Yellowcake Found in Rotterdam Harbor May Have Originated in Iraq

AP ^ | Jan 15 2004 | Toby Sterling

[mewzilla]

Isn't this interesting...

[princess leah]

So, are we going to be searching scrap metal sites anytime soon?

[mewzilla]

What's really funny is that I saw a crawl on one of the news nets a while ago about the yellowcake story heating up in Britain again. Great timing those clods have. Almost as good as Algore's.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

Not their security that concerns us . . . it's the idea that Al Qaeda might ship us a dirty bomb through a foreign port like Rotterdam.

Don't knock it.

[armymarinemom]

Very interesting. I wonder if they will be able to trace this other than word of mouth.

[Amerigomag]

I wonder if they will be able to trace this other than word of mouth.

If it's from a single source (mine) it's easily traceable because of it's component characteristics.

Iraq has only two "natural" sources of uranium. It has one low yield mine (about 100 tons of ore recovered) and many battlefields littered with tons of "depleted" uranium munitions.

[ordinaryguy]

I thought Iraq never had yellowcake ..?? Isn't that what Mr. Wilson said ..??

I don't think he ever said that. Do you have a citation?

It is common knowledge that Iraq has yellowcake. Go to Google and search for Tuwaitha. Evidently the US wasn't too concerned about the yellowcake stored there, as the facility wasn't secured until weeks after the Iraqis abandoned it.

Tuwaitha was heavily looted, with many people taking contaminated drums to store their water in. There were stories about US troops having to spend their time tracking down some of these things and try to explain to the locals why it isn't a very good idea to drink out of something like that.

[Warren]

Yep, just love yellow cake with milk chocolate icing.

[Political Junkie Too]

Experts said that around 2 pounds of yellowcake, the amount found, would not be useful for either a bomb or fuel.

Katie Couric: "But it was only two pounds. That's not enough to make a bomb, therefore this doesn't count."

Only two pounds found... how much more was out there?

-PJ

[ordinaryguy]

1.1.2 Procurement of yellowcake and uranium dioxide

In the period 1979 through 1982, Iraq procured yellowcake from both Portugal and Niger and uranium dioxide from Brazil. At that time, neither Niger nor Brazil were party to the NPT, nor had either concluded a comprehensive safeguards agreement, which would have required notification to the Agency of the transfers of such material to Iraq. Portugal, a party to the NPT, but without a comprehensive safeguards agreement at that time, notified the Agency of the transfers to Iraq.

The yellowcake procured from Portugal was supplied in two batches. Batch 1, received on 20 June 1980, consisted of 429 drums containing 138,098 kg of yellowcake and batch two, received as three consignments over the period from 17 May 1982 through 20 June 1982, consisted of 487 drums containing 148,348 kg yellow cake. By letters dated 6 August 1981, 1 June 1982 and 21 July 1982, Iraq notified the IAEA of the receipt of this material, which confirmed the complementary notifications received from Portugal at the time of shipment. Iraq's entire holding of the material of this origin was verified against comprehensive packing lists provided to the IAEA by the Iraqi counterpart, detailing the original production lot number together with weight data for each drum. Verification measures involved weighing, non-destructive assay and sampling and analysis from which it was concluded that all of the yellowcake received from Portugal was fully accounted for and remained intact, as shipped, except for the loss of about 40 kg from a drum damaged during Iraq's salvaging/concealment activities in 1991. This material remains in Iraq, under the control of the IAEA, at Location C, in the same form as it was received.

The yellowcake procured from Niger was also shipped in two batches. Batch one, received on 8 February 1981, consisted of 432 drums containing 137,435 kg of yellowcake and batch two, received on 18 March 1982, consisted of 426 drums containing 139,409 kg yellowcake. By letter dated 6 August 1981 Iraq notified the IAEA of the receipt of the first consignment but did not provide notification of receipt of the second consignment. Iraq's entire holding of material of this origin was verified against comprehensive packing lists for both batches, provided to the IAEA by the Iraqi counterpart, detailing the original production lot number together with weight data for each drum. Verification measures involved weighing, non-destructive assay and sampling and analysis from which it was concluded that all of the yellowcake received from Niger was fully accounted for. This material remains in Iraq, under the control of the IAEA, at Location C, in the same form as it was received.

[CyberAnt]

All I remember is that Wilson came back from Niger and said there had been no deal for yellowcake. I do recall it being said that there had been previous sales of yellowcake to Iraq (but I don't recall the dates).

What I want to know is .. why would the Bush admin send a Bush-hater on a diplomatic mission for the admin ..?? When we have that answer .. along with who made the suggestion that Wilson be chosen to make the trip .. I think we will know who leaked Mrs. Wilson's supposed ID.

[nuffsenuff]

Want to hear something funny?

