The Iraqi Uranium Trifecta

[Stephanie]

1. "16 Words" - the forged Niger documents and the SOTU lie. Investigation of this lie reveals more lies and the whole thing unravels. "16 Words" is terrific for us as it is easy for the public to focus on. And since those 16 words were a lie, we win.

Yet the controversy over those 16 words would not have erupted with such force were they not emblematic of larger concerns about Bush's reasoning for going to war in the first place. Making the case against Saddam last year, Bush claimed that Iraq's links to al-Qaeda and weapons of mass destruction (WMD) made the country an imminent threat to the region and, eventually, the U.S. He wrapped the evidence in the even more controversial doctrine of pre-emption, saying America could no longer wait for proof of its enemies' intentions before defending itself overseas—it must sometimes strike first, even without all the evidence in hand. Much of the world was appalled by this logic, but Congress and the American public went along. Four months after the war started, at least one piece of key evidence has turned out to be false, the U.S. has yet to find weapons of mass destruction, and American soldiers keep dying in a country that has not greeted its liberators the way the Administration predicted it would. Now the false assertion and the rising casualties are combining to take a toll on Bush's standing with the public.
http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101030721/story.html

2. The "mushroom cloud" threats by BushCo against the American public. This is unforgiveable. Now that we've established that there never was any Iraqi nuclear threat, we need to pummel them on this outrageous "mushroom cloud" intimidation.

Knowing these realities, America must not ignore the threat gathering against us. Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof -- the smoking gun -- that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud. - G. Bush, 10/7/02
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/10/20021007-8.html

3. Tuwaitha. Proof positive that the bush* WH never gave a damn about Iraqi uranium, that it was all a BIG LIE. Why did they secure the OIL WELLS but not the known nuclear sites? Why did they allow the uranium stored at Tuwaitha to be LOOTED?

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/6068775.htm
Looting of Iraqi nuclear facility indicts U.S. goals
If we feared the loss of radioactive materials, why not guard them?
TRUDY RUBIN
Knight Ridder Newspapers
Jun. 12, 2003

TUWAITHA, Iraq - On a dusty road, just outside of Baghdad, lies one of the great mysteries of the Iraq war.

<snip>The administration knew full well what was stored at Tuwaitha. So how is it possible that the U.S. military failed to secure the nuclear facility until weeks after the war started? This left looters free to ransack the barrels, dump their contents, and sell them to villagers for storage.

How is it possible that, according to Iraqi nuclear scientists, looters are still stealing radioactive isotopes?

The Tuwaitha story makes a mockery of the administration's vaunted concern with weapons of mass destruction. The U.S. military hastened to secure the Ministry of Oil in Baghdad from looters. But Iraq's main nuclear facility was apparently not important enough to get similar protection.

<snip>And why, in facilities other than Location C, is the looting apparently continuing?

Hisham Abdel Malik, a Iraqi nuclear scientist who lives near Tuwaitha and has been inside the complex, told me that in buildings "where there are radioactive isotopes, there is looting every day." He says the isotopes, which are in bright silver containers, "are sold in the black market or kept in homes." According to IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming, such radioactive sources can kill on contact or pollute whole neighborhoods.

How could an administration that had hyped the danger of Saddam handing off nuclear materials to terrorists let Tuwaitha be looted? Maybe the hype was just hype ... or maybe the Pentagon didn't send enough troops to Iraq to do the job right.

Either answer is damning.

[DrBB]

1. Number three is superb, Steph

Hadn't seen anyone bring the neglect of Tuwaitha into it yet, and it's a killer. I'm usually pretty good at connecting those kinds of logical dots, but that one hadn't occurred to me, even though I've used Tuwaitha as evidence for the fact they didn't really care about WMD. I'm humbled--kudos--that's a very nice argument that deserves wider currency.

[Stephanie]

2. Thanks Dr!

Tuwaitha is neglected still. This really, really bothers me.

[DrBB]

5. 'Nother data point to add on #3

"in his Oct. 7 speech, Bush said that "satellite photographs reveal that Iraq is rebuilding facilities at sites."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61622-2003Jul15.html?nav=hptop_ts

Again, if they really believed this, and believed the Niger Uranium story, why was Tuwaitha left standing unexamined and unprotected?

[Stephanie]

6. Because he was LYING

Thanks for that link. Further proof. Watch what they DO, not what they SAY.

Also in that article, Condi's "mushroom cloud" threat:

That day, Bush national security adviser Condoleezza Rice appeared on CNN's "Late Edition" and confirmed the Times story. She said the tubes "are only really suited for nuclear weapons programs, centrifuge programs." She also said, "The problem here is that there will always be some uncertainty about how quickly he can acquire nuclear weapons, but we don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud."

