TA-ANALYSIS: Secret Operation: Radioactive Material Removed from Iraq, page 1

posted on Jul, 6 2004 @ 07:47 PM

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A secret operation that took place last month in Iraq. US forces by plane flew hundreds of highly radioactive items out of Iraq that could have been used in "dirty bombs" or other weapons of terror. Items included two tons uranium, cesium-137, colbalt-60 and strontium the latter two could have been a real threat if they had been obtained by terrorists, uranium is not really effective in a radiological bomb..

Guardian

WASHINGTON (AP) - 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.��

Please visit the link provided for the complete story.

Not WMD, but in the wrong hands this stuff could have been real bad.

If this is what they found to be a threat in Iraq then I wonder how much of this radioactive material was unaccounted for after the war.

The war itself could have left an unstable or insecure situation where anyone could have obtained these materials.

Bottom line if a terror group wants to make a dirty bomb from radiological material it is very available world wide and in many forms strong enough to produce a bomb that in the right place could create a huge human disaster.

[edit on 6-7-2004 by UM_Gazz]

Phoenix

posted on Jul, 6 2004 @ 07:55 PM

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One only has to learn what happens to medical and industrial equipment that utilizes a radioactive element for its operation to realize that its only recently been of interest to governments what the final disposition of this eqipment is.
Some has turned up in dumps and salvage yards posing not only a health risk but also a danger in the wrong hands.

Phoenix

posted on Jul, 6 2004 @ 10:55 PM

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I am wondering if this story is being softpedaled by the media

This statement at the very bottom of an AP story on this subject quotes a scientist named Ivan Oelrich, a physicist at the Federation of American Scientists.

The low-enriched uranium taken from Iraq, if it is of the 3 percent to 5 percent level of enrichment common in fuel for commercial power reactors, could have been of value to a country developing enrichment technology.

"It speeds up the process," Oelrich said, adding that 1.95 tons of low-enriched uranium could be used to produce enough highly enriched uranium to make a single nuclear bomb.

Another WMD story downplayed, By wide use of the term "Low enriched uranium" hmmm......... one has to wonder.

AP Story

[edit on 6-7-2004 by Phoenix]