I posted this story on another discussion board and the lefties were saying that the administration is crying wolf again...

As if the administration controls information coming out of AMSTERDAM!

Hysterical, ain't it?

[ordinaryguy]

What I want to know is .. why would the Bush admin send a Bush-hater on a diplomatic mission for the admin ..?? When we have that answer .. along with who made the suggestion that Wilson be chosen to make the trip .. I think we will know who leaked Mrs. Wilson's supposed ID.

I think what you are suggesting is that if we knew:

1. Why Ambassador Wilson was sent?
2. Who sent Ambassador Wilson?

   Then we would know

3. Who talked to Bob Novak?

Sorry, I'm not sure I understand how we would know Novak's source from those first two.

[Snapple]

Hi! I am new to the forum and just testing out a post.
Wouldn't it be cool if the person who "outed" Joe Wilson's Valarie was Ex. Secretary O'Neill??

I think that Bush is just letting these Democrats walk into the swamp. At some point, more will turn up about WMD, Atta in Prague, Al Douri's ties to Al Qaeda, etc.

Re Al Douri--supposedly he needs transfusions for leukemia, but maybe this is just a cover that lets him travel for unsuspicious "health" reasons. He was even getting transfusions in Vienna and in Jordan.

I think Al Douri has been doing a lot with Al Qaeda and so is not too sick. Same with Bin Laden. If he were really on dialysis, he wouldn't be running a terrorist organization and traveling all the time.

[RandallFlagg]

What ever happened with those mortar shells they found the other day?

Mortar shells? What mortar shells?

Mortar shells? What mortar shells?

Oh, you mean the mortar shells with the supposed biological agents splashing around inside?

Well, it was just water. Nothing to worry about. We're looking for real WMD stuff, here.

Stop worrying.

Have you heard any updates on those "Chemweps" we caught being smuggled out of Iraq into Kuwait back around October?

[nuffsenuff]

Hey!

You wouldn't happen to post on the ABC Iraq board regularly, do you?

[doug from upland]

Mark Fuhram planted it for Rove.

[Snapple]

No. I tried to post at Dean for America but they suspended me because I thought there might be a connection between Saddam and Al Qaeda. I read the Mylroie books and told about those as well as the recent "Case Closed" article in The Standard." I said that O'Neill wasn't going to hurt Bush.

Dean says it is ok to go into Bosnia to save lives, but in Iraq thousands were dying because Saddam was stealing the oil-for-food money and he would use his poisons on any organized reesistance. I think it is great Saddam is gone. Bush isn't afraid to bust the bad guys. The Democrats and French are just jealous they don't have Bush's courage.

[CyberAnt]

My contention is this .. Hillary Clinton will do anything and everything to embarrass President Bush and try to destroy his credibility. It was well known in the run up to the war that she and Bill were globe trotting all over the place .. talking to all those leaders from the UN WHO DID NOT SUPPORT BUSH. To me it was treasonous activity .. to publically support those people who did not support their very own President.

During one of their last visits, they went to the UK where Clinton and Blair happened to meet up at some social function. During their conversation, Clinton was overheard telling Blair that if Blair didn't drop his alliance with Bush, Blair was going to lose his job. Hmmmm? How could Clinton threaten that? .. and what did Clinton know to allow him to threaten that?

Then enters Mr. Wilson .. who is sent to Niger. While in Niger .. Mr. Wilson does nothing and returns to say that there was no attempt to buy yellowcake by Iraq. I'm saying Mr. Wilson had no way of knowing that because he never really looked. Mr. Wilson said he gave an oral report to Cheney .. this was a lie. This whole trip was a ruse to embarrass the President and PM Blair. I also believe it was an attempt to discredit the intel in order to try to stop the war .. because all Bill's friends (France, Germany and Russia) did not want the war.

I believe the Clintons suggested Mr. Wilson make the trip to Niger. The Wilsons are very cozy with the Clintons and the Wilsons have held fundraisers for the Clintons.

I'm not real clear about the UK involvement accept regarding their intel that Iraq had made an attempt to buy yellowcake. However .. after Wilson revealed he was the one sent to Niger .. suddenly Novak is writing this article which says that someone from the admin (not the WH) told him that Wilson's wife is an operative for the CIA.

There is only one person who had the motive and opportunity to reveal that info.

I believe it was Hillary or someone of her choosing; a person still within the Pentagon who used to be a part of her staff. The motive was still to embarrass the President and PM Blair and discredit the intel .. since it was no longer possible to stop the war.

I know this probably requires tinfoil, but that's okay. I just don't trust Hillary at all. Her lust for power will cause her to take risks she might not ordinarily take.

[ZOTnot]

Hmmmm? Is right!

Wasn't there a thread this week which described unusual shipments/activities/alerts for the Belgium, Luxemborg, and the Netherlands region?