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"32 Tons of HMX Missing in January 2003": Mohammed Elbaradei
Lexis-Nexis | 2003 | Various

Posted on 10/27/2004 1:28:58 PM PDT by Prince Charles

Copyright 2003 CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest Global Communications Corp.

All Rights Reserved

The Gazette (Montreal, Quebec)

January 10, 2003 Friday Final Edition

SECTION: News; Pg. A4

LENGTH: 794 words

HEADLINE: UN inspectors find no 'smoking gun': Diplomats back off on war deadline. Blix charges Iraq with violating sanctions against importation of missile engines

SOURCE: Southam News; The Gazette contributed to this report

BYLINE: JOE LAURIA, SEAN GORDON of The Gazette contributed to this report

DATELINE: UNITED NATIONS

[SNIP]

Also, Mohammed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said Iraq had not accounted for a quantity of HMX explosives, which can have a dual industrial and military use. The IAEA has also been unable to pin down evidence to confirm reports that Iraq has tried to import uranium.

[SNIP]

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Copyright 2003 Detroit Free Press

All Rights Reserved

http://www.Freep.com/

Detroit Free Press

January 10, 2003 Friday 0 EDITION

LENGTH: 933 words

HEADLINE: Iraq not telling all, UN reports; Dozens of fighter aircraft joining troops in region

BYLINE: FREE PRESS NEWS SERVICES

DATELINE: WASHINGTON -- United Nations inspectors reported Thursday that Iraq has failed to disclose its weapons programs and cooperate fully with disarmament efforts

[SNIP]

ElBaradei told the council that UN nuclear experts were trying to track down 32 missing tons of a high explosive known as HMX, which was placed under UN seal in 1998 and could be used to detonate a nuclear bomb.

[SNIP]

-------------------------------------------------------------

Copyright 2003 Associated Press All Rights Reserved

The Associated Press

These materials may not be republished without the express written consent of The Associated Press

January 9, 2003, Thursday, BC cycle

SECTION: International News

LENGTH: 1104 words

HEADLINE: U.N. inspectors: Iraq must cooperate on scientist interviews; criticize Baghdad for violations

BYLINE: By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press Writer

DATELINE: UNITED NATIONS

[SNIP]

ElBaradei said inspectors were investigating what happened to 32 tons of HMX high explosive that Iraq says was turned into industrial explosive but which can also be used to detonate nuclear weapons.

[SNIP]

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Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company

The Boston Globe

January 10, 2003, Friday ,THIRD EDITION

SECTION: NATIONAL/FOREIGN; Pg. A1

LENGTH: 1101 words

HEADLINE: Globe correspondent Joe Lauria contributed to this report from the United Nations.;

NO 'SMOKING GUN' FOUND, BUT IRAQ IS CALLED EVASIVE

BYLINE: By Anne E. Kornblut, Globe Staff

[SNIP]

Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei - director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which conducts nuclear inspections - told the Security Council that Iraq had admitted importing missile engines and raw material used for making solid missle fuel. Both actions, which were disclosed in the weapons declaration, would violate UN resolutions that limit Iraq's import of restricted material.

Inspectors are also trying to find out what happened to more than 30 tons of HMX, a high explosive that can be used to detonate nuclear weapons. Iraqi officials insist it was put to industrial use.

At a press conference following their report to the UN Security Council, Blix and ElBaradei said that inspectors have been getting insufficient cooperation from the Iraqis in their attempts to interview scientists, interviews that are considered to be the crucial element of their investigation and the method most likely to yield information about Iraq's weapons.

[SNIP]

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Copyright 2003 Cable News Network

All Rights Reserved

CNN

SHOW: CNN LIVE EVENT/SPECIAL 10:00

February 14, 2003 Friday

Transcript # 021401CN.V54

SECTION: News; International

LENGTH: 27003 words

HEADLINE: U.N. Inspectors Report to Council

GUESTS: Ken Pollack, Joseph Wilson

BYLINE: Wolf Blitzer, Christiane Amanpour, Paula Zahn, Richard Roth, John King, Andrea Koppel

HIGHLIGHT: The Security Council meets to listen to and discuss Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei's reports. The situation obviously is critical right now, as the United States prepares for the possibility of war.

[SNIP]

JOSHKA FISCHER: I thank Dr. Blix for his briefing.

I now give the floor to Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The floor is yours.

DR. MOHAMED ELBARADEI, DIRECTOR GENERAL, IAEA: Mr. President, my report to the Council today is an update on the status of IAEA's nuclear verification activities is Iraq pursuant to Security Council Resolution 1441 and other relevant resolutions.

[SNIP]

We have also continued to investigate the relocation and consumption of the high explosive HMX. As I reported earlier, Iraq has declared that 32 tons of the HMX previously under IAEA seals had been transferred for use in the production of industrial explosives, primarily to cement plants as a booster for explosives used in quarrying.

Iraq has provided us with additional information, including documentation on the movement and use of this material, and inspections have been conducted at locations where the material is said to have been used. However, given the nature of the use of high explosives, it may well be that the IAEA will be unable to reach a final conclusion on the end use of this material.

While we have no indication that this material was used for any application other than that declared by Iraq, we have no technical method of verifying quantitatively the declared use of the material in explosions.

[SNIP]


TOPICS: Extended News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: alqaqaa; ammogate; blix; elbaradei; hmx; rdx
Here it is folks, various contemporaneous news sources confirm that Blix and his chief henchman Elbaradei admit that they had no idea where at least 30 tons of HMX was located in Iraq, BEFORE THE WAR STARTED.
1 posted on 10/27/2004 1:28:59 PM PDT by Prince Charles
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To: Prince Charles

Links to the actual articles would greatly enhance your thread.


