Reply #13: What most don't realize is that Iraq MANUFACTURED THEIR OWN yellowcake [View All]

[LynnTheDem]

Iraq didn't have to purchase yellowcake to bloody begin with! They HAD yellowcake in Iraq. Under UN seal for years, monitored by the IAEA twice yearly...UNTIL BUSH'S INVASION.

Yellowcake = enriched uranium, in case you weren't aware of that.

Before bush's invasion, the UN told bush he MUST IMMEDIATELY secure all munitions and nuclear materials sites to prevent looting. bush told the UN (IAEA) he would do so.

He didn't do so.

Not until the IAEA went public about bush not having secured the site did bush give orders to secure the site. bush refused to allow the IAEA into Iraq until finally the bad press about the looting of yellowcake at Tuwaitha forced him to let the IAEA team in to inventory the site.

Here are some links, hope they help. If I've not answered what you were asking, please feel free to post again. I have a TON of links. :)

'Looting' at Iraq nuclear sites
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3002169.stm

Seven Iraqi Nuclear Sites Looted; Containers Missing
Previous reports have described damage at two of the facilities, the Tuwaitha Yellowcake Storage Facility and the adjacent Baghdad Nuclear Research Center. Now, the identity of three more damaged sites has been learned...
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0510-01.htm

IAEA Back to Iraq
BAGHDAD, Iraq - After a three-month absence, the U.N. nuclear agency came to postwar Iraq on Friday to assess the nation's biggest nuclear plant - abandoned, looted and left in alarming disarray.
http://www.dailyherald.com/special/iraq/wwi_paststory.asp?intID=3777992

Here's a timeline for Tuwaitha, just one of many such total bush-FUBAR examples;

-April 9 2003 marines arrive, think they've found the "smoking gun"...and break open the UN seals.
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/specialreports/iraq/s_128200.html

-April 10 2003 Experts Say US 'Discovery' of Nuclear Materials in Iraq was Breach of UN-Monitored Site
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0410-13.htm

-APRIL 11 2003 U.N. nuclear agency asks United States to secure Iraqi nuclear complex. On April 11 the US guaranteed that the site would be secured.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/04/11/iraq/main548895.shtml

-APRIL 25 2003 U.S. Has Not Inspected Iraqi Nuclear Facility
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A35498-2003Apr24?language=printer

-MAY 4 2003 Iraqi Nuclear Site Is Found Looted
U.S. Team Unable to Determine Whether Deadly Materials Are Missing
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A10888-2003May3?language=printer

So bush was forced to allow the IAEA back in, with their inventory list, and most of the looted yellowcake was found by the IAEA and re-secured. Yes he sure was concerned about nukes and "dirty bombs" and such, wasn't he. :sarcasm:

The nuclear facilities such as Tuwaitha were for years under UN lock & key, inventoried twice yearly by the IAEA;
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/special/iraq/1861996

IAEA warned bush to secure the sites;

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency warned the United States for the third time yesterday of the danger of radioactive contamination in Iraq because of looting at nuclear sites and called on the Bush administration to allow his safety and emergency response teams to enter the country.
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0520-05.htm

ElBaradei Warns of Iraq Nuclear Emergency
http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/iraq/unmovic/2003/0519elbaradeiwarns.htm

Yes bush sure was concerned about nukes and "dirty bombs" and such, wasn't he. :sarcasm:

Joe Wilson went to Niger and discovered what WMD experts already knew; it's pretty much impossible to illicitly purchase yellowcake from Niger.

Here's former CIA Joseph Cirincione on the subject;

A little common sense shows that a Niger uranium sale-even if attempted-was always highly improbable and was never a serious threat. (Iraq from the 1980s) became self-sufficient in uranium production. In March 2003, Iraq had an inventory of over 500 tons of natural uranium and almost two tons of low-enriched uranium. This uranium was kept under IAEA seal and checked annually by the nuclear agency...
http://www.carnegieendowment.org/publications/index.cfm?fa=view&id=1595&proj=znpp

Hope this helps. :)