U.S. probing nuclear facility (Al Tuwaitha Follow Up)

WorldNetDaily ^ | April 11, 2003 | Art Moore

[FairOpinion]

An investigation is underway to determine whether U.S. Marines guarding Iraq's most important nuclear facility have discovered previously undocumented weapons-grade nuclear material.

Initial reports indicated earlier this week that the Marines had located a vast underground complex of tunnels, warehouses and offices that apparently had been missed by U.N. weapons inspectors at the Al-Tuwaitha Nuclear Research Center, 18 miles south of Baghdad.

One report said the tunnels might contain weapons-grade plutonium, while unnamed source have suggested the U.S. forces came upon known stocks of low-grade uranium and broke U.N. seals meant to control radioactive material.

Lt. Cmdr. Charles Owens, a spokesman for the U.S. Central Command in Qatar, told WorldNetDaily he cannot confirm whether the Marines have discovered anything new.

"What we're going to have with this site at Tuwaitha, or with other finds, is a very cautious approach by the Department of Defense, here at CENTCOM and by people in the theater," he said. "If it is what we think it is, or what people are speculating about, we want to get it right, and it's going to be a long and painful process."

In a statement today, the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna said its inspectors visited the research facility many times between November 2002 and March 2003. The agency said it "examined underground areas at Tuwaitha as part of the inspection process" and is aware of stocks of low-grade nuclear materials.

However, a scout team with the Pentagon's Defense Threat Reduction Agency, which arrived yesterday, said that after a quick inspection, they suspect Al-Tuwaitha harbors plutonium, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported.

"We are here to see what's here," said U.S. Army Maj. Ken Deal. "We will determine when a larger team of scientists will show up. This could take days. We'll know later in the week."

The IAEA said today that a known quantity of nuclear and other radioactive material at Al-Tuwaitha has been stored near the complex in three buildings known as "Location C."

The agency said it was not required by the U.N. Security Council to remove this material after the 1991 Gulf War because it could not be used for nuclear weapons purposes.

However, the IAEA warned that "radiation levels are high and great care must be taken if entering the building."

The agency said its inspectors have been monitoring and inspecting the material at Location C periodically since 1991 and applied seals on the drums containing the nuclear materials and the building itself.

"As soon as circumstances permit, the IAEA should return to verify that there has been no diversion of this material," said Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the IAEA.

[FairOpinion]

I am deeply skeptical about the IAEA. But we will find out the truth, we have our own experts to check it out.

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[judicial meanz]

I am deeply skeptical about the IAEA

I am too. Especially since we appear to be finding out the UN was actually working to discredit the US more than they were working to disarm Iraq. Its becoming clear the UN had an Anti-American agenda from the start.

[Beck_isright]

Yeah, the IAEA did such a great job of watching North Korea.

[BIGZ]

Another Annan UN blunder. Kofi walked away from Haiti, So. Africa, Bosnia, Kosovo, Congo, No. Korea, Cuba, and many more.

Afirmative Action at work.

[Uncle George]

This is BULL. Infering that Marines can't read SEALS applied by the previous inspectors. And the UN inspectors said they never knew about an underground network of labs in that location.

[Per-Ling]

Also, they kicked some major @ss in Iran. A crackerjack group that is.

[Billthedrill]

We can afford to take our time and do it right. Because if it is plutonium, it will be traceable. If not, no sense in getting overly excited. If so, somebody's got some 'splainin' to do...

[scouse]

Yeah, the IAEA did such a great job of watching North Korea.

And who led the investigatiion team in North Korea????Can anybody pronounce Blix?....Yes that Blix.

[Maeve]

Some weeks ago on Fox News Channel they had on a former UN inspector, an American named Tierney. He said that he had given very specific information to Mohammed el-Baradei and the IAEA concerning Tuwaitha, and el-baradei and the IAEA refused to investigate. Tierney said that el-Baradei refused to do his job. This leads me to conclude that Elbaradei was on the Iraqi payroll.

Tierney also said his sources inside Iraq at that time said that Iraq had built NINE nuclear weapons. I wonder how many are now in Syria or perhaps sitting underneath a major Iraqi city, waiting for a more opportune moment.

[Beck_isright]

Yup, the IAEA will head to Iran in 8 months and go "shazzam" just like Gomer used to and figure out that they have weapons grade plutonium. They are just part of the useless U.N. And that is going to create a decade of war, that's for sure.

V

[Beck_isright]

Blix is Swedish which translates loosely to "for sale to the highest bidder". I'll bet his Swiss bank account is healthy.

V

[k2blader]

Thanks for the update!

[NeonKnight]

If the IAEA was aware of this...why wasn't it included in their reports? Even if it was low grade Uranium, they should have at least included it in their reports. They were very good at ignoring incriminating evidence.

[FairOpinion]

The original article quoted the marines and experts by name.

I read of lot of other articles, which claimed that this was material the UN had sealed and the marines broke the seal. But each of those articles quoted an anonymous source, NOT even an official source, who "spoke on condition of anonymity". That is supposed to refute the word of the marines and other NAMED experts quoted in the original article, that broke the story?!
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/search/s_128200.html

The following is a quote from the several later articles, trying to discredit the find.

"What happened apparently was that they broke IAEA seals, which is very unfortunate because those seals are integral to ensuring that nuclear material doesn't get diverted," the expert said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

[freethinkingman]

I like how fast after he initial report was made (by a Pittsburgh Daily) the the AP comes out with a report with "unnamed source" and speaking on condition of "anonymity".

HorseHockey! We know that the President has made the right decision.

And our safety will have been greatly enhanced providing we got there in time to stop the free giveaways of WMD to any terrorist willing to stand in line.

[EllaMinnow]

Update on Tuwaitha.

[MHGinTN]

... the expert said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Right there is the key to the disinformation! Bill Tierney also gave ElBaradai the location where an underground atomic device was detonated, which the dufus refused to inspect, also. To allow the U.N any involvement from here on is pure folly.

[MeekOneGOP]

[FairOpinion]

Check out latest info I found and posted here:

Team Inspects suspected plutonium site (update by the journalist who broke original story, NEW info)

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/891411/posts