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2004-07-07 Iraq-Jordan
US 'secretely' removed Iraqi uranium
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Posted by Fred 2004-07-07 11:39:36 PM|| || Front Page|| [1 views since 2007-05-07]  Top

#1 That's right, Al Jizz, it was a black helicopter op using Jooo see-thru-walls technology. And while we were there, we put on our invisi-cloaks, given to us by our bud, Harry Potter, and sneaked into many Holy Moskkks. We touched things, too. Thus they are defiled. Figure out which ones. Did I mention the ham fat we smeared on the...
Posted by .com 2004-07-07 12:17:17 AM|| [http://www.amble.com/images/baby-finger.jpg]  2004-07-07 12:17:17 AM|| Front Page Top

#2 Not so fast, dotted one. Even Al Jazeera noses out a truffle occasionally, especially when it's on the DOE's web site.

I'm still confused, though. Is this the uranium he didn't buy from Africa? Are these, at long last, the WMDs? And what moonbats will believe it if they're in the US?
Posted by Angie Schultz 2004-07-07 12:51:16 AM|| [http://darkblogules.blogspot.com]  2004-07-07 12:51:16 AM|| Front Page Top

#3 Cool! Excellent googling, Angie!

The question must now be, WTF? Lol!
Posted by .com 2004-07-07 1:00:46 AM|| [http://www.amble.com/images/baby-finger.jpg]  2004-07-07 1:00:46 AM|| Front Page Top

#4 You're not supposed to ask questions like that. It doesn't show your absolute trust and devotion to the Press to question their um...well, can we apply the word BIAS to them? Bah, announcing "I'm a reporter" is tantamount to saying, "Hey, I'm a traitor" these days.
Posted by Silentbrick  2004-07-07 1:01:05 AM||   2004-07-07 1:01:05 AM|| Front Page Top

#5 1.77 metric tons * 1000 kg/ton * 2.2 lb/kg * 3% (typical of low enriched uranium) = ~150 kg weapons grade (80% enriched) material. The minimum amount required to support a chain reaction varies with the density of the material, type of device and shape of the core but you can make a pretty big bang with 15kg in the right geometry. Tomorrow's page 1 above-the-fold NYT headline "US Removes Enough Uranium to Construct 10 Nuclear Weapons from Iraq". Riiiiight.
Posted by AzCat 2004-07-07 1:22:25 AM||   2004-07-07 1:22:25 AM|| Front Page Top

#6 Freebies for us, and a no lose proposition. If that Uranium exists, then we've got the smoking gun ergo invasion blah blah is justified based upon the last round of pinko logic.

If it "doesn't" exist, then we finish refining it and light it off over Iran's facilities and claim that they had an accident. Since that Uranium didn't exist, it shouldn't match any known signature.
Posted by Brutus 2004-07-07 3:37:46 AM||   2004-07-07 3:37:46 AM|| Front Page Top

#7 Better yet Brutus if the fission products leftover in Iran have a French or Russian sig, so much the better.
Posted by AzCat 2004-07-07 3:42:35 AM||   2004-07-07 3:42:35 AM|| Front Page Top

#8 Good thinking Brutus!
We can use our German scientists to enrich their
uranium that wasn't bought by their Germans from Niger. Then we can detonate it over the Iranian reactor which was built by Russians using designs from their German scientsts who stold them from our German scientists. I think it's a plan.
Posted by Shipman 2004-07-07 7:08:39 AM||   2004-07-07 7:08:39 AM|| Front Page Top

#9 um, ima hafta sit down.
Posted by .com 2004-07-07 7:10:42 AM|| [http://www.amble.com/images/nuke_blast.jpg]  2004-07-07 7:10:42 AM|| Front Page Top

#10 We have some machiavellian minds around here--I like it!!
Posted by Anonymous4617 2004-07-07 7:30:43 AM||   2004-07-07 7:30:43 AM|| Front Page Top

#11 AzCat - Bravo! Thx work the math workup - it would take phreakin' days to google up the pertinent info to do it from scratch. Thx, again - your expertise is appreciated!
Posted by .com 2004-07-07 8:00:22 AM||   2004-07-07 8:00:22 AM|| Front Page Top

#12 I just shot that DOE info off to a dozen people. Many with print and (mostly) microphone time. Let's see what happens.

