Did Germany give Nuclear Technology to Iraq?

O'Reilly Factor ^ | Tuesday, September 24, 2002 | Eric Nalder

[Eva]

BILL O'REILLY, HOST: In the unresolved problem segment tonight, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has been reelected by just a few votes. And there's no question he would have lost if not for the far left, which rallied to him after he said Germany would not help the United States remove Saddam Hussein.

[chris_in_nj]

I agree.

I guess Germany can be considered a nation the "supports or harbors" terrorists......bombs away!

Germany likes its annuity business of selling its technology. Boy, times ARE tough if this is what you have to do for a buck these days.

[Mr. Mojo]

The truth is Germany just doesn't care, especially if it threatens the state of Israel.

Actually, those Nazi-lovers do care. They care to completely destroy the state of Israel, and attempt to finish what their duly elected fuhrer [Hitler] started. ...And their sentiments are thinly disguised, indeed.

[fightinJAG]

Yes, I think you are correct. It was a fascinating read (but not a fascinating title, I guess).

[Eva]

I don't know, where the film will be available. Maybe you should e-mail O'Reilly and ask him.

[fightinJAG]

Maybe FOX will show this film as an O'Reilly special. O'Reilly can do a lead-in and then a short commentary on the film as a lead-in after every commercial break.

Not on the same level, politically, but the Animal Channel used this format with Sigeurny (sp?) Weaver and the film Gorrillas In the Mist. Her commentary made it very interesting. Which is saying a lot for a gorrilla movie.

Then after the movie, O'Reilly could a host a roundtable discussion.

Point: FOX shows Stealing the Fire for purposes of discussion.

[Don Carlos]

these Germans are just Johny come-latelies constantly running after fashions set by the French

ROFL. So true!

[backhoe]

Eva, just going by notoriously inaccurate memory, I recall pre-web articles about Germany, and perhaps France and other nations, selling various countries in the middle east technology that had dual-use possiblities.

Like chemical plants for insecticide that could make nerve gases with some alterations, and bacteriological equipment that could culture germ agents. FWIW!

[mushroom]

The French were the ones that sold Iraq a nuclear power plant that was ultimately destroyed by the Israelis.

[MinuteGal]

Slightly off topic, but the other day I fired an email off to the German Consulate in Chicago concerning Frau Gmelin's attacks on President Bush. I received the following email in reply:

"It was with great regret I received your message. We all regret the remarks of Federal Minister of Justice Herta Daubler-Gmelin, who will not belong to the newly elected government.

"Allow me to point out the following sentences of a letter sent from Chancellor Gerhard Schroder to President George Bush on September 20:

'Let me assure you that there is no room in my cabinet for anyone who speaks of the President of the United States of America and a criminal in the same breath.'

"Furthermore, the White House Spokesman rightly pointed to the close and special ties between the German and the American people. Justice Minister Gmelin has called the connection between her and an alleged comparison of Bush and Nazi officials, as reported in a regional newspaper in Germany, erroneous and slanderous.

"Minister Gmelin telephoned the US Ambassador to Germany on September 20 to explain the incident. Speaking to the press on the same day, Minister Gmelin said that she regretted that the highly emotional press coverage of the matter was beginning to cast a shadow on the good German-American relationship

"Sincerely yours,

Dr. Claus Peter Woerner
Deputy Consul General
Office of the Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany"

Are there conflicting messages in this email or not? Like, we don't approve of this woman, but of course, it's all the fault of the press?

Leni

[Eva]

Ok, I did a web search and here is a review of the film:

Stealing the Fire (NY Premiere)

Directed by John S.Friedman and Eric Nadler Produced in US/Germany, 2002 Running Time: 97m Format: video Genre: Documentary Distributor: Friedman/Nadler Productions

Filmed over five years on four continents, Stealing the Fire focuses on Karl-Heinz Schaab, a German technician convicted of treason in 1999 for selling top secret nuclear weapons plans to Iraq. The film unflinchingly exposes a web of government and corporate intrigue and lays bare an unbroken chain of events and people that connects today's nuclear weapons underground with the atomic bomb program of Nazi Germany. Stealing the Fire investigates the 60-year history of a German multi-national corporation that directly profited from the Holocaust and in recent decades became a leading supplier of nuclear weapons technology to developing nations, including Iraq and Pakistan

As you can see, this film is about a German who was convicted of treason for selling nuclear weapon plans to Iraq, plans which Iraq could sell or pass on to other rogue states or entities. This goes far beyond the trading in military weapons, not beyond what Bernard Schwartz did, though.

I e-mailed the producers, asking where and how the film can be viewed.

[Vets_Husband_and_Wife]

Lookie who Germany has been sleeping with. Interesting..

[Eva]

Considering the follow-up remarks that Herta made, I would say that this response is less than satisfactory, as was Schroeder's lack of immediate, public denunciation of this woman.

[zefrog]

The French were the ones that sold Iraq a nuclear power plant that was ultimately destroyed by the Israelis.

Yup. And they also sold nuclear technologies (or uranium, or both, I don't remember exactly) to Khadaffi at the end of the 70s. Let's mention however that by this time, Khadaffi and Hussein were not as poorly considered by the West, US included, as they are today. Hussein in particular was seen as an ally against the fundamentalists and especially against Iran.

That's no excuse, but this different context makes the whole thing a little less surprising.

[backhoe]

Wow! I'll mass email this link...

[Eva]

We don't call the Greens in this country,"Enviro Nazis" for no reason.

[Eva]

But the film is about a German who was convicted of treason for selling nuclear technology to Iraq and got away with a $32,000 fine, not the legal selling of nuclear plants or materials.

The Germans know that Saddam has the technology and they also know that they probably have the materials necessary for the weapons of mass destruction, but they are still crying- Show us the proof! They claim that Saddam is not such a threat. Of course he's not stupid enough to bite the hand that fed him, unless of course that hand sides with Saddam's enemies. Do you think that perhaps, Saddam threatened to make public, to the world, the source of his weapons of mass destruction if Germany lined up with the US?

[virgil]

Too bad Germans don't get C-SPAN. A lot of interesting things are being brought up in the hearings. Ignorance is bliss you know. They don't really know where those aluminum tubes are from. I thought I read that this Wisconsin group thinks they are from Ukraine or Belarus. Saddam has been on a shopping spree all around the world picking up dual use materials to build his weapons program. In plain sight with no export controls. It is very dangerous to ignore all of this.

[virgil]

I call the the Greens the "lunatic fringe".

[Lady In Blue]

Did you see this?!

[Eva]

I call the anarchistic Greens, Enviro Nazis, buy the PETA people are the PETA Freaks. It just seems to fit their wide-eyed, deer in the headlights expression better.