[Ol' Dan Tucker]

Cripes of COURSE Saddam was trying to get uranium.

Old news.

Were you aware that Hussein already had anywhere between 400 tons and 750 tons of uranium yellowcake?

Were you aware that he'd had it since the early 90's?

Were you aware that everyone knew he had it? This includes the US Govt. The IAEA. The U.N.

Everyone.

Well, everyone except, of course, President Bush who trumpeted this during his SOTU address.

Now, why would Bush make a big deal over this by mentioning that Iraq was trying to buy yellowcake when Iraq already had over a million pounds of the stuff?

That's the question that needs to be asked and answered.

[Jim Robinson]

"That's the question that needs to be asked and answered."

Yes, indeed. According to the French, Germans, Iraqis, Democrats, peaceniks, anti-war pukes, and other assorted Saddam sympathizers world-wide. Sheesh, who gives a rat's tail?

We kicked Saddam's butt and rid the world of his tyrannical regime of terror. Join the Democrats if Bush pisses you off so much. Who cares? Get a freeking life already!

[Athelas]

I guess I don't understand your post Ol' Dan.

In the first place, I don't agree that Bush made a big deal on the uranium charge. He mentioned it in his speech. Cheney mentioned concerns about the nuclear program in an interview. Period. I don't remember anyone making a big case about it at all, and it certainly wasn't something that was big on my list of concerns. It was only months afterwards that the Dems and their media water carriers made an issue of it.

Yes, Saddam had acquired uranium before. So what? I'm not sure what your point is. Iraq was known to have acquired hundreds of tons of yellowcake as early as the late 80's. They tried to enrich it and failed. Using 540,000 pounds of the stuff they were only able to obtain gram quantities of 20% U235 due to the primitive methods they were using. Not the 20-30 kilograms of 93% U235 needed for a bomb.

Exactly what does that have to do with their continued efforts to acquire uranium? Does their prior failure to successfully enrich uranium mitigate against it being of concern? Is that what you are saying?

[William McKinley]

Now, why would Iraq be trying to get uranium if they already had some (unless they were looking for more for enrichment purposes)?

Unless, of course, you think they wanted to buy cowpeas from Niger.

[okie01]

"That's the question that needs to be asked and answered."

If you've been following events, you should already know the answer: All of the uranium oxide (yellow cake) in Iraq was accounted for after the Gulf War. It was so labelled and sealed by the IAEA -- those are the drums that were involved in the post-invasion looting and have caused some radiation sickness.

What Iraq was after in Niger -- and what the President called to the world's attention -- was unaccountable yellow cake.

So here's a better question. Let's see if you can figure out the answer:

"Terry Jeffrey, the editor of Human Events, reports a great story..."

If the editor of an obscure journal can research and uncover this information, why couldn't the New York Times, the Wash Post or CNN?

This answer, too, is also readily apparent: They didn't want to know the truth.