materials, and nuclear materials. It has never been disputed that Iraq
had a research program and a couple of nuclear reactors. What has been
stolen was the materials and equipment in those research facilities.
larry
On Tue, 12 Oct 2004 09:31:42 -0500, Andy Ousterhout
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Larry,
>
> 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."
> >
>
>
>
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