[ISawIt]

I'd like to point out something that you've missed.

Which is more dangerous, from a practical standpoint?

A pound of C4, surrounded by a buffer, hence surrounded by 1kg of Anthrax spores?

A pound of C4, surrounded by a buffer, hence surrounded by 1kg of VX with a dispersal agent?

A pound of C4, NOT surrounded by a buffer (don't need it, eh?), and hence surrounded by ANY of the contents of ANY of those barrels.

Detonate each of these in A. New York, B. Los Angeles, and C. San Francisco.

Now, I riddle you this. Which city will you NOT want to live in, 1 year after the attack?

If you've followed me to this point -- you will realize that your premise about "weapons-grade" is faulty, because ANY material emitting enough REM IS WEAPONS GRADE, perhaps not fissionable, but weapons grade nonetheless.

I find that Iraq possessing several billion (trillion?)REM worth of Nuclear Waste is very notable; in fact, it's more notable than their possessing all or more than what they declared in their chemical and biologics stockpile and capability in 1991.

For someone who seems (at first appearance at least) to have some knowledge of physics, I am rather surprised that you didn't think of it this way.

On the record, I will say that I agree with the basic tenets of your skepticism, but that you're missing the forest for the log on a swinging rope crushing your skull.

[FairOpinion]

"ANY material emitting enough REM IS WEAPONS GRADE, perhaps not fissionable, but weapons grade nonetheless."

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I think that is why there was/is all the concern about dirty bombs.

[MHGinTN]

Wasn't there recently a guy arrested in South Florida as an al Qaeda suspect who was planning a 'dirty bomb'?

[XJarhead]

I was not disputing the potential danger of the material. What I was disputing was the conclusion that this discovery proves a continuing Iraqi nuclear weapons program in violation of U.N. resolutions. Is it the "smoking gun"?

It's possible that these readings are due to Iraqi incompetence, not the development of an illegal weapons program. I'm sure the French reactors are normally very safe. But I question the ability of the Iraqis to keep them that way. Put it this way: if you were operating a secret weapons lab, would you intentionally have so much dangerous leakage that you could not even enter parts of the facility? Why make your own facility unihabitable?