U.S. flies radioactive items out of Iraq

[Newsjock]

Perhaps they intend to use the material at home -- around, say, mid-October.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apwashington_story.asp?category=1152&slug=Iraq%20Dirty%20Bomb

By H. JOSEF HEBERT
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

WASHINGTON -- In a secret operation, the United States last month removed from Iraq nearly two tons of uranium and hundreds of highly radioactive items that could have been used in a so-called dirty bomb, the Energy Department disclosed Tuesday.

The nuclear material was secured from Iraq's former nuclear research facility and airlifted out of the country to an undisclosed Energy Department laboratory for further analysis, the department said in a statement.

Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham described the previously undisclosed operation, which was concluded June 23, as "a major achievement" in an attempt to "keep potentially dangerous nuclear material out of the hands of terrorists."

The haul included a "huge range" of radioactive items used for medical and industrial purposes, said Bryan Wilkes, a spokesman for the Energy Department's National Nuclear Security Administration.

more

[benburch]

1. And as a result...

no Iraqi cancer patient is today receiving medical radiation therapy.

Aren't we the "Compassionate" ones?

[gatlingforme]

4. yeah, Bush will be very happy about that, less money will have

to go to the hospitals to treat cancer patients, they won't have any - they will all have died. Then Bush will say he cured all the cancer patients b/c there are none.

[riverwalker]

2. like Paul Bremer?

I suspected the reason he high tailed out of there on the first plane was the danger of depleted uranium.

[maxsolomon]

3. oh please bring MORE of it to Washington State

we just can't get enough.

[Barrett808]

5. I thought all this stuff was looted and turning up in Rotterdam harbor

The nuclear site at Tuwaitha was left unguarded for weeks, and IAEA was only allowed in after months of pleading with the US. They were explicitly forbidden from examining townspeople for signs of radiation poisoning.

Here's a dump of related stories I've collected at Iraq Front News (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IraqFrontNews/).

Kuwait sends back truck carrying radioactive material
www.chinaview.cn 2004-06-13 17:03:20
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-06/13/content_1523130.htm

U.S. Trucks Carrying Radioactive Materials Intercepted In Iraq-Kuwait Border
http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=6/15/2004&Cat=4&Num=020

U.S. Army troops found radioactive
http://www.washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20040419-103255-1553r.htm

Probe Shows Iraq Nuke Facilities Unguarded
Thursday April 15, 2004 8:16 PM
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-3981804,00.html

GIs Tested for Depleted Uranium Exposure
Tuesday April 6, 2004 3:31 AM
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-3944801,00.html

Iraqis living around nuclear site fear radiation contamination
Wed Mar 31, 8:50 AM ET
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20040331/wl_mideast_afp/iraq_nuclear

IAEA Says Iraq Likely Source of Material
By TOBY STERLING, Associated Press Writer
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040116/ap_on_re_eu/netherlands_uranium&cid=518&ncid=1480

Stolen Iraqi capsules cause illness
By John F. Burns
NEW YORK TIMES
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/cctimes/news/7345121.htm

What happened to looted Iraqi nuclear material?
By Brett Wagner
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/usatoday/11886764

Greenpeace Says "Frightening" Radioactivity in Iraqi Villages
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0624-09.htm

U.N. Nuclear Experts in Iraq to Check On Looting
http://www.antara.co.id/e_berita.asp?id=79152&th=2003

U.S. Troops to Accompany UN Nuclear Team in Iraq
http://news.lycos.com/news/story.asp?section=Politics&storyId=740215

Iraqi Village Fears Nuclear Contamination
http://www.gainesvillesun.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20030531/API/305310540

Barrels Missing From Iraqi Nuclear Site
http://www.optonline.net/Article/Feeds/0,4003,channel%3D32%26article%3D8249450,00.html