This language is intolerable, especially in view of the fact that they KNEW they were LYING about the Iraqi nuclear threat.

[Hubert Flottz]

3. Bush expected to hit another trifecta in Iraq!

1. The Oil
2. The sales of arms and the other payoffs to his buddies like Halliburton/Brow&Root and the federal reserve banks buddies mounting interest by further increasing the national debt!
3. The Election in 04!

Sorry Charlie! Christmas in July didn't work out!

[Stephanie]

8. The Theft Trifecta

They planned to steal the Iraqi Oil, the U.S. Treasury, and the 2004 Election.

[Zan_of_Texas]

9. More than just a trifecta

Great post, Stef!

They were also going to "accomplish:"

- further redrawing of the map of the Middle East

- further surrounding of Iran, one of the next targets -- now surrounded by Iraq and Afghanistan

- weakening of OPEC and Saudi Arabia by controlling the oil of Iraq - cheap, high quality oil, and still relatively unexploited.

- saving the US dollar from a big skid, as Iraq was switching its oil sales from US currency to the Euro. Sounds harmless, but it's major.

- showing off the new US policy of "robust" bully behavior, thus scaring the pants off any other potential rivals

- distracting the American people from the domestic crisis with flag waving; requiring unity of war-time and a pass on criticism

- taking on the trappings of military rule, Bush wore military uniforms, did his Top Gun thing, etc. -- something Eisenhower did NOT do as president. Ike, a former general wore a suit as president. Mr. AWOL's military uniform costume is consistent with the actions of the Patriot Act, DARPA, Guantanamo Bay, and threats from the administration to "watch what you say" -- furthering the climate of fear and authoritarianism.

- expanding on your second point, Hubert -- the planned BushCo growth of the defense budget by 15% annually (stipulated in PNAC) not only enriches the BushCo buds with contracts, but makes for an ever-larger slush fund, one of the largest slush funds on the face of the globe. The spoils to go ..... where?

That last point is one of the elephants sitting in our living room.

The Defense Department can't account for one-quarter of its money in any given year. Now, that's getting close to $100 billion, lost, we don't know where, in one year. That doesn't even include overcharges and waste -- we're talking MISSING. That dwarfs many of the big bankruptcies that rocked the nation. A mere $70 billion would balance the budget of all the state governments that are desperately cutting needed items. (See CBS News <http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/01/29/eveningnews/printable325985.shtml)>

"The Pentagon's own inspector general recently admitted that the department could not account for more than a trillion dollars of past spending. A congressional investigation reported that inventory management in the army was so weak it had lost track of 56 airplanes, 32 tanks, and 36 missile launchers.
"There's no accountability," said Danielle Brian, head of the Washington budget watchdog, Project on Government Oversight. "Any other agency would be closed down but the Pentagon is Teflon. Any challenge to the Pentagon is seen as unpatriotic." " ("So much for the peace dividend: Pentagon is winning the battle for a $400bn budget." Guardian Unlimited, by Julian Borger in Washington and David Teather in New York, Thursday May 22, 2003) http://www.guardian.co.uk

Every time Congress increases the military budget, without requiring normal accountability (and this has been going on for a long time), we are increasing the slush funds. It is my belief that the slush funds go offshore and support many of the anti-democratic travesties we try to fight.

[Stephanie]

4. Some background on Tuwaitha

Note the dates. They like to claim that the site was secured April 7th but in fact looting continued through June. And why were Bush & Blair suddenly pressuring Chirac WRT "dirty bombs," AFTER they had let the horse out of the barn?

http://www.msnbc.com/news/912073.asp
WMDs for the Taking?
While U.S. troops pushed on to Baghdad, Iraqis were looting radioactive materials from once protected sites
By Rod Nordland
NEWSWEEK

May 19 issue — From the very start, one of the top U.S. priorities in Iraq has been the search for weapons of mass destruction. Weren’t WMDs supposed to be what the war was about? Even so, no one has yet produced conclusive evidence that Iraq was maintaining a nuclear, biological or chemical (NBC) arsenal.

<snip>

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. Another was evidently destroyed many years ago. American forces had not yet searched the remaining three.


http://www.latimes.com/la-fg-iraqnuke22may22001423,0,1600144.story
May 22, 2003
Dangerous Loot South of Baghdad
Iraqis close to a nuclear research site become ill after materials are pilfered. Doctor says symptoms point to acute radiation syndrome.
By John Hendren, Times Staff Writer

Since early April, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, has repeatedly requested that the U.S. secure nuclear material at Tuwaitha. This week, the Bush administration agreed to make arrangements to allow the IAEA to return to Iraq to inspect the site.

