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| Axis of Evil |
| U.N. Teams Inspect Iraqi Uranium Mine |
| 2002-12-10 |
| By CHARLES J. HANLEY, AP Special Correspondent BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - International nuclear monitors drove six hours across the Iraqi desert to a remote uranium mining site in one of five inspections mounted Tuesday, a marked expansion of the U.N. field operation. Still more inspectors arrived in Baghdad. Iraq's chief liaison to the U.N. teams said the Iraqis have found the inspectors to be working in a "calm and professional" manner. But he again complained about last week's surprise inspection of one of President Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s palaces, calling it an American-inspired provocation. Also Tuesday, Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan rejected U.S. skepticism of Baghdad's report to the U.N. Security Council on its weapons program, and said an attack on his country would be a challenge to the whole region. "Any aggression against Iraq is the start of more aggression on the neighborhood," he told Al-Jazeera, the Arab satellite television network, which showed only a brief segment of the interview. In Washington, Pentagon officials said allied aircraft bombed an Iraqi surface-to-air missile system Tuesday after Saddam's forces moved it into a restricted zone earlier in the day. The attack hit a site called Qalat Sal, near the Tigris River city of Al Amarah, about 165 miles southeast of Baghdad. It was unclear if Iraqi forces fired at U.S. and British warplanes patrolling the southern no-fly zone. But U.S. officials say the mere presence of air defense systems inside such zones represents a threat to coalition pilots. Tuesday marked the end of the second week of field missions for the U.N. inspectors, who returned to Iraq after a four-year absence under the Security Council resolution requiring the Baghdad government to give up any remaining chemical or biological weapons, and shut down programs to make them. Iraq denies it has such weapons or programs. On Tuesday, reporters followed several cars of U.N. nuclear experts to mining operations at Akashat, in the desert near the Syrian border 250 miles west of Baghdad. The enormous complex surrounded by antenna posts, some broken, sat in an otherwise empty quarter of the desert. Reporters were unable to follow the inspectors inside. The U.N. team presumably wanted to assess current Akashat operations considering what was found there by U.N. nuclear inspectors in the 1990s. In the 1980s, the phosphate deposits at Akashat had been exploited for their uranium content as well as for fertilizer, producing some 100 tons of uranium over six years. Also Tuesday, other nuclear inspectors headed again for al-Tuwaitha, Iraq's major nuclear research center, 15 miles southeast of Baghdad, Iraqi Information Ministry officials reported. It was their third recent visit to the sprawling complex, where Iraqi scientists in the 1980s worked on developing technology for enriching uranium to levels usable in bombs. Now, this has me truly worried. The "little Boy" bomb was a uranium based weapon. I had no idea they had access to a large source of uranium. |
| Posted by:Frank Martin |
| #5 No expert, just a Bach of Sci degree, but this is common enough knowledge that even an anonymous tool should know it |
| Posted by: Frank G 2002-12-11 07:26:44 |
| #4 And you're what, "anonymous?" The Saddam's Peanut Gallery? If you've got something to add, then do so. |
| Posted by: RGM 2002-12-11 01:09:20 |
| #3 Ahh.. and you're the expert, eh, Frank? |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2002-12-10 22:58:43 |
| #2 Yes we have no nukes, Yes we have no nukes, Need a mining expert to determine how much enriched uranium you can get out of this ore. Enough for one nuke would be too much. Yes we have no material breach |
| Posted by: john 2002-12-10 20:02:44 |
| #1 Depends on the level of enrichment, not quantity...that's why they were importing (or at least trying to) centrifuges |
| Posted by: Frank G 2002-12-10 15:39:39 |