US firm said among nuclear black market

[JoFerret]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=518&e=3&u=/ap/20040710/ap_on_re_eu/nuclear_black_market

VIENNA, Austria - An investigation of the black market supplying nations wanting nuclear arms has spread to more than 20 firms — some of them North American — the chief of the U.N. atomic agency told The Associated Press Friday. A senior diplomat identified one of the firms as U.S. based.

Demanding anonymity, the diplomat also said the Syria and Saudi Arabia are also being investigated as possible buyer nations, beyond Iraq (news - web sites), Iran, Libya and North Korea (news - web sites) — the countries known to have been in contact with Pakistani scientist A.Q. Khan and members of his procurement network.


But the diplomat, who is familiar with the Vienna-based IAEA told The AP that beyond suspicions prompting a continuing investigation, "there has been no proof" on Syria and Saudi Arabia that would warrant them being reported to the board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency.


In separate comments to The Associated Press, IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei avoided specifics on the locations of the firms supplying the nuclear black market beyond saying there were "over 20 countries, some of them in North America."


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[Zorra]

1. I feel so safe with Bu$h in office. Now we can all have our own personal

nuclear weapons. The right to bear nukes.

So, when will the corporations start nuking the competition?

[oldhat]

2. I wonder which one?

[Peachhead22]

4. That's the first corp that came to my mind

But I don't know if them or KBR do any nuke related business. Would they have access to nuke materials?

Also, I know Enron did energy, but I don't think they did any nuke-related stuff.

As H2O and Crisco have mentioned in other threads: Valerie Plame was apparently working a sting operation of smuggling of WMD's when she was outed. Was the nuke smuggler mentioned in the first post the corp she was investigating?

[TacticalPeek]

7. Got nukes?

"Halliburton came under fire in the early '90s for supplying Libya and Iraq with oil drilling equipment which could be used to detonate nuclear weapons. Halliburton Logging Services, a former subsidiary, was charged with shipping six pulse neutron generators through Italy to Libya. In 1995, the company pled guilty to criminal charges that it violated the U.S. ban on exports to Libya. Halliburton was fined $1.2 million and will pay $2.61 million in civil penalties."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/onpolitics/articles/halliburtonprimer.html




http://www.geocities.com/francis_uy/halliburton.html

[Kool Kitty]

3. Gee, what a surprise.

[truth2power]

5. Hmmm...there was some discussion on the Plame threads

that Valerie Plame might have been outed not as revenge against her husband, but in order to shut down her investigation into WMDs trafficking involving the Chimp administration.

[oldhat]

6. Hmmm

About 50% of the stuff here on DU is nonsense conspiracy theory but that (chillingly) doesn't seem too far-fetched. Her "cover" was working for a fake firm that sold nuclear expertise, IIRC.

[truth2power]

8. I think your 50% is way too high

I think there's a concerted effort here to vet everything with credible sources.

As far as conspiracies, check out Operation Northwoods, read "Farewell America" and also take a look at all the Valid questions about 911 THAT STILL HAVEN'T BEEN ANSWERED by anyone in this misadministration.

Welcome, by the way. :hi: