Lawmakers Demand Answers on Uranium Claim (chemical weapons too)

[NNN0LHI]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030711/ap_on_go_co/iraq_congress&cid=512&ncid=1480

WASHINGTON - Massachusetts and Rhode Island lawmakers who backed the war in Iraq (news - web sites) have asked President Bush (news - web sites) to explain the administration's allegation that Iraq was seeking to buy nuclear material from Africa.

"President Bush has many questions to answer about the use and misuse of intelligence on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programs," said Rep. Edward Markey (news, bio, voting record), D-Mass. "I believe that the credibility of this administration rests on the answers to the questions we have asked."

Bush claimed in his State of the Union address in January that Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) tried to buy uranium in Africa. The allegation was abruptly dropped a month later when it was learned the information came from forged documents.snip

The House members asked Bush to back up other claims he made about Iraq in the speech, including whether Saddam Hussein had the materials needed to produce up to 500 tons of chemical weapons, and whether he had the munitions required to deliver them.

more

[Nlighten1]

1. Bush is moving on...

don't get left behind Congress.

[revcarol]

Go Markey!!!!!!!

Questioning ALL the lies in the SOTUA!! Remember that litany of stuff they had: 30,000 missiles capable of being fitted with chemical weapons (or some such nonsense...), so many tons of this , so many tons of that, all that scary sarin and anthrax,,,and oh, momma, I want to hide under the bed so the bogeyman don't get me....and we gotta get all that plastic and duct tape so the bogeyman won't stand outside of this house and put that stuff in....we gotta get that bogeyman before he gets us...

People who remember the "duck & cover" era will know how they portrayed the bogeymen. USSR was always out to get us,,,and the USSR thought the US was always out to get them,,,so we gotta prepare for the bogeyman,,,except THEN the bogeymen had real weapons.

Saddam had firecrackers and bows and arrows not nukes.And no household chemicals to spray on us.

[Dagaz]

2. This is a circus

The information is completely conflicting itself. If the administration says that the Uranium story was wrong then what explains this from two months ago? Were the looting reports bogus too?
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http://www.msnbc.com/news/912073.asp?0cv=KB10&cp1=1


Some of the lapses are frightening. The well-known Al Tuwaitha Nuclear Research Center, about 12 miles south of Baghdad, had nearly two tons of partially enriched uranium, along with significant quantities of highly radioactive medical and industrial isotopes, when International Atomic Energy Agency officials made their last visit in January. By the time U.S. troops arrived in early April, armed guards were holding off looters—but the Americans only disarmed the guards, Al Tuwaitha department heads told NEWSWEEK. “We told them, ‘This site is out of control. You have to take care of it’,” says Munther Ibrahim, Al Tuwaitha’s head of plasma physics. “The soldiers said, ‘We are a small group. We cannot take control of this site’.” As soon as the Americans left, looters broke in. The staff fled; when they returned, the containment vaults’ seals had been broken, and radioactive material was everywhere.

U.S. officers say the center had already been ransacked before their troops arrived. They didn’t try to stop the looting, says Colonel Madere, because “there was no directive that said do not allow anyone in and out of this place.” Last week American troops finally went back to secure the site. Al Tuwaitha’s scientists still can’t fully assess the damage; some areas are too badly contaminated to inspect. “I saw empty uranium-oxide barrels lying around, and children playing with them,” says Fadil Mohsen Abed, head of the medical-isotopes department. Stainless-steel uranium canisters had been stolen. Some were later found in local markets and in villagers’ homes. “We saw people using them for milking cows and carrying drinking water,” says Ibrahim. The looted materials could not make a nuclear bomb, but IAEA officials worry that terrorists could build plenty of dirty bombs with some of the isotopes that may have gone missing. Last week NEWSWEEK visited a total of eight sites on U.N. weapons-inspection lists. Two were guarded by U.S. troops. Armed looters were swarming through two others.

http://www.msnbc.com/news/912073.asp?0cv=KB10&cp1=1

[lkinsale]

4. This is horrific, and receives no coverage

Aside from the question of terrorists getting hold of the radioactive material (which is why Bush's STUPID war has put us in MORE danger, not less), these children and unwary people face a terrible future.

They didn't try to stop the looting, says Colonel Madere, because "there was no directive that said do not allow anyone in and out of this place." My God. Bush's head (and that of all the DOD commanders) oughta roll over this alone, that they did not move instantly to secure these KNOWN nuclear sites. For our security, if they don't give a damn about the Iraqis.

They claim they avoided all the eco-disasters, HAH. They are beyond incompetent. When I think of those kids, I hope Bush and Rumsfeld burn in hell.

[gratuitous]

3. Better late than never, I guess

Every one of the questions asked in the excerpt (I didn't click on the full article, shame on me) was appropriate and necessary before the invasion was authorized or launched. Shame, big shame, on legislators who are just now getting around to asking these questions, after thousands of persons have died.

Bigger shame, of course, on this corrupt administration for attempting to get away with it.

Biggest shame of all on the American people, for letting this administration think it could do this in the first place. Constant vigilance is indeed necessary to ensure liberty and thwart dictators.

But now that we're after it, let's not let these bloodthirsty bastards off the hook.