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Yes, those are all important questions that have never been publicly answered. The intelligence commmunity had information that Russia was transferring Iraqi WMD to Syria in the days before the war, but this never received much publicity, I suspect for diplomatic reasons (though this may be revisited if relations with Syria and Russia continue on the path they're on). Likewise China kept a low profile but had a role in Oil-for-Food. So did some US companies who would probably prefer no one delves too deeply into this. Regarding Iraq's uranium stocks, I always thought the real question which the Niger controversy diverted attention from was the status of Iraq's centrifuge program.

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CIA Statement on Recently Acquired Iraqi Centrifuge Equipment

The head of Iraq’s pre-1991 centrifuge uranium enrichment program, Dr. Mahdi Shukur Ubaydi, approached U.S. officials in Baghdad and turned over a volume of centrifuge documents and components he had hidden in his garden from inspectors since 1991. Dr. Ubaydi said he was interviewed by IAEA inspectors - most recently in 2002 - but did not reveal any of this.

Dr. Ubaydi told us that these items, blue prints and key centrifuge pieces, represented a complete template for what would be needed to rebuild a centrifuge uranium enrichment program. He also claimed this concealment was part of a secret, high-level plan to reconstitute the nuclear weapons program once sanctions ended.

This case illustrates the extreme challenge we face in Iraq as we search for evidence of WMD programs that were designed to elude detection by international inspectors.

Ubaydi = Obeidi :

1991 : ("OFFICIAL END" OF IRAQ'S NUCLEAR PROGRAM - BUT IRAQI SCIENTIST OBEIDI CONTINUED WORKING ON CENTRIFUGE PROJECT THROUGH 1997 - See IRAQI SCIENTIST OBEIDI) While Saddam's nuclear program officially ended after the first Gulf War, the reality, says Dr. Obeidi, was far different. "I was developing the centrifuge for the weapons" right through 1997, he now admits. In an interview with WABC Radio's John Gambling, the Iraqi centrifuge scientist [in late 2004] said he was ordered to keep his nuclear bombmaking research concealed from U.N. weapons inspectors.
And even after 1997 - when Saddam's nuke program went dormant - Obeidi says he continued to keep his centrifuge plans in safe storage - in a cardboard box buried beneath a lotus plant in his front yard.
"I had to maintain the program to the bitter end," Obeidi explained, saying his only other choice was death. All the while the Iraqi physicist was aware that he held the key to Saddam's continuing nuclear ambitions. "The centrifuge is the single most dangerous piece of nuclear technology," he writes. "With advances in centrifuge technology, it is now possible to conceal a uranium enrichment program inside a single warehouse."
The nuke plans he buried included "the full set of blueprints, designs - everything to restart the centrifuge program - along with some critical components of the centrifuge."
Writes Dr. Obeidi: "Would Saddam have tried to build nuclear weapons again? One can only imagine he would have. For the time being, however, the core knowledge for rebuilding the centrifuge program lay buried in my garden, waiting for the order from Qusay Hussein or his father." ------ "Iraqi Physicist: Saddam Funded Nuke Program Till 2003," With Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff , Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2004 12:02 a.m. EDT , citing quotes from WABC Radio interview of Obeidi

I always thought the real question which the Niger controversy diverted attention from was the status of Iraq's centrifuge program.

Why Yes!.....Has it not allways** been,.....The Holy Grail : )

Did you know that the *Centrifuge system in its base form is actually origin to Nazi Germany?
Not many do : )
This is just one** of the secret packets that went out with Bormann and others...some fortunate to be Rat lined to U.S. or South America,..[Others to a miserable fate.....but a few decent meals at least in Russia : )]

Where did Khan of Pakistan get his centrifuge and portable nuke program from?
Well...he got it second hand of course....something known for decades.....not really breakthru.

Iraq and WMD is all about holding tantalizing info which hangs like Saddams noose over others
For all it seems are at Play.....In the Fields of the Lord : )

One of the reasons I so enjoy Fr ...well ya...for the talent that exists in the post Insurance fire claim assessment skill...as it were
You have brought up key points which Phil D has enlarged....inviting me into the fray.
The Nazi atomic program has been reduced to a shadow ibid on Wikipedia in comparrison to where it really was in reality.
The Nazi's used...shall we say...shocking weapons on the Russian's in 1945....[one example being....Fuel Air explosives]
They deffered using them on the U.S. in hope of a resolution...and for those bargaining their future,..as a sureity of a western outcome for their own fate : )
The U.S. stockpile of U 235 suddenly doubled after the Germans surrendered,...or rather..after Bormann made his trip out.
I'm teasing you with something that appears over the top ..but it isn't.
The next gift the U.S. got from Germany was the infrared triggers : )
The past is still with us in so many ways....
Like Henry Kissinger who was an Army Translator and worked for Allen Dulles....[Paper Clip : )]

The past entwines with the present.
Considering the intrigues at hand......and those that have been
we should count our selves lucky this has not all melted down.
Iran,....Iraq,...they well know they are in over their heads to be sure
when sleve's are rolled up and nations arsenals pressed into motion,....they would be swept aside like an after thought.
All it would seem are engaged to play at the table of fortune,.....to roll the dice and risk.

My only complaint is that the U.S. Military has been used improperly......Phil and others would readily agree.
Mexico and Azatlan inside the wire has been more offensive than Iraq and IED's from Saudi whore's and Iran.

That something Noble and Just would arrise from all of this.

That...We could be proud once more......like we were in Tokyo Bay : )

Israel has struggled as its Senior Military is turned over and over,....They stumble now in Battle.

The U.S.....much the same,...as **others tamper to keep the Amazing ability,

Nominal.

America is not Nominal.......God Forbids its! : )