Given that CBS News was about to run a piece on the very same subject (a piece they suddenly canceled), I question the timing of this overheated report at the New York Times—released a month before the election (and on a Saturday) and (strangely enough!) right after what would have been the first blow by CBS: How the White House Embraced Disputed Iraqi Arms Intelligence. (Hat tip: NC.)

Don’t forget: less than a week ago, the former head of Iraq’s nuclear program told the very same newspaper that he could have reconstituted the program within months if Saddam gave the word: Saddam, the Bomb and Me.

Threat is always a matter of perception, but our nuclear program could have been reinstituted at the snap of Saddam Hussein’s fingers. The sanctions and the lucrative oil-for-food program had served as powerful deterrents, but world events - like Iran’s current efforts to step up its nuclear ambitions - might well have changed the situation.

Iraqi scientists had the knowledge and the designs needed to jumpstart the program if necessary. And there is no question that we could have done so very quickly. In the late 1980’s, we put together the most efficient covert nuclear program the world has ever seen. In about three years, we gained the ability to enrich uranium and nearly become a nuclear threat; we built an effective centrifuge from scratch, even though we started with no knowledge of centrifuge technology. Had Saddam Hussein ordered it and the world looked the other way, we might have shaved months if not years off our previous efforts.