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

Pittsburgh Tribune Review ^ | April 11, 2003 | Carl Prine

[FairOpinion]

SOUTH OF BAGHDAD: A scout team from the Pentagon's Defense Threat Reduction Agency arrived in a convoy Thursday at the Al-Tuwaitha nuclear complex, beginning a probe that could take weeks to determine whether plutonium is present at the massive nuclear facility and extensive underground complex.

[FairOpinion]

I have confidence in the reporting of this journalist, his original article was well researched and he broke the story. Others ended up just repeating it, and quoting anonymous sources speculating that the IAEA was already aware of this.

Here is the link to the original article, in case any of you missed it -- it has a lot of detail, that was not reproduced in later articles by others. http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/search/s_128200.html

PS. I am putting this in breaking news, because this contains new info, the other articles rehashing this info or trying to discredit it were posted in Front page or extended news.

Note,in this article:

"The Pentagon team also began interviewing a former nuclear physicist and an engineer who recently worked at Al-Tuwaitha. The two men told the Marines they would show coalition investigators "everything we didn't show the inspectors" from the IAEA. "

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[FairOpinion]

ping

I just found this.

I was hoping that he will do more research and he did, has some more good info.

[TC Rider]

"Yellowcake Facility"

Yellowcake is an intermediate step in the process of refining uranium. Yellowcake is processed from the uranium ore. Seems like there was a story in the past year about suspicions that Iraq had gotten yellowcake from Brazil. Makes you wonder what documents the Iraqi embassy in Brazil was shredding the other day.

[eyespysomething]

"The Pentagon team also began interviewing a former nuclear physicist and an engineer who recently worked at Al-Tuwaitha. The two men told the Marines they would show coalition investigators "everything we didn't show the inspectors" from the IAEA. "

You mean, while Saddam was in power, these people weren't willing to talk? I am shocked I tell ya.

I thought inspections would work < /sarcasm>

[RaceBannon]

major bump

[DED]

Although the WMD stuff was the straw that broke the camels back and sent our military into Iraq, there was plenty of reason to send the whole Iraqi leadership into the great beyond without it.
The newest disgusting story for me was the one I heard live today - an Iraqi talking about his eight year old daughter who was put in prison and released when she was fifteen. I missed just exactly what it was she was put in prison for - if anyone else got it, let me know.

[Scott from the Left Coast]

Very informative article. Good post.

[EllaMinnow]

"Between and below Al-Tuwaitha's rose gardens and palm groves, Marines have found stockpiles of artillery shells, chemical drums from Russia and locked bunkers and storage rooms.

"It's like walking through a diabolical Disneyland," said Marine Sgt. J. J. Turner of Charleston, S.C., as he peered into locked biological laboratories deserted nearly a month ago when the war began.

"See, the beakers are still setting there. There are cultures growing in them. I sure don't want to go in and see what's in them. Leave that to the Army."



It's got BIO too?

[Husker24]

They interviewed one guy the Marines broke out of prison who said he had been in prison for eight years for praying too much.

[ffusco]

Mmmm.........Yellowcake!

[ellery]

btttt

[Ken H]

The Pentagon team also began interviewing a former nuclear physicist and an engineer who recently worked at Al-Tuwaitha.

Sounds like the US is finding some of the people they've been looking for.

[ffusco]

Was there a restraining order from the Almighty?

[concerned about politics]

The two men told the Marines they would show coalition investigators "everything we didn't show the inspectors" from the IAEA. "

I think we'll be seeing a lot more guys like these two in the near future.

[EternalVigilance]

Speaking on condition of anonymity, IAEA investigators said they would be "surprised, but not necessarily shocked" if coalition scientists uncovered illegal atomic weapons production at Al-Tuwaitha.

Cowards.

[tutstar]

ping

[FairOpinion]

So far we only know about the nukes at this location.

But I read somewhere that they thing there are some 1000 suspicious sites around Iraq, not counting the mobile bio labs.

[Carry_Okie]

Speaking on condition of anonymity, IAEA investigators said they would be "surprised, but not necessarily shocked" if coalition scientists uncovered illegal atomic weapons production at Al-Tuwaitha.

Not exactly an appropriate sense of urgency, or a high level of confidence in their own process.

These IAEA authorities insisted they had extensively probed Al-Tuwaitha when they returned, and had begun to make significant progress before hostilities broke out between Iraq and the United States.

How significant does it have to be? If there was anything significantly different from the last time they were there the flag should have gone up. It didn't.

"To date we have found no evidence or plausible indication of the revival of a nuclear weapons program in Iraq," wrote IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradeiin his final report on Iraqi inspections in March.

Dirty bomb development notwithstanding.

I hate bureaucrats.

[Smedley]

Instead, the Marines apparently broke U.N. seals designed to ensure materials aren't diverted for weapons use or end up in the wrong hands.

Amazing. Placing a U.N. seal on this stuff was enough?