By David Crossland BERLIN (Reuters) - 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 four-feet-thick walls. "It could withstand the shock wave of a nuclear bomb the size of the Hiroshima one detonating 250 meters away," said Karl Esser, a security consultant who designed the bunker underneath Saddam's main presidential palace in Baghdad. U.S.-led troops will also find it hard to fight their way in through its three-ton Swiss-made doors, Esser told Reuters in an interview. A retired Yugoslav army officer who helped build other bunkers for Saddam also told Reuters this week that the shelters were impenetrable and could survive an atomic bomb. CNN reported on Friday that U.S. B-52 bombers dropped a two ton "bunker busting" bomb on the capital for the first time in the campaign. The palace bunker can accommodate 50 people and has two escape tunnels, one leading 200 meters to the Tigris river. It was built in 1982 and 1983 by German firm Boswau & Knauer, which merged into what is now the Walter-Bau AG building group. At the time Esser was a consultant for a German government-sponsored civil protection body and had his own company, Schutzraumtechnik Esser GmbH, which supplied equipment for Saddam's bunker. Whether Saddam is using the bunker or is even still alive is unclear, with London and Washington saying they were not convinced that television broadcasts he has made since the war started were live. The U.S. and Britain launched the war on Iraq last week with a bombing attack on Baghdad intended to target Saddam, and have pounded the city for nine days. But Esser said "bunker busting" bombs like the one dropped on Friday would fail to penetrate the 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 meters (yards) 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 variety 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. Esser said he assumes the plans of the bunker had been passed on to Germany's foreign intelligence service. Esser remembers giving Saddam a personal tour of the bunker's features, which include a water tank, electricity generator, air filter, 30 square meter command center and so-called electromagnetic pulse protection system -- to shield electrical circuits from the impact of an explosion. "He was satisfied," said Esser. "He was totally friendly. He was wearing civilian clothes and looked like an ordinary civil servant but you could tell he was important because everyone immediately went quiet when he started talking." Esser said he had no qualms about having helped to protect a dictator likened to Hitler. "It's not just one person getting protection, it's several people, it's the palace staff as well. I just see it as an achievement of bunker technology," said Esser.
It's looking more and more like Baghdad will be a street by street and house-to-house affair. Unfortunately, this will jack up the casualty rate for the American forces and lead to exactly what the administration and the American people do not want: a long, very bloody and very protracted affair. The troops are going to have no choice but to fight their way into that bunker. This could get very ugly.
Forgive me, but how is it that a bazooka could blow the door off, but an atomic bomb couldn't? What Am I missing. Anyway, let him live in bunker. It's the same thing as death.
We could move it to the bottom of the ocean, dig it up in 100 years, and then make a fortune on the artifacts.
The funny thing (OK, not really that funny) is if this "bunker" becomes the Holy Grail that we fight for weeks (or more) house to house and street to street just to get to, then once there, we figure out how to penetrate....only to find.....Saddam isn't there.
I'm not sure it matters if he's in there or not, or whether we open up that bunker or not...as long as he's out of power, he can stay in there as long as he wants.
Let him sit in that bunker surrounded by coalition troops. The next best thing to taking him out and having him sit in that bunker knowing that there is no where to escape.
I thought cockroaches were the only thing that could survive a nuclear war. Guess I'll have to add Saddam's bunker to the list.
lol. Well if you are familiar with the account that Qusay was seen on a stretcher after the U.S. bombed a suspected meeting place(which was first thought to be Saddam) then I reckon the United States has voted him off. Its between Saddam and Uday now. bigtexxx - That was hilarious.
I was just curious, and perhaps some of the folks here have some idea of if it would be possible, but how about putting one or two of these 4700 pound penetrating bombs on top of the tunnel(s) leading from the bunker complex under the Tigris right into the river? I'm assuming he has a tunnel(s) beneath it to the other side and that we have the plans. It might make a bit of a problem for them.
