PERFECT candidate in the eyes of the US because he apparently showed GUTS to refuse Saddam for 11 years (we prefer GUTLESS and bribe-able), BUT he clearly is a GOOD candidate in the eyes of the US because he has proven himself capable of 1) bending to US will and 2) playing the media very well.

http://www.nti.org/d_newswire/issues/thisweek/2003_1_24_womd.html

Hassan denied ever being involved in laser enrichment research, saying Iraq had canceled the program in 1988. The discovered papers were from his own private research and graduate theses of students he advised, Hassan said (George Jahn, London Independent, Jan. 19).

Even if the information in the documents is not new, the discovered papers could be an indication of Iraq’s attempts to hide its WMD research, said Hussain al-Shahristani, a former Iraqi nuclear scientist.

“The real significance is the fact that these documents were found in his home,” al-Shahristani said. “It supports information we have received that Saddam has given orders for documents to be dispersed among scientists, members of the secret police and senior Baath party officials,” al-Shahristani added (Neil Tweedie, London Telegraph, Jan. 20).

http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1344302002
At the launch of the dossier, Hussain Al-Shahristani, a former chief scientist with the Iraqi atomic energy organisation, described how he was incarcerated for over a decade for refusing to comply with Saddam’s orders. The scientist, who is now the chairman of the Iraqi Refugee Aid Council, said: "I was arrested, tortured and kept in solitary confinement for over 11 years for refusing to work on the military nuclear programme.

"However, I was more fortunate than many of my fellow political prisoners . I did not have holes drilled into my bones. I did not have my limbs cut off by an electric saw. I did not have my eyes gouged out.

"My three children were brought into the torture chamber, but they were not tortured to death in front of me to force me to make confessions to things I had not done. "Women of my family were not brought in and raped in front of me, as happened to many of my colleagues. "They only tortured me for 22 days and nights continuously by hanging me from my hands tied at the back and using a high-voltage probe on the sensitive parts of my body, and beating me mercilessly."

http://nucnews.net/nucnews/2002nn/0212nn/021202nn.htm
Appearing at the Foreign Office presentation was Hussain Al-Shahristani, the former head of Iraq's nuclear energy agency, who was jailed in Iraq for 11 years for his refusal to involve himself in the program to develop nuclear energy for military purposes.

Dr. Hussain said he had been held in solitary confinement for most of that time but that he was able to hear the cries of young children being tortured in adjacent rooms.

Dr. Hussain also questioned whether the current inspections would succeed in turning up weapons. "Saddam is the master at hiding, concealing and moving around weapons," he said.