Posted on 07/17/2005 2:21:36 PM PDT by wagglebee
By April 2003, when the U.S. invaded Iraq, Saddam Hussein had stockpiled 500 tons of yellowcake uranium at his al Tuwaitha nuclear weapons development plant south of Baghdad.
That intriguing little detail is almost never mentioned by the big media, who prefer to chant the mantra "Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction" while echoing Joseph Wilson's claim that "Bush lied" about seeking more of the nuclear material in Niger. The media's decision to put the Wilson-Plame affair back on the front burner, however, may turn out to be a blessing in disguise for President Bush - giving his administration a chance to resurrect an important debate they conceded far too easily about the weapons of mass destruction threat posed by Saddam Hussein.
First, the facts - from a reliable critic of the White House - the New York Times, which covered the story long after the paper announced it was tightening its standards on WMD news out of Iraq.
"The United States has informed an international agency that oversees nuclear materials that it intends to move hundreds of tons of uranium from a sealed repository south of Baghdad to a more secure place outside Iraq," the paper announced in a little noticed May 2004 report.
"The repository, at Tuwaitha, a centerpiece of Saddam Hussein's nuclear weapons program until it was largely shut down after the first Persian Gulf war in 1991, holds more than 500 tons of uranium," the paper revealed, before insisting: "None of it [is] enriched enough to be used directly in a nuclear weapon."
Well, almost none.
The Times went on to report that amidst Saddam's yellowcake stockpile, U.S. weapons inspectors found "some 1.8 tons" that they "classified as low-enriched uranium."
The paper conceded that while Saddam's nearly 2 tons of partially enriched uranium was "a more potent form" of the nuclear fuel, it was "still not sufficient for a weapon."
Consulted about the low-enriched uranium discovery, however, Ivan Oelrich, a physicist at the Federation of American Scientists, told the Associated Press that if it was of the 3 percent to 5 percent level of enrichment common in fuel for commercial power reactors, the 1.8 tons could be used to produce enough highly enriched uranium to make a single nuclear bomb.
And Thomas B. Cochran, director of the nuclear program at the Natural Resources Defense Council, told the Times that the low-enriched uranium could be useful to a nation with nuclear ambitions.
"A country like Iran could convert that into weapons-grade material with a lot fewer centrifuges than would be required with natural uranium," he explained.
Luckily, Iraq didn't have even the small number of centrifuges necessary to get the job done.
Or did they?
The physicist tapped by Saddam to run his centrifuge program says that after the first Gulf War, the program was largely dismantled. But it wasn't destroyed.
In fact, according to what he wrote in his 2004 book, "The Bomb in My Garden," Dr. Mahdi Obeidi told U.S. interrogators: "Saddam kept funding the IAEC [Iraq Atomic Energy Commission] from 1991 ... until the war in 2003."
"I was developing the centrifuge for the weapons" right through 1997, he revealed.
And after that, Dr. Obeidi said, Saddam ordered him under penalty of death to keep the technology available to resume Iraq's nuke program at a moment's notice.
Dr. Obeidi said he buried "the full set of blueprints, designs - everything to restart the centrifuge program - along with some critical components of the centrifuge" under the garden of his Baghdad home.
"I had to maintain the program to the bitter end," he explained. All the while the Iraqi physicist was aware that he held the key to Saddam's continuing nuclear ambitions.
"The centrifuge is the single most dangerous piece of nuclear technology," Dr. Obeidi says in his book. "With advances in centrifuge technology, it is now possible to conceal a uranium enrichment program inside a single warehouse."
Consider: 500 tons of yellowcake stored at Saddam's old nuclear weapons plan, where he'd managed to partially enrich 1.8 tons. And the equipment and blueprints that could enrich enough uranium to make a bomb stored away for safekeeping. And all of it at the Iraqi dictator's disposal.
If the average American was aware of these undisputed facts, the debate over Iraq's weapons of mass destruction would have been decided long ago - in President Bush's favor.
One more detail that Mr. Wilson and his media backers don't like to discuss: There's a reason Niger was such a likely candidate for Saddam's uranium shopping spree.
Responding to the firestorm that erupted after Wilson's July 2003 column, Prime Minister Tony Blair told reporters:
"In case people should think that the whole idea of a link between Iraq and Niger was some invention, in the 1980s we know for sure that Iraq purchased round about 270 tons of uranium from Niger."
I think you wrote a blog about this at the Finest.
Luckily, Iraq didn't have even the small number of centrifuges necessary to get the job done.
Or did they?
The physicist tapped by Saddam to run his centrifuge program says that after the first Gulf War, the program was largely dismantled. But it wasn't destroyed.
In fact, according to what he wrote in his 2004 book, "The Bomb in My Garden," Dr. Mahdi Obeidi told U.S. interrogators: "Saddam kept funding the IAEC [Iraq Atomic Energy Commission] from 1991 ... until the war in 2003."
Bump.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1444981/posts
With the country rocked by the insecurity, Iraq's chief investigating judge Raed Juhi said late last night a date for the trial of Saddam and his top aides would soon be announced.
He said charges had been brought against them in connection with a 1982 massacre.
The news came at the conclusion of the investigation into the killing of 143 residents of the village of Dujail, northeast of Baghdad, after Saddam survived an assassination bid there.
Centrifuges that could be used to separate high-grade uranium from natural uranium were found in a warehouse near Tuwaitha.
Photo Credits: Action Team 1991-1998/IAEA
Inspectors examine molten steel ingots. Equipment was melted in furnaces and turned into ingots to hide it from the inspectors.
Photo Credits: Action Team 1991-1998/IAEA
A drum of radioactive material discovered in Iraq in 1991.
Photo Credits: Action Team 1991-1998/IAEA
Bottles of specialized oil used in centrifuge for separating high-grade uranium from natural uranium.
Photo Credits: Action Team 1991-1998/IAEA
Containers for radioactive material discovered in a warehouse in Iraq in 1991.
Photo Credits: Action Team 1991-1998/IAEA
Thank you for the correction. Interesting place for a typo.
Action Team Inspectors examine an Electro Magnetic Isotope Separation (EMIS) machine. EMIS's are used to separate highly enriched uranium from natural uranium.
Photo Credits: Action Team 1991-1998/IAEA
The remains of facilities used for Iraq's clandestine nuclear weapons programme.
Photo Credits: Action Team 1991-1998/IAEA
You and your pictures :)
He drafted his report in the Bar after about 5 Kaptain Morgans.
Since I can't think of any plausible reason to post a picture of a scantily clad woman, you get a pass. -:)
bttt
I think you are correct.
Bookmark... Oh, this is getting so rich, we should all by stock in Pepto-Bismal, the Libs are going to be drinking it by the gallons.
Unfortunately there was a typo in the original document.
See post#54.
'03, '04, doesn't make much difference... by his own admission he was a Kerry advisor back to mid '03, unless of course he is lieing again. The more we know about this the worse it looks for these folks. Rove wins again.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.