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| Africa: North |
| Diplomats: Egypt Produced Nuclear Material |
| 2005-01-04 |
| The U.N. atomic watchdog agency has found evidence of secret nuclear experiments in Egypt that could be used in weapons programs, diplomats said Tuesday. The diplomats told The Associated Press that most of the work was carried out in the 1980s and 1990s but said the International Atomic Energy Agency also was looking at evidence suggesting some work was performed as recently as a year ago. Egypt's government rejected claims it is or has been pursuing a weapons program, saying its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. "A few months ago we denied these kinds of claims and we do so again," Egyptian government spokesman Magdy Rady said. "Nothing about our nuclear program is secret and there is nothing that is not known to the IAEA." But one of the diplomats said the Egyptians "tried to produce various components of uranium" without declaring it to the IAEA, as they were bound to under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. The products included several pounds of uranium metal and uranium tetrafluoride — a precursor to uranium hexafluoride gas, the diplomat said on condition of anonymity. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #6 I've been pointing out for close to two years now that El Baradei was the head of the Egyptian effort for nukes until shortly before the peace agreement with Israel. It seems obvious that he has been covering for various Arab countries pursuing nukes. If nobody in US agencies suspected as much, and nobody did anything about it, we are in serious trouble. |
| Posted by: Kalle (kafir forever) 2005-01-04 6:08:50 PM |
| #5 After Egypt's ignominious defeat, they went passive-aggressive. That is, horrendously antisemitic slanting of the news and entertainment in their gov't sanctioned media, and weapons smuggling across/under the border through tunnels that seem inevitably to end within Egyptian Army camps. There is nothing in this mindset that would forestall working quietly on their own nuclear program in order to go back to the more comfortable active-agressive posture. Not to mention the 'face' they would earn among other Arab countries for being the first to announce such a scientific/military triumph. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2005-01-04 5:48:24 PM |
| #4 Odd if it's true. After Egypt's ignominious defeat by Isreal, it never struck me that Egypt had any ambition to be an aggressor. I thought that Egypt seemed quite content to live off foreign aid, just do the rah-rah talk at Arab meetings, but not be interested in doing any Arab nationalist walking except to the fridge to get some American made bonbons. |
| Posted by: joeblow 2005-01-04 1:19:58 PM |
| #3 Very good catch, Anonymoose. Now I'm going to have to google that, unless you can provide a link for the background. I do love moving the bounds of my ignorance!! |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2005-01-04 1:11:43 PM |
| #2 There was a strong suggestion a while back that the Libya-Egypt "Great Man-Made River" project, which involved enormous tunnels in deep mountains, was also being used to hide a joint nuclear weapons program. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2005-01-04 12:30:43 PM |
| #1 there is nothing that is not known to the IAEA I'm sure that part is true. Didn't ElBaradei once head up that program? |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2005-01-04 11:43:38 AM |