Please reconcile this article with all of the other documents that you have
provided this list showing that it has been "proven" that Iraq had neither a
nuclear weapons program or the ability to produce them and that this was well
know before the war.
Either it wasn't a concern then and now or it is. You can't have it both
ways.
Andy
-----Original Message-----
From: Larry C. Lyons [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Tuesday, October 12, 2004 8:48 AM
To: CF-Community
Subject: Re: U.N. watchdog agency: Nuclear materials looted from Iraq while
US prevented UN access to sites
Here's the full story:
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/10/11/iraq.nuclear/index.html
Nuclear materials 'vanish' in Iraq
UNITED NATIONS (CNN) -- Equipment and materials that could be used to
make nuclear weapons have disappeared from Iraq, the chief of the
U.N.'s atomic watchdog agency has warned.
Satellite imagery shows entire buildings that once housed
high-precision equipment that could be used to make nuclear bombs have
been dismantled, the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a
letter to the Security Council.
In the letter, IAEA head Mohamed ElBaradei said that though some
radioactive equipment taken from Iraq after the war began has shown up
in other countries, none of the high-quality, dual-use equipment or
materials that is missing has been found.
The U.S. government prevented U.N. weapons inspectors from returning
to Iraq -- thereby blocking the IAEA from monitoring the high-tech
equipment and materials -- after the U.S.-led war was launched in
March 2003.
The Bush administration then deployed U.S. teams in what turned out to
be an unsuccessful search for Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.
The IAEA said in its letter that U.S. and Iraqi officials have not
reported dismantling any sites relevant to Iraq's nuclear program.
Anti-proliferation agreements say that the United States, which
administered Iraq until June 2004, and the Iraqi interim government,
which took over from the United States in June, must inform the IAEA
of any import or export of such materials and equipment.
But since March 2003 "the agency has received no such notifications or
declarations from any state," ElBaradei said.
The nuclear agency has since then had to rely on satellite imagery to
work out what is happening with Iraq's nuclear sites.
"The imagery shows in many instances the dismantlement of entire
buildings that housed high precision equipment ... formerly monitored
and tagged with IAEA seals, as well as the removal of equipment and
materials (such as high-strength aluminum) from open storage areas,"
he said.
In his letter, ElBaradei added that "as the disappearance of such
equipment and materials may be of proliferation significance, any
state that has information about the location of such items should
provide IAEA with that information."
A spokesman for the U.S. Mission in New York said he had not seen the
letter.
In a report to the Security Council in early September, a U.N.
commission charged with overseeing the elimination of any banned Iraqi
missile, chemical and biological weapons programs, also expressed
concern about the disappearance of tagged equipment.
Demetri Perricos, head of the commission, known as UNMOVIC, said Iraqi
authorities for over a year have been shipping thousands of tons of
scrap metal, including at least 42 engines from banned missiles and
other equipment that could be used to produce banned weapons.
In the first presidential debate of the 2004 campaign, President
George W. Bush and Sen. John Kerry agreed that nuclear proliferation
is the single most serious threat facing the United States.
George W. Bush has justified the war in Iraq in part by saying that
former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was on the brink of developing a
nuclear bomb that he might use against the United States or give to
terrorists.
But a CIA report released last week by chief U.S. weapons inspector
Charles Duelfer concluded that Hussein terminated his nuclear program
after the first Gulf War in 1991.
-- CNN Associate Producer Lauren Rivera contributed to this report.
Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/10/11/iraq.nuclear/index.html
On Tue, 12 Oct 2004 09:46:24 -0400, Larry C. Lyons
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> From CNN:
> http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/10/12/iraq.main/index.html
>
> U.N. watchdog agency: Nuclear materials gone
>
> Equipment and materials that could be used to make nuclear weapons
> have disappeared from Iraq, warns the chief of the U.N. atomic
> watchdog agency.
>
> Satellite imagery shows entire buildings that once housed
> high-precision equipment that could be used to make nuclear bombs have
> been dismantled, the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a
> letter to the U.N. Security Council. (Full story)
>
> A CIA report released last week by chief U.S. weapons inspector
> Charles Duelfer concluded that dictator Saddam Hussein terminated his
> nuclear program in 1991 after the Persian Gulf War.
>
> The U.S. government prevented U.N. weapons inspectors from returning
> to Iraq after the current war -- thereby blocking the IAEA from
> monitoring the high-tech equipment and materials.
>
> Anti-proliferation agreements say that the United States and the Iraqi
> interim government must inform the IAEA of any import or export of
> such materials and equipment.
>
> "The kind of equipment we're talking about ... is the sort of thing
> that has a multitude of industrial applications," said IAEA spokesman
> Mark Gwozdecky in a phone interview from the agency's headquarters in
> Vienna, Austria.
>
> "We were satisfied when we were in Iraq that it was not being used for
> a nuclear weapons program. In the wrong hands, it could be turned to
> the use in a nuclear weapons program. Until we establish that this
> material is in responsible hands, we have to treat it as a serious
> proliferation concern."
>
[Todays Threads] [This Message] [Subscription] [Fast Unsubscribe] [User Settings] [Donations and Support]
