unsettling news on WMD

[ma4t]

This story from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution is very disturbing:

"Yellowcake" or uranium-oxide has been found coming out of the Middle East; the discoverer thinks it came from Iraq. It seems obvious that for something to come from a place it had to have been in that place to start with. This seems to lend creedence to the claims that Iraq was pursuing a WMD program at least at some point in time. At least, many Americans will think it does. What other explanation could there be?

look at http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news/ap/ap_story.html/Intl/AP.V4943.AP-Netherlands-Ura.html

[whatelseisnew]

1. LOL

[underpants]

2. Strange that the Dutch and the Danes seem to finding all this

I read that this moring in the paper. I was shocked to not see it blaring across the scrolls and leading the news. Sounds like someone ran this up the flagpole to see if anyone would salute.

[Name removed]

26. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Kellanved]

3. That there *was* a program is a fact

And prior to GW1 it was perfectly OK for Iraq to pursue such a program.
The issue is that no proof has been found for an advanced program continued in the past 10 years.

[Mountainman]

4. I can't get the link to work. I had yellow cake just last week!

I think it came out of a box marked Pilsbury. Must mean Bush didn't lie after all! I think I will morf into a repug now that the truth has set me free!

[HereSince1628]

5. Israel is dumping its surplus?

Nah, never.

[veracity]

32. LOL...you've solved it!

Middle East includes Israel. So....that's very logical. Luv it.

[cthrumatrix]

6. an explanation is: Shrub needs wmd for justification --- previous docs.

were proven to be fakes (Niger - Ambassador Wilson report).

So I guess there is motive to find 'something' -- funny how nobody has -- and it looks like he lied as the reason for the invasion.

Better yet--just go read O'Neill's book and learn how this admin. planned to take out Iraq day 10 of this admin -- and learn about Rummy covering the group on Oil well and companies that could partcipate --- that's all you need.

And this data is coming from a repsected conservative republican who has documents and details..


Shrub lied to us...

[dennis4868]

7. It seems like every week....

there is a story of a WMD find in Iraq and then the next week it turns out not to be true....this is a joke!

[qanda]

8. What's so unsettling

Is that "journalists" continue to report this ridiculous crap. If it's coming out of Iraq now. it's because the "coalition" is sending it out of Iraq.

War in Iraq was not justified! I don't care if they had a whole bakery filled with yellow cake.

[Robb]

14. You can't win if you don't play...

Every "journalist" on TV wants to be the one to break the story of WMD being "finally found!!"

Somehow, most missed how Geraldo and Al Capone's vault were less a media sensation than a cautionary tale....

[DoYouEverWonder]

9. Since it was shipped after Saddam was captured

even if it came through Iraq, doesn't mean that it had anything to do with Saddam or his imaginary WMD programs.

Maybe that's why they aren't too excited about this development. It would show the world that Iraq is now a great place to go to wheel and deal in the WMD market. The US can't control the country, for the most part the borders are easy to get through and the yellowcake probably came from the Tuwaitha nuclear facility that the US didn't have the resources to secure when we invaded the country.

The fact that yellowcake is floating around the black market now is not good news for the US and their effectiveness in fighting the war on terror.



http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/world/6141748.htm

The Tuwaitha nuclear facility, 12 miles south of Baghdad, was left unguarded after Iraqi troops fled the area on the eve of the war. It is thought to have contained hundreds of tons of natural uranium and nearly two tons of low-enriched uranium, which could be used to make nuclear weapons

U.S. troops didn't secure the area until April 7. By then, looters from surrounding villages had stripped it of much of its contents, including uranium storage barrels they later used to hold drinking water.

[rustydog]

10. Anything that may be found AFTER America has controlled Iraq

would be suspect to any intelligent person with an independant thought process.

[dennis4868]

11. Good point....

Problem is the media whores do not have an "independent thought process." They are the marketing company of 1600 Pennsylvania ave.

[ma4t]

15. thank you

I was looking for a rational explanation. You provided one.

[DoYouEverWonder]

24. No problem

One of my missions in life is to debunk the bs that the media tries to pass off has the truth.

[calimary]

27. It also puts the kibosh on any bush claims that we're now safer

SINCE Saddam's capture. This stuff's happening AFTER we got him???

[creativelcro]

12. Nobody would be surprised about a plant at this point

[SlavesandBulldozers]

13. yeah

a little too fucking late to be discovering WMD i'd say.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

16. i wonder how much is The Movement is paying these days?

[Snivi Yllom]

17. 2 lbs? That's it

Call me when the missing tons are found.

[FreakinDJ]

18. It has served its purpose

It has served its purpose

Never mind within a week the story will be discredited. Rush, O’Riely, and others will plaster the story all over their shows. The mindless minions will never follow up the story or do the checking for them selves. The hate mongering spew machine will never offer the retraction of false information.

Quite the neat little propaganda machine they have running here

We knew it was only a matter of time before planted evidence started to appear

[Minstrel Boy]

19. "yellow cake" isn't WMD, and it's well known Iraq had piles of it and

the US didn't give a shit about safeguarding it. No wonder it's turning up elsewhere.

From Greenpeace:

IRAQ/Baghdad - They claimed they were after weapons of mass destruction, but then allowed nuclear material to be carried off by the barrel. They said errant nuclear waste poses no health threat to the people in Iraq, but then denied access to experts.
Today we delivered a dose of reality to the occupying forces: villages surrounding the Tuwaitha nuclear complex, just south of Baghdad, are contaminated with deadly radiation. Clean up must begin now.

