Correct if I am wrong but, didn't we discover this yellow cake after about the fourth week of the war starting? The locals were dumping it on the ground and stealing the plastic barrels to gather drinking water??? I can't remember the name of the town or village, but I remember the 'experts' stating that this was radioactive waste and were concerned about the locals.
Yes. It was wrapped up and tagged or something by the UN ---- and left there for years.
I recall that, but I don't think that was "yellow cake" but some kind of by-product that could be used in a "dirty bomb" but not an actual nuke ...
That was old spent stuff that Saddam's minions had previously shown to UN inspectors before Saddam threw them out the first time. It was used for legitimate industrial/scientific purposes (at least in the UN's opinion). The stuff had UN seals on it, but the Iraqi scientists abandoned the facility when the war began, and the local looters broke the seals, dumped the spent fuel, and used the contaminated barrels for water.
The IAEA, of course, blamed it all on the U.S.
The Niger yellowcake was another matter entirely.