Posted on 11/13/2012 12:12:03 PM PST by Pete
A U.N. official said Libya's new rulers had found uranium yellowcake, partly refined uranium ore, that was left over from the former regime's nuclear program, in a southern area.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to release the information, said Thursday the material was "slightly radioactive" but posed no immediate danger.
He didn't know how much had been found. British newspaper The Telegraph reported that at least 10,000 drums were found at the stockpile but they haven't been examined.
The Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed that yellowcake is stored in drums at a site near Sabha, which had been disclosed to the nuclear watchdog. The IAEA has tentatively scheduled safeguard activities at this location once the situation in the country stabilizes, according to spokeswoman Gill Tudor.
The U.S. ambassador to Libya, Gene Cretz, said Americans were worried about the proliferation of weapons that were missing from Muammar Qaddafi's once vast arsenal. In particular, the U.S. has sought to keep track of Libya's unconventional weapons experts during the civil war.
Qaddafi agreed to dismantle his weapons of mass destruction research and production programs as part of efforts to normalize relations with the international community as he faced intense economic pressure from international sanctions. But he never completed the process.
Also Thursday, fighters from Misrata said in a statement that they are in control of chemical weapons near Qaddafi's hometown of Sirte — one of the three areas where loyalists continue to put up stiff resistance. They said they are safeguarding any possible chemical weapons until the arrival of a U.N. team, which will oversee their transfer.
"We are looking for a peaceful country and we don't want these kinds of weapons to stay in it," the statement said.
On Monday, NATO said warplanes have struck several military targets in Sirte as Libyan revolutionary forces besieged the area in an attempt to wear down Qaddafi loyalists.
The alliance said that it hit eight targets around Sirte Sunday, including an ammunition and vehicle storage facility, a multiple rocket launcher and other military sites.
Revolutionary fighters have faced fierce resistance in efforts to take the city and the NATO airstrikes could be aimed at softening up targets for a new push in coming days.
Oh good. </s>
I still can’t see any reason why Obama had to bomb Libya. Well, other than that he wanted to make some money for him and his pals.
“I still can’t see any reason why Obama had to bomb Libya...”
Jealous. HE wanted to use that name for our country:(
As of September of this year, the CIA was still looking for chem stockpiles. Source
From Iranian help suspected in secret Libyan chemical weapons arsenal
The Obama administration is investigating whether Iran supplied the Libyan government of Moammar Gadhafi with hundreds of special artillery shells for chemical weapons that Libya kept secret for decades, U.S. officials said.
...
The stockpile's existence violates Gadhafi's promises in 2004 to the United States, Britain, and the United Nations to declare and begin destruction of all of Libya's chemical arms, and raises new questions about the ability of the world's most powerful nations to police such pledges in tightly-closed societies.
So was the whole Libyan "revolution" just a way for Al Qaeda to get its hands on all sorts of WMDs that the West didn't know about?
From Is the Brotherhood Trying to Export Political Islam?
Excluding the special case of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, we can say that this “Brotherhoodization” has defined the political arena across the Arab world over the past few decades. This hegemony has been witnessed in Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Sudan, Yemen, Algeria, Libya and to some extent Tunisia.
It is as if the Brotherhood is in a rush to seize this historical moment that was only granted by a Western-American plan in the first place. Heikal probably noticed this when he said that the Brotherhood’s great joy at being recognized by the West prevented them from deeply considering the consequences of their actions if they go ahead with the “Brotherhoodization” of the state.
But, from October 7, 2012...
Libyan Parliament Blocks Muslim Brotherhood Takeover
The SNC in rebel Syria is the Muslim Brotherhood. Until 2 weeks ago, they were who we recognized. But because the rebellion is so sectarian, it has been recast so that the "visible" (Hilary's word) rebellion is much more moderate than the actual, which is Islamist and infiltrated by Al Qaeda; many of the fighters coming from Libya. Question: What did they bring with them?
Possibly. The other thing is that apparently not all of the prisoners in the “facility” were Libyans, and one site (I don’t know how reliable) posted that some of them were Iranians. Some of the disappeared nuke scientists?
Which begs the question why would Obama deliberately refuse appropriate security when asked?
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