American troops are now guarding the research center, but the looting has continued, and scientists are worried that missing nuclear material could result in a slew of safety and health problems.

"We're concerned about the health and safety of these people, and then we're also concerned about environmental contamination and we're also concerned that this material could be used for illicit use — a 'dirty bomb,' or even a nuclear bomb," said IAEA spokesman Mark Gwozdecky in a telephone interview from Vienna.

<snip>

Inside a 10-foot-high chain-link fence, a platoon of U.S. troops guards the remains of the nuclear reactor destroyed by the Israelis.

Army Staff Sgt. Robert Gasman says his job is to keep looters out, but with a platoon of just 40 men and a fence that runs as far as the eye can see, he admits it's a losing battle. Looters break through nightly; they are often released within a few hours of being caught.

"There's no way we can catch them all," said Gasman, from the 3rd Infantry Division's 1st Brigade. "For all I know, there are looters back there now."<more>


http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/159/nation/For_neighbors_atom_plant_may_inflict_scars+.shtml">Boston Globe
THE NUCLEAR FALLOUT
For neighbors, atom plant may inflict scars
By Ellen Barry, Globe Staff,
6/8/2003

<snip>As the US invasion approached, the security measures frayed. The Iraqi soldiers left their guardposts around March 10, and by March 20, the civilian guards were gone as well. On April 7, two days before Baghdad fell, US Marines arrived, a senior military official said in a background briefing last week.

Local youths described the looting as riotous. Malik Rumaydeh, who attended three years of school, tossed the spongy bricks back and forth playfully with his friends, and estimates that he spent six hours inside the warehouse. To people with little access to fresh water, the barrels were a useful find.

<snip>

A US Army spokesman, Colonel Richard Thomas, said yesterday that the looting of the warehouse ceased as soon as US Marines arrived on April 7. He warned against exaggerating the ill effects of the looting, and reported that in the case of the National Museum, losses were far less than initially thought.

In last week's background briefing, a senior military official said that the Americans had arrived to find the locks broken and the warehouse ''in the condition that it's in.''

But a group of local villagers argued yesterday that Americans had permitted the looting, even cutting the locks on the doors. Inad, the shopkeeper, said Americans had encouraged looters to take the material.

''They allowed children to go inside,'' Inad said. ''Then they said it might cause radiation, but that was one month later.''<more>

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/06/02/wevian02.xml&sSheet=/portal/2003/06/02/ixportaltop.html">UK Telegraph
Chirac defies Bush at G8 summit
By Benedict Brogan and Toby Harnden in Evian
(Filed: 02/06/2003)

France poured cold water last night on an American and British proposal to limit the spread of weapons of mass destruction as Tony Blair and George W Bush sought to outflank Jacques Chirac at the opening of the G8 summit.

While M Chirac, the host, sought to emphasise his vision of a multipolar world, Mr Blair and Mr Bush joined forces with other members of the Iraq coalition to try to force him to make combating terrorism a central agenda item of the gathering of industrialised nations.

Downing Street and White House aides said the "action plan" would help to stop terrorists detonating a radioactive "dirty bomb" in a western capital.<more>

[aquart]

11. Excellent! Don't let up on this.

Stone them with their lies.

[Stephanie]

7. Furthermore, BushCo won't let IAEA inspectors see the whole site

Maybe because he can't pronounce it. When a dirty bomb goes off in a Western capital <see the article in post #4 above about bush/blair & Chirac>, you can thank your unelected resident, who never met a situation he couldn't FUBAR.

http://famulus.msnbc.com/FamulusIntl/reuters07-16-020545.asp?reg=MIDEAST
UN in dark about looted Iraq ''dirty bomb'' material
By Louis Charbonneau


VIENNA, July 16 — The U.N. nuclear watchdog said on Wednesday it had accounted for most of the low-grade uranium lost during looting at Iraq's main nuclear facility, but had no information about more dangerous radioactive material.

<snip>

But an IAEA spokeswoman said the agency had not been permitted by U.S. occupation authorities to check the status of Tuwaitha's stocks of highly-radioactive cesium-137, cobalt-160 and other materials which could be used in dirty bombs.

''There were around 400 of these radioactive sources stored at Tuwaitha,'' IAEA's Melissa Fleming said.

Witnesses have said that villagers near Tuwaitha, especially children, have shown symptoms of radiation sickness.

''Any case of radiation sickness would probably be from these highly-radioactive sources, not from the