1999, 2000 Iraqi memos: Procurement of 50000 Aluminum Tubes That Can Be Used For URANIUM ENRICHMENT.

Pentagon/FMSO website for Iraq Pre-war documents ^ | April 24 2006 | jveritas

[jveritas]

This document CMPC-2004-004404 contains memos dated from 1999 and 2000 about Saddam regime procurements of 81 mm in Diameter, 900 mm in Lenght HIGH STRENGTH AND HIGH QUALITY ALUMINUM TUBES. As many of you know the issue of 81 mm High Strength, High Quality Aluminum Tubes were subject for an intensive debate since 2002 because this type of tubes can be used in GAS CENTRIFUGES FOR URANIUM ENRICHMENT. Although the Iraq Survey Group (ISG) said in its final report in 2004 the following about the procurement of these tubes “ Baghdad’s interest in high-strength, high-specification aluminum tubes—dual-use items controlled under Annex 3 of the Ongoing Monitoring and Verification Plan as possible centrifuge rotors—is best explained by its efforts to produce 81-mm rockets”. However the ISG could not prove definitively that these very special tubes were not used as part of Saddam Regime attempt to build its Nuclear Programs and Projects (see link to ISG report http://www.cia.gov/cia/reports/iraq_wmd_2004/chap4.html#sect6). In fact the ISG in its report says also the following “ The limited information found by ISG that ties Iraqi nuclear entities to the tubes also appears related to the 81-mm rocket program and the ISG report also says ” Purported high-level interest in aluminum tubes by Saddam and Iraq’s Deputy Prime Minister—a potential indicator of a program of national importance, such as a centrifuge program.. A 6 March 2003 letter from the Iraqi National Monitoring Directorate (NMD) to the IAEA’s Iraq Nuclear Verification Office (INVO) notes that the Iraqi Atomic Energy Commission (IAEC) conducted material composition testing on a sample aluminum tube in early 2001 and In another translated memo “http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1620262/posts ” that talks about a secret project by the Iraqi Atomic Energy Commission to re-instate the “Nuclear Reactor Simulators” using equipments from the “Old TAMUZ (OZIRAQ) Nuclear Reactor”. All this is a clear indication of Saddam intent to restart the Nuclear Programs.

I will translate the first two pages of this 11 pages document. The first two pages are the Quotation Bid regarding these Special Aluminum Tubes by a company called AL Bashair addressed to Al Rasheed General Company which is a division of the Iraqi Military Manufacturing Commission. Page 3 of the document has the Technical Specification written in English of these Aluminum tubes, Diameter, Length, Specification, Chemical Composition, Price, Manufacturing origin etc,,

Beginning of the Partial Translation of document CMPC-2004-004404

In the Name of God the Most Merciful The Most Compassionate

Al-Bashair Trading Co. LTD

Date: 2/11/1999

To: Al Rasheed General Company

Subject: Proposal

Following up to our two letters numbered T 2484 and T 2504 on 30/10 and 1/11/1999 consecutively and attached with it proposals numner/3 related to your invitation numbered (75/3/13) included is our forth proposal related to it:

Please study with the other proposals sent to by our letter above and inform us..

With Regards

Signature…

Mounir Mamdooh Awed

Acting Director

4/11/1999

Best Salute

Indicating to your overture addressed to us regarding the bid numbered (725/99) we are pleased to offer our proposal included and are shown its details of the Technical Specifications, Prices, and the required quantity by you.

Knowing that the cost of a single tube delivered to your respected company warehouses is estimated (105 dollar) one hundred and five American Dollars,

Please take in consideration the following issues:

1. The Manufacturing Origin of the tubes German/European.

2. The equipping will be achieved within a period of 8 months from the date to deposit the amount in our interest and in the order of partial shipments divided during the equipping period above, where the first shipment begins within four months from the period of equipping indicated above.

3. The quantity of tubes required for equipping is 50,000 Tubes.

We hope that our proposal will receive your approval… with the continuous corporation with you to serve the general interest… with regards

Attachments. Schedule of Technical Specifications with prices.

TUBE ALUMUNIUM ALLOY

1. SPECIFICATION: AL-ZN-MG-CU 215/ NO. 7075

2. DIMENSION OF TUBE:

Outside Diameter = 81.0 mm

Inside Diameter = 74.4 mm

Thickness = 3.3 mm

Length = 900 mm.

3. CHEMICAL COMPOSITION

NB ALL TUBES ARE SUBJECTED TO CHEMICAL COATNG IONADIZATION PROCESS TO PREVENT AND SUSTAIN SCRATCHES AND CORROSIONS.

4. PRICE: FOR EACH TUBE = USD 105

5. MANUFACTURING OF ORIGIN: GERMANY OR E.E.C

[bert]

Check this out.....

http://www.backcountrygear.com/catalog/HikingPoles.cfm

7075 alloy commonly known as aircraft aluminum is used for making hiking poles.

