The Little WMDs That Weren't There
Nearly two tons of low-enriched uranium has been removed from an Iraqi nuclear facility in a secret operation conducted by the U.S. Energy Department. The quantity of nuclear material, stored at the al-Tuwaitha research complex southeast of Baghdad, was probably enough to give Saddam Hussein the capacity to produce at least one atomic bomb, according to a physicist with the Federation of American Scientists quoted by the Associated Press. ...in addition... "roughly 1,000 highly radioactive sources . . . [that] could potentially be used in a radiological dispersal device [or dirty bomb]" were also transported out of Iraq. According to Bryan Wilkes, spokesman for the Energy Department's National Nuclear Security Administration, much of the radioactive material - which had been used for medical and industrial purposes - "was in powdered form, which is easily dispersed." Wilkes said that some of the other radioactive material - including cesium-137, colbalt-60 and strontium - could have been valuable to a terrorist seeking to fashion a radiological bomb.
Nope. Nothin' there . . . No threat from Saddam. Nosiree. Un uh. None. Nada. ThanQ! Junkyard Blog
Yep. It’d been there, sealed since early 1990’s—and we didn’t bother guarding it after the invasion last year. So the Iraqis looted the uranium. Oops.
Posted by on 07/08/04 at 03:03 PM
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