Replies

Since the NY Times insists on bringing up aluminum tubes again, I'll link this. Makes you wonder just who they are protecting:

French Freighter intercepted by Germans in Egypt carrying Nuclear Material

See also:

To: thegreatbeast
Maybe this, though it doesn't mention Egypt:

German businessman allegedly involved in nuclear shipment to North Korea
The director of a German company suspected of supplying aluminium tubes for North Korea's nuclear programme has been taken in for questioning. Prosecutors confirmed the move following a report in the weekly news magazine Der Spiegel which said that 22 tonnes of aluminium tubes were loaded onto a French ship in Hamburg earlier this month. The shipment, officially on its way to China, was stopped by German authorities. Aluminium tubes can used to produce enriched uranium. During talks with the United States and China on Thursday, North Korean officials reportedly admitted that the country has nuclear weapons.

23 posted on 04/26/2003 1:03:20 PM PDT by The Hon. Galahad Threepwood

I can see where the IAEA and the UN and any journalists who think these orgs should be the ones playing a supervisory role over our foreign policy might be a wee bit nervous about the linkage between the aluminum tubes and Iraq.

[In many of these articles they press avoids even using the term 'tubes,' preferring instead to use 'parts,' 'rods,' 'materials,' etc. - perhaps because if they use the phrase 'aluminum tubes' in reference to Libyan or N Korean nuke programs it might bring to mind the "tubes are for rockets only" spin associated with Iraq and make people think Powell's UN speech might have been right after all.:

North Korean diplomat implicated in nuclear plot: German press
Agence France-Presse | September 21, 2003

HAMBURG, Germany (AFP) - A former North Korean diplomat is accused of ordering material from a German firm that could be used in the production of nuclear weapons, Germany's Der Spiegel reported in its Monday edition. The news magazine said a German businessman would go on trial in Stuttgart, southwest Germany, next month in connection with the case.

The diplomat was named by Spiegel as Yun Ho Jin. It said he used to work as a Pyongyang representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna. According to Der Spiegel, Yun Ho Jin ordered special aluminium tubes from the businessman which, experts say, are used to build gas ultracentrifuges in which uranium is enriched.

The equipment was impounded in April after being loaded on board a ship.

The unidentified businessman, who got to know the diplomat in the late 1980s, is accused of breaching trade export laws and "attempts to encourage production of a nuclear weapon."

Experts from the IAEA, the German foreign ministry and the German foreign intelligence service are expected to testify, the magazine added.