Hail! Hail! Machiavelli.
Posted by Dragon Fly  2004-07-07 8:05:15 AM||   2004-07-07 8:05:15 AM|| Front Page Top

#13 From the DOE site, it seems that this uranium was left over from Iraq's earlier nuclear research program: The nuclear research complex...was once a central institution for Iraq’s nuclear weapons program before being dismantled in the early 1990s, following the first Gulf War.
(I wonder why the IAEA didn't get rid of it? /sarcasm)
Posted by Spot  2004-07-07 9:05:23 AM||   2004-07-07 9:05:23 AM|| Front Page Top

#14 UPI / Wash Times are running it as breaking news.
Posted by .com 2004-07-07 9:06:57 AM||   2004-07-07 9:06:57 AM|| Front Page Top

#15 The only "secret" is why the new outlets will bury this story after, perhaps, an initial headline. Now, back to your regularly scheduled 24 hour coverage of Abu Gharib and Scott Peterson.
Posted by Chris W.  2004-07-07 11:30:02 AM||   2004-07-07 11:30:02 AM|| Front Page Top

#16 If this stuff dates from before the 1991 cease-fire, was Saddam required under those terms to have turned this stuff in?

I would be shocked if he failed to comply with terms and the IAEA didn't do anything about it.
Posted by Jackal  2004-07-07 1:20:24 PM|| [http://home.earthlink.net/~sleepyjackal/index.html]  2004-07-07 1:20:24 PM|| Front Page Top

#17 The 1.77 tons of LEU is not news people, this was legally purchased from Italy prior to Gulf War I, and put under IAEA seal at the facility after 1991. You may all remember that when the Marines went into this facility last year they found that looters had broken some of the seals, and they found one building showing higher than expected levels of radiation. Everyone went asshat over it at the time but they didn't find anything beyond what they expected to find there, which was all documented previously.

I would also point out that AzCat's math is incorrect. It should be 1.77 metric tons * 1000 kg/ton * 3% = 53.1 kg, not 150 kg. There's no need to convert kg to lbs there. Furthermore, it is highly unlikely that the process would be done at 3%. Probably closer to 1% yielding only around 17 kg of HEU - enough for one decent bomb.

In any event, we all need to be careful about jumping the gun on these sorts of things. This is not WMD, though it was intended for WMD in the early 90's. This is not "new" news, except it is good to know that the material has been accounted for and is now under lock and key. Hats off to DOE and DOD for successfully bringing this stuff under control.
Posted by Blue 2004-07-07 6:46:09 PM||   2004-07-07 6:46:09 PM|| Front Page Top

#18 Oops, good catch Blue ... thanks. A couple of the stories however did claim that what was removed was "3% - 5% enriched". Of course that and four bucks will get you a coffee these days. ;)
Posted by AzCat 2004-07-07 7:53:30 PM||   2004-07-07 7:53:30 PM|| Front Page Top

#19 Now, the UN is whining that the US removed the material without proper authorization:
U.N. Didn't OK Uranium Transfer to U.S.
El Baradei and his hench-drones are obviously afraid we'll use the material use in our nefarious plan to develop nuclear weapons.
{moonbat mode}Just imagine what the evil Bushitler/HELLiburton/AshKKKraoft clique could do to terrorize the genocidal dictators peaceful peoples of the Middle East if they got their oily capitalist paws on nuclear weapons!
Oh, wait a minute.{moonbat off}

Posted by Atomic Conspiracy 2004-07-07 8:19:19 PM||   2004-07-07 8:19:19 PM|| Front Page Top

#20 I think blue brings up a very good point. I think we all pretty much knew that Iraq had these weapons before hand. What pisses me off is that they say that they don't.

Am I wrong in thinking that they were supposed to get rid of this material. Were they supposed to just let it sit there, while they buy more from Nigeria. I mean does it even matter if they try to buy more from nigeria when they have enough material to make a single bomb right there. Especially when they kick out weapons inspectors, to make sure they aren't using it.

Honestly what the hell constitutes a WMD then? Enough radioactive material for 1 atomic bomb, isn't enough? I can't possibly believe there are people whose justification for a WMD is an actually silo filled with atom bombs.
Posted by just me 2004-07-07 11:09:23 PM||   2004-07-07 11:09:23 PM|| Front Page Top

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