A convoy of vehicles bearing Greenpeace banners that read "Al Tuwaitha - nuclear disaster - Act now!" with a single activist walking at its head, carrying a white flag, returned a large uranium "yellow cake" mixing canister to the US military guards stationed at the heart of the nuclear plant. The canister - the size of a small car - contained significant quantities of radioactive "yellowcake" and had been dumped on a busy section of open ground near the Tuwaitha plant. Despite the military being aware of its presence, locals say it has been left open and unattended for more than 20 days.

"If this had happened in the UK, the US or any other country, the villages around Tuwaitha would be swarming with radiation experts and decontamination teams. It would have been branded a nuclear disaster site and the people given immediate medical check-ups. The people of Iraq deserve no less from the international community. That they are being ignored is a scandal that must be rectified without delay," said Mike Townsley of Greenpeace International.

http://www.reliefweb.int/w/rwb.nsf/0/3ff7dc86fb6cef05c1256d4f0056e21a?OpenDocument

[Deege]

30. Thank you for pointing this out

Yellowcake contains less than 1-percent of U-235 which is used in nuclear weapons. Yellowcake would have to be refined many times, using very sophisticated technology, to create weapons grade uranium. They only found about 2 lbs of stuff in Rotterdam. Not exactly, in my humble opinion, a smoking gun. It's certainly not the "mountains" of WMD's we were led to believe could be found in Iraq. This is as pathetic as that empty trailer they found and tried to convince the world was a chemical production lab.

I have no doubt, however, that the party of hyperbole will spin this into a claim that GW saved us from the brink of WWIII.

[OneTwentyoNine]

20. I guess if it had been near those Oil wells that Chimp had guarded..

Then those two pounds might have been found by the US. Fact is Chimp didn't care about that crap at all.

What was his first order to the people of Iraq? Don't harm the Oil wells. Never a FUCKING mention about not KILLING American troops,just leave those GD Oil wells alone.

David

[GregW]

21. Yellowcake = WMD ??? HOLY F*CK BATMAN!

Now Australia has WMD!!!

When will it end ... oh, the humanity!!!

Nice try, sorry your balloon was of the Pb variety.

[lovedems]

22. The article states the small amount wouldn't be useful for a bomb or fuel

So if the sheeple believe it, they are to stupid to be reading a newspaper.

[The Night Owl]

23. Uranium oxide can come from depleted uranium particles, no?

I am just guessing but... Is it possible that the uranium oxide being found on scrap metal from Iraq was created by all the depleted uranium particles floating around in Iraq?

[IndianaGreen]

33. Uranium oxide is the component of depleted uranium munitions

Uranium oxide is the component of depleted uranium munitions which probably means that the scrap metal comes from structures hit by US depleted uranium munitions.

Depleted Uranium: The American Legacy

by Sara S. DeHart, MSN, Ph.D. and Louis Farshee, MA
March 15, 2003

Depleted Uranium (DU) is a by-product of nuclear power plant generation. Because there are more than one billion pounds stockpiled in the US and it is in such abundance, the US Department of Energy (DOE) provides it free of charge to munitions suppliers who manufacture it into military projectiles. DU projectiles have emerged as a preferred weapon because of its ability to penetrate tank armor and other fortified targets. It is also used in non-military products such as cement, fertilizers and certain paints.

All uranium, whether natural, depleted or enriched, is a toxic radiological element. Each differs from the other in atomic structure by less than one percent. DU emits three types of ionizing radiation: alpha and beta particles and photons. Alpha particles are blocked by objects as light as a sheet of paper and humans exposed to them are naturally protected by their skin. Beta particles (high speed electrons) can penetrate human skin to a depth of one centimeter while photons (x-rays and gamma rays) are more penetrating and can pass completely through a human body. Many factors determine the potentially harmful effects of DU including the source of radiation which may be external, that is, originating from outside a human body or internal which occurs when particles enter a human body by way of food, water, inhalation or a wound. (National Radiological Protection Board, June 2002).

Statements and findings on dangers related to DU might be generalized under two broad headings, US government departments and non-US governmental groups. Although there are disagreements between these two broad groups, one fact is not disputed. If DU oxides are inhaled, there is a high probability that residual alpha particles will be distributed throughout the organs of the body and are potential sources of radiation emission. This fact was not thoroughly researched prior to the 1991 Gulf War and not until 1994 was an explosion/burn test conducted (Rostker, 2000).

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article2291.htm

[Loonman]

25. Not enough...

Not enough U-235 in the yellowcake to make much of a difference.

[Cocoa]

28. I can think of another explanation

more b.s., just like every other WMD find.

[onecitizen]

29. It's a leap, IMO,.......

to assume that it came from Iraq because it was found in the Middle East. Am I missing something here? Who was the discoverer anyway? Could they possibly have a motive to have "found" it?

[veracity]

31. another "find" - so why is Kaye quitting?

Last week's 36 contaminated shell story fizzled. So, why not start another one. Uh. psssst..... "coming out of the Middle East" - has to mean Iraq? Geez. Great reasoning. But what else is new? Kaye is not going back to the hunt for WMD's. I wonder why? OH...I see, - they've finally been found...again. Sigh.