[staytrue]

I'm not sure why the chinese would sell aluminum tubing when they could easily sell a few hundred pounds of the real thing, bomb grade uranium. How hard would it be to smuggle a few hundred pounds of uranium to iraq. Selling tubing makes no sense. Or even easier would be to sell the technical expertise in design in manufacture. It would be a few hundred pages of paper with ink on it.

[piasa]

For the same reason France and Germany sell dual use components- for deniability and profit.

If China sold the finished product, the complete technology, the expertise, or a product that wasn't dual use, then they would be liable for violating the UN embargo and they could very well make themselves an economic or military target for those who are enforcing the UN embargo, namely the US and Britain. China couldn't deny that they knew what Iraq was going to do with the items.

By selling items which have a dual use, however unlikely the 'legal' use is, they have enough deniability to escape being held responsible. Iraq can take full responsibility for using the product- not in the legal way- and the sellers can still make money selling things that are just a little too questionable for an honest company or country to sell.

[blam]

"I'm not sure why the chinese would sell aluminum tubing when they could easily sell a few hundred pounds of the real thing, bomb grade uranium. "

The radio isotopes could be traced to China.