2 posted on 10/27/2004 1:31:14 PM PDT by counterpunch (The CouNTeRPuNcH Collection - www.counterpunch.us)
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Good find!

Also, the IAEA was supposed to destroy those explosives, not just put a seal on them.

THEY GOOD AND ARE TRYING TO BLAME US!!!!!!!!!!!!!


3 posted on 10/27/2004 1:31:19 PM PDT by Peach (The Clintons pardoned more terrorists than they ever captured or killed)
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To: counterpunch

Don't think you can link to Lexis/Nexis, that's a subscriber service.


4 posted on 10/27/2004 1:32:49 PM PDT by Shryke (Rumpologist)
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To: Prince Charles

and if you follow the same reporting via lexis nexis through january -march 2003 you will find that in january IAEA inspected/inventoried @170 tons of hmx at al qa qaa and sealed the bunkers.

the last inspection of al qa qaa in march 2003 checked the seals on the hmx and they were still intact.


5 posted on 10/27/2004 1:33:20 PM PDT by steveeboy
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To: counterpunch

The articles are stored on Lexis-Nexis. I doubt that the news services themselves would have the articles online, except for maybe CNN.


6 posted on 10/27/2004 1:37:44 PM PDT by Prince Charles
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To: Prince Charles

Ooops...


7 posted on 10/27/2004 1:37:55 PM PDT by Smogger
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To: Prince Charles

Great find. You should send to the usual suspects.


8 posted on 10/27/2004 1:41:27 PM PDT by kabar
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To: Prince Charles

Great find. You should send to the usual suspects.


9 posted on 10/27/2004 1:42:10 PM PDT by kabar
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To: steveeboy

That still doesn't account for the 32 tons that went missing and which Saddam said were used for "mining."


10 posted on 10/27/2004 1:42:22 PM PDT by Prince Charles
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To: steveeboy

THere was an inspection by 101st Airborn and at least 1 embedded reporter after that.


11 posted on 10/27/2004 1:42:54 PM PDT by Principled
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To: steveeboy

Also, Iraq plainly admits breaking the IAEA seals on the bunkers and pilfering the proscribed HMX.


12 posted on 10/27/2004 1:44:13 PM PDT by Prince Charles
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To: Prince Charles
Here is post from yesterday with actual report.
13 posted on 10/27/2004 1:51:15 PM PDT by Steven W.
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To: Prince Charles

Sadam payed princely sums to the UN to look the other way.
When are the Democrats going to start thinking for a change and stop being played.


14 posted on 10/27/2004 1:53:49 PM PDT by Two-Bits (I am voting in memory of those innocents that were incinerated on 9/11! Vote George W Bush)
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To: Steven W.

Bingo.


15 posted on 10/27/2004 1:57:37 PM PDT by Prince Charles
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To: steveeboy

"the last inspection of al qa qaa in march 2003 checked the seals on the hmx and they were still intact."




I think some people are disputing this very point. If I recall, on Brit's show last night, either Dana Lewis or Brett (whatever his last name is) mentioned that these bunkers were left unchecked from the time they tagged them in January until sometime in late May. Even Russert conceded today, that nobody knows when this stuff was taken since the last time anyone accounted for it was in January.

Dana was one of the reporters who walked the facility when the 101 came through, and he reported that he didn't even see any of the IAEA tags that the UN says they put on these bunkers. In fact, from the Reuters photage I viewed, these bunkers were only secured with wire/cable locks that could've been easily cut with bolt-cutters.

If this material is as dangerous as the media is now reporting, one has to wonder why UNSCOM didn't destroy these weapons in 1995 as Duelfer suggested. Instead, they stored it, claiming Saddam had legitimate uses for it and they weren't worried about its dual-use attributes.

The UN had posession of these explosives for over 8 years...and yet they are blaming the US for its disappearance when there is no evidence that it existed when US soldiers came through. And of course, moving 380 tons of material with US convoys and unmanned aerial vehicles patrolling the region just isn't plausible.


16 posted on 10/27/2004 2:00:34 PM PDT by cwb (Only a Democrat could think that "truth" is partisan.)
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To: Prince Charles

Yes the weapons they (the UN) lost they now are trying to say we lost. and the Boston Globe bless their heart has it all in print for the record (as they were trying to say iraq had no dangerous weapons or "smoking gun").

Time the MSM admitted this is a fraudulant story.


17 posted on 10/27/2004 2:08:55 PM PDT by rod1 (uired 4 more hours).)
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To: Prince Charles
Foxnews, the WhiteHouse, Bush-Cheney04 et al should be using this info and blowing the Kerry campaign out of the water with this!
Where are the *freaking* headlines on Drudge, Foxnews etc?!?!?!
18 posted on 10/27/2004 2:16:42 PM PDT by auzerais
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To: steveeboy

Did it occur to anyone, [esp Kerry] that the IAEA inspectors, knowing that Saddam had already removed tons of munitions in Jan, might have lied about those seals still being intact in March03 just to save face?


19 posted on 10/27/2004 2:21:07 PM PDT by auzerais
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To: auzerais

It appears that Steveeboy may be a troll. I was going to inquire about his source, but his account has already been banned.


20 posted on 10/27/2004 2:35:37 PM PDT by cwb (Only a Democrat could think that "truth" is partisan.)
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