[Marine_Uncle]

The document is most instructive to say the least. I had raved on in some of the Iranian posts that fabricating a very large gas centrifuge cascaded system was no easy task. And it in essence required extremely tight monitoring, which included a stages that would demand automation. I have not finished the document yet, but it attend to. Not to intend to deviate from this post. Just am one that understands one does'nt easily extract sufficient quantities of 90% plus enriched uranium from throwing a few kitchen blenders together. The facilities is loaded with all kinds and periphery equipement and very special type baffling/tubing arrangments, sensor systems, very tight AC controlled power supplies to maintain tight rpm ranges on the rotating parts, etc.. In short, a huge undertaking to create a fully operational/reliable system.

[Marine_Uncle]

The filth bags on the left know the score as we well understand and will continue to be filth bags and worse. Until books come out with all we know, written in a form for general readership, the slime balls of all forms will continue to spin their lies and get away with it.
Sadly most America doesn't want the details. They only want to be safe and drive their tubs around for two bucks a gallon of gas.

[driftless]

Gee, it's starting to look like that with all his involvement with Islamo-fascist terrorists, his own anti-Western/U.S.A. terrorist activity, nuclear and conventional arms buildups, wmd procurement and fabrication, that Hussein was a....a... um..er...MAJOR ISLAMO-FASCIST TERRORIST!!! But who should I believe, the facts or leftist/Dem lies? Hmmmmm. (/sarcasm)

[Marine_Uncle]

"Why?"
So he could in due time start working on a fully operational uranium gas diffusion extraction system, to enrich uranium ore for commercial reactor use and for making atomic weapons.
But you already know that.

[bert]

is this a translation of the same document?

Given the detail of this report, it would seem that the 900 mm x 75.4 MM ID 7075 alloy anodized tubing veertically packed wrapped in plastic mesh were in fact rocket bodies.

There was storage corrosion problems necessitating the need for anodizing and plastic mesh wrapping. There is considerable detailed engineering nitpicking by bosses that was corrected by the engineer to put the project back on track

[Marine_Uncle]

"And why the ingredients in the alloy?"
I do not know what you are referencing. I have been reading the pdf IAEA document blaster88 had referenced earlier on.

[jveritas]

I did not understand. Do you mean that the comment you posted below is an older translation or comments on the same document?

[Shelayne]

Found this: The aluminum tubes were actually first highlighted by Bush in his speech to the U.N. General Assembly last fall. Iraq had attempted to buy thousands of these aluminum tubes for the purposes of enriching uranium. In fact the Iraqis have made a strange cottage industry in trying to obtain these mysterious tubes. In 2001 a shipment of 60,000 aluminum tubes made it as far as Jordan before being stopped. It was National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice who enforced and repeated the claim stating that the tubes are, "only really suited for nuclear weapons programs." http://www.enterstageright.com/archive/articles/0203/0203tubes.htm

[bert]

....Do you mean that the comment you posted below is an older translation or comments on the same document?....


I don't know. I thought it might be the same report.

I was googleing for info on 7075 alloy tubing and
that came up.

I was wondering why the Iraqis did not make the tubing themselves. I knew they had aluminum extrusion capabilities. This report says they couldn't extrude the harder 7075 in presses used for probably architectural grade 6063 or 6061 alloy.

[daviddennis]

A quick lookup - and people can freely correct me if I'm wrong - indicates that 81mm howitzers haven't been in significant use since World War II.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_vehicles_of_the_U.S._Armed_Forces
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M2_Half_Track_Car
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M3_Half-track

So it seems unlikey to say the least that the Iraqis would have much interest in such a producct, at least not for that use.

Didn't the tubes also have to be made to a higher precision than the howitzer tubes?

D

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

I am referencing this spec:

SPECIFICATION: AL-ZN-MG-CU 215/ NO. 7075

AL - Aluminum....ZN - Zinc....MG - Magnesium....CU - Copper,,,,

[saganite]

Jveritas

Is the title of this thread yours or was it contained in the documents? There's nothing in the text you presented that specifies what the use the tubes will be. Unless the title of the thread is from the text this doesn't further the argument that these tubes were specifically meant for the nuclear program (even though it's as obvious as the nose on your face that's the real purpose). Without a specific reference stating their purpose we're right back where we started. The MSM will just claim we can't prove they were intended for the nuclear program--and we can't.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Thanks,....

That is really good...we need that here:

*************************************************

Totally tubular

***************************************************

By Jackson Murphy
web posted February 3, 2003

During last week's State of the Union address President Bush reiterated the administrations contention about the significance of 'aluminum tubes' to the Iraqi nuclear weapon program.

