Posted on 04/24/2006 9:45:15 AM PDT by jveritas
This document CMPC-2004-004404 contains memos dated from 1999 and 2000 about Saddam regime procurements of 81 mm in Diameter, 900 mm in Lenght HIGH STRENGTH AND HIGH QUALITY ALUMINUM TUBES. As many of you know the issue of 81 mm High Strength, High Quality Aluminum Tubes were subject for an intensive debate since 2002 because this type of tubes can be used in GAS CENTRIFUGES FOR URANIUM ENRICHMENT. Although the Iraq Survey Group (ISG) said in its final report in 2004 the following about the procurement of these tubes Baghdads interest in high-strength, high-specification aluminum tubesdual-use items controlled under Annex 3 of the Ongoing Monitoring and Verification Plan as possible centrifuge rotorsis best explained by its efforts to produce 81-mm rockets. However the ISG could not prove definitively that these very special tubes were not used as part of Saddam Regime attempt to build its Nuclear Programs and Projects (see link to ISG report http://www.cia.gov/cia/reports/iraq_wmd_2004/chap4.html#sect6). In fact the ISG in its report says also the following The limited information found by ISG that ties Iraqi nuclear entities to the tubes also appears related to the 81-mm rocket program and the ISG report also says Purported high-level interest in aluminum tubes by Saddam and Iraqs Deputy Prime Ministera potential indicator of a program of national importance, such as a centrifuge program.. A 6 March 2003 letter from the Iraqi National Monitoring Directorate (NMD) to the IAEAs Iraq Nuclear Verification Office (INVO) notes that the Iraqi Atomic Energy Commission (IAEC) conducted material composition testing on a sample aluminum tube in early 2001 and In another translated memo http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1620262/posts that talks about a secret project by the Iraqi Atomic Energy Commission to re-instate the Nuclear Reactor Simulators using equipments from the Old TAMUZ (OZIRAQ) Nuclear Reactor. All this is a clear indication of Saddam intent to restart the Nuclear Programs.
I will translate the first two pages of this 11 pages document. The first two pages are the Quotation Bid regarding these Special Aluminum Tubes by a company called AL Bashair addressed to Al Rasheed General Company which is a division of the Iraqi Military Manufacturing Commission. Page 3 of the document has the Technical Specification written in English of these Aluminum tubes, Diameter, Length, Specification, Chemical Composition, Price, Manufacturing origin etc,,
Beginning of the Partial Translation of document CMPC-2004-004404
In the Name of God the Most Merciful The Most Compassionate
Al-Bashair Trading Co. LTD
Date: 2/11/1999
To: Al Rasheed General Company
Subject: Proposal
Following up to our two letters numbered T 2484 and T 2504 on 30/10 and 1/11/1999 consecutively and attached with it proposals numner/3 related to your invitation numbered (75/3/13) included is our forth proposal related to it:
Please study with the other proposals sent to by our letter above and inform us..
With Regards
Signature
Mounir Mamdooh Awed
Acting Director
4/11/1999
Best Salute
Indicating to your overture addressed to us regarding the bid numbered (725/99) we are pleased to offer our proposal included and are shown its details of the Technical Specifications, Prices, and the required quantity by you.
Knowing that the cost of a single tube delivered to your respected company warehouses is estimated (105 dollar) one hundred and five American Dollars,
Please take in consideration the following issues:
1. The Manufacturing Origin of the tubes German/European.
2. The equipping will be achieved within a period of 8 months from the date to deposit the amount in our interest and in the order of partial shipments divided during the equipping period above, where the first shipment begins within four months from the period of equipping indicated above.
3. The quantity of tubes required for equipping is 50,000 Tubes.
We hope that our proposal will receive your approval with the continuous corporation with you to serve the general interest with regards
Attachments. Schedule of Technical Specifications with prices.
TUBE ALUMUNIUM ALLOY
1. SPECIFICATION: AL-ZN-MG-CU 215/ NO. 7075
2. DIMENSION OF TUBE:
Outside Diameter = 81.0 mm
Inside Diameter = 74.4 mm
Thickness = 3.3 mm
Length = 900 mm.
3. CHEMICAL COMPOSITION
NB ALL TUBES ARE SUBJECTED TO CHEMICAL COATNG IONADIZATION PROCESS TO PREVENT AND SUSTAIN SCRATCHES AND CORROSIONS.
4. PRICE: FOR EACH TUBE = USD 105
5. MANUFACTURING OF ORIGIN: GERMANY OR E.E.C
The United States and Russia are at odds over American and Israeli allegations that Moscow permitted a shipment of high-strength aluminum to Iran that could be used to manufacture enriched uranium for use in nuclear weapons, according to U.S. and Russian officials.
The officials said the two countries exchanged a series of diplomatic messages after the United States and Israel alerted Russia to a suspicious aluminum shipment on a Russian boat that was headed for Iran via the Black Sea soon after President Bush took office Jan. 21.
According to the American version, Russian inspectors boarded the vessel and reported that the aluminum was intended for aircraft manufacture, an explanation not accepted by the United States. The shipment was allowed to proceed to Iran.
The precise origin of the aluminum is not known, but U.S. officials said the deal was arranged by a Russian metals trader. The officials said that the United States and Israel have evidence that the aluminum was delivered to Iranian institutions connected with what they suspect is Iran's nuclear weapons project.
The aluminum shipment is the latest in a series of nuclear proliferation disputes that have clouded U.S.-Russian relations in recent years. U.S. officials said Bush is expected to raise proliferation concerns with Russian President Vladimir Putin during their first face-to-face meeting Saturday in the Slovenian capital of Ljubljana without going into detail about specific cases.
"It's a big deal," said one well-placed administration official, referring to fears that Iran is experimenting with different ways of enriching uranium to produce bomb-grade material that would serve as the basis for a crude nuclear weapon.
U.S. officials said they suspected that the aluminum alloy delivered to Iran was intended for the manufacture of rotor blades used in gas centrifuges that separate out the enriched uranium that can produce a chain reaction for a nuclear explosion. U.S. experts say that Iran has been attempting to acquire centrifuge technology, as well as other technology for enriching uranium, for much of the last decade as part of a larger effort to build an atomic bomb.
--------------- "U.S., Russia At Odds on Iranian Deal : Bush to Raise Atomic Issues at Summit," By Michael Dobbs, Washington Post Staff Writer , The Washington Post, 06.15.2001
When CNN asked Ritter about the aluminum tubes, he responded, "What an absurd statement. So were going to go to war over thousands of aluminum pipes. Even the report [* My note: the London International Institute for Strategic Studies released the report] which you cite says that if Iraq was to try to do uranium enrichment it would take them many years before they could do it. This is patently ridiculous. These are aluminum pipes coming in for civilian use. They are not being transferred to a covert nuclear processing plant or any covert nuclear activity whatsoever."
--------- "CNN and Scott Ritter," By Reed Irvine and Cliff Kincaid, AIM.org, September 19, 2002
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