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BERLIN, March 28: The German architect of one of Saddam Hussein’s main bunkers in Baghdad said on Friday the Iraqi leader can survive anything short of a direct hit with a nuclear bomb if he stays within its 1.5 metre thick walls.
“It could withstand the shock wave of a nuclear bomb the size of the Hiroshima one detonating 250 metres away,” said Karl Esser, a security consultant who designed the bunker underneath Saddam’s main presidential palace in Baghdad.
US-led troops will also find it hard to fight their way in through its three-tonne Swiss-made doors, Esser told Reuters in an interview.
A retired Yugoslav army officer who helped build other bunkers for Saddam also said this week that the shelters were impenetrable and could survive an atomic bomb.
The palace bunker can accommodate 50 people and has two escape tunnels, one leading 200 metres to the Tigris river.
NO CHANCE FOR “BUNKER BUSTERS”: Esser said “bunker busting” bombs like the one dropped on Friday would fail to penetrate the 1,800 square-metre bunker because they first have to get though the palace built directly above it.
“The presidential palace above gives natural protection so the bunker can only be cracked by ground troops or a tactical nuclear bomb,” said Esser.
The bunker ceiling itself, made of steel-reinforced concrete and up to two metres thick, was designed to withstand the direct impact of a 230 kg bomb, said Esser.
“It’s not a combat bunker, it’s an air raid shelter, otherwise it would have had to be built with gun slits and a varie-
ty of other features,” said Esser.
“Ground troops could get in by taking out the doors with bazookas and explosives.”
Construction took place at a time when western companies were legally supplying Saddam with arms and equipment during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.
Mr Esser said he assumes the plans of the bunker had been passed on to Germany’s foreign intelligence service.
He remembers giving Saddam a personal tour of the bunker’s features, which include a water tank, electricity generator, air filter — to shield electrical circuits from the impact of an explosion.
Mr Esser said he had no qualms about having helped to protect a man likened to Hitler.
“It’s not just one person getting protection, it’s several people, it’s the palace staff as well.”—Reuters