The aluminum tubes were actually first highlighted by Bush in his speech to the U.N. General Assembly last fall. Iraq had attempted to buy thousands of these aluminum tubes for the purposes of enriching uranium. In fact the Iraqis have made a strange cottage industry in trying to obtain these mysterious tubes. In 2001 a shipment of 60,000 aluminum tubes made it as far as Jordan before being stopped. It was National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice who enforced and repeated the claim stating that the tubes are, "only really suited for nuclear weapons programs."

According to Bush in the State of the Union, the basic evidentiary case goes like this: "The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed in the 1990s that Saddam Hussein had an advanced nuclear weapons development program, had a design for a nuclear weapon and was working on five different methods of enriching uranium for a bomb."

Then Bush forcefully dangles a few pieces of intelligence: "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa."

And finally the key point is this: "Our intelligence sources tell us that he has attempted to purchase high-strength aluminum tubes suitable for nuclear weapons production."

That's a simple, cut and dry argument right? Not so fast, argues Salon's Joe Conason. He called Bush's reference to the aluminum tubes this way. "Doesn't anybody compile a news digest in the White House these days?" asks Conason. "Does the president get a copy? It's good use of taxpayer's dollar because it prevents credibility-busting gaffes like last night's reference" to the tubes.

For Conason the idea of the aluminum tubes is neatly answered by the International Atomic Energy Agency. "According to [Mohammed] ElBaradie, who heads the IAEA, the tubes 'can not be used' for the purposes of enriching Uranium."

But a Washington Post article by Jody Warrick published just days before the speech quoted an expert who disagrees. "It may be technically possible that the tubes could be used to enrich uranium. But you'd have to believe that Iraq deliberately ordered the wrong stock and intended to spend a great deal of time and money reworking each piece."

A CIA report based on the size of the tubes in question said, "A few tens of thousands of centrifuges would be capable of producing enough highly enriched uranium for a couple of weapons per year." There is a rift in intelligence on the issue-with some analysts believing that the tubes could be modified, while others are not convinced.

And the Associated Press reported that, "the top nuclear inspector conceded that aluminum tubes the Iraqis had sought for rockets could be modified for a nuclear program."

That top nuclear inspector would know, wouldn't he? This news story also takes pains to stress the belief of ElBaradei who claimed that the Iraqis were being very cooperative-something even Hans Blix has been hard pressed to suggest. But ElBaradei is also of the belief that any weapons inspectors "could be fooled."

So it is possible and given the Iraqis preoccupation with importing thousands of these tubes, perhaps importing ones that wouldn't obviously be used for a nuclear program might be more easily brought into the country. Or maybe Saddam just likes aluminum tubes.

Even Iraq admits to trying to import the tubes. CNN's Christiane Amanpour reported in December that, "Iraq, during meetings with U.N. weapons inspectors in Baghdad two weeks ago, did admit to having tried to import aluminum tubes." Amanpour went on to say that this in itself would be a violation of the existing sanctions imposed by the United Nations.

Apparently Iraq told the weapons inspectors that the tubes were only designed to be incorporated in the nation's conventional rocket program. And everyone knows they don't lie. It comes down to a game of who do you trust? Do you trust the Iraqis who have systematically tried to cover up, or worse deny, their nuclear weapons ambitions? Do you trust Joe Conason who takes the talking points of a man willing to trust the Iraqis? Or do you trust the Bush administration that probably has more intelligence and may well share it in the coming week?

Again the burden of proof should not be coming from the Bush administration. It should be coming from Saddam Hussein and Iraq. Whether or not Iraq has aluminum tubes for uranium enrichment or conventional weapons is not the question. Truthfully either reason is equally disastrous. To come to a truthful conclusion on the aluminum tube debate we're going to have to cut out the meddlesome Iraqi government. Give war a chance and we will know for sure.

Jackson Murphy is a commentator from Vancouver, Canada. He is the editor of "Dispatches" a website that serves up political commentary 24-7. You can contact him at jacksonmurphy@telus.net.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Hot Link:

Testimony to the US Congress
by Mr. Charles Duelfer,
Director of Central Intelligence Special Advisor for Strategy regarding Iraqi Weapons
of Mass Destruction (WMD) Programs< "Date" -->30 March 2004

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Good God Man.....give us a break,....JV is translating documents....then we try to FIGURE OUT WHAT T?HEY MEAN!!!!!

FROM what planet did you parachute into here?

[jveritas]

The only reason I translated this document is because these tubes can be used in Uranium Enrichment and these Aluminum tubes have been in very heated but inconclusive debate since 2002 so it is very important to see the documents that talk about it.

[RaceBannon]

major bump

[jveritas]

You are finding great articles written on this issue. The importance of this document it is the first time the Public can see a written document that belongs to Saddam Regime procuring such Aluminum tubes.

[jveritas]

Thanks RB.