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To: Marine_Uncle; neverdem; Mark; marron; Chgogal

Help me out here.

Iraq Survey Chief Duelfer: Saddam Was ACTIVELY Developing Nukes in 2003
http://www.e-thepeople.org/article/33983/view?viewtype=best&skip=10

FROM THE ARTICLE: Most of the recent nuclear research took place at Iraq’s notorious al Tuwaitha weapons facility, where Saddam had stockpiled over 500 tons of yellow cake uranium ore since before the first Gulf War.

The AP article spins this cache of yellow cake as “known” and secured by the IAEA in 1991 after the gulf war. I’m sorry, but...

1. Why would we allow a “known” cache of uranium to remain in Iraq?

2. How secure could the uranium have been if Saddam was using the 500 tons of yellow cake at his Tuwaitha facility in 2003?


62 posted on 07/06/2008 5:17:05 PM PDT by Jo Nuvark (Those who bless Israel will be blessed, those who curse Israel will be cursed. Gen 12:3)
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To: Jo Nuvark

Your question answers itself.

IAEA was monitoring North Korea’s weapons program in one location while weapons were being developed at another location right down the road. In other words, IAEA monitoring doesn’t mean much. As a side note, despite Wilson’s comments to the contrary, IAEA monitors were not active in Niger (another of Wilson’s misrepresentations of the truth).

Saddam’s nuclear research continued apace. The yellowcake was tagged and documented outside, but so what? It was not removed, it was there ready for use if and when he should decide to abrogate his agreements with IAEA. And, as we have noted, he was looking for other supplies that IAEA wouldn’t know about. Not hard to do, IAEA is rather like Clouseau when it comes to investigating anything. They’ve never found anything yet that someone else didn’t find for them.

So, as you note, he has 500 tons of the stuff, his research continues, and he’s looking for more of the stuff.

Some have suspected Libya’s program was also Saddam’s program. When we went after Saddam it wasn’t long before Khadaffi squealed. And I have seen press reports that Iraqi engineers were working in Libya on their program. And, as I’ve mentioned, Libya’s public and their secret uranium caches both came from Niger.


66 posted on 07/06/2008 5:49:14 PM PDT by marron
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To: Jo Nuvark
Why would we allow a “known” cache of uranium to remain in Iraq?

And how do you control Saddam's use of it?

80 posted on 07/06/2008 11:01:11 PM PDT by TheThinker (Capitalism is the natural result of a democratic government.)
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To: Jo Nuvark

I don’t have a definitive answer for you.


81 posted on 07/07/2008 6:04:54 AM PDT by Marine_Uncle (Duncan Hunter was our best choice...Now we are left with a bunch of idiots.)
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To: Jo Nuvark
Regarding your question as to how "secure" the YC was after we invaded. It was not secure to the point where it was being protected by US or Coalition troops. There were reports that Iraqi where stealing the barrels for use as water storage containers. With the results of some of them becoming sick due to breathing the yellowcake dust.
Quite frankly I was under the impression that this stuff was shipped out to a south east weapon plant in the USA during 2004. So it is a bit of a surprise for me to now read that it was recently shipped to Canada, to be converted to usable fuel for reactors.
As a few other Freepers made note. It was not so much that their engineers where actively working at this nuclear site on a specific phase (manufacturing process) while the weapon inspectors where present, but the fact they did not disclose much of the nuclear program willingly.
Documents found and translated for instances from the Harmony Database before it was shut down to the public showed where say an East German company was known to have sold them special induction furnaces specifically designed to zone refine uranium from it's native ores, for subjugation to further required processing steps to finally reach a stage where UF6 (gas) was stored for eventual use in centrifuges to extract U235 in sufficient quantities.
These where sold to the Iraqi after Operation Desert Storm took place.
The composite of evidence produced in the past ten years or so point to the fact Saddam was hell bent on developing an atomic bomb. He wanted to be the first Arab nation to achieve nuclear weapon capability.
It was a matter of getting the sanctions lifted and all foreign elements out of his country before they would go full steam to resurrect their nuclear program. And the L/MSM and their willing demowits will continue to wherever possible spin off mis information in order to make this administration look bad, ignoring all that had been put to print prior to GWB taking office.
82 posted on 07/07/2008 7:30:02 AM PDT by Marine_Uncle (Duncan Hunter was our best choice...Now we are left with a bunch of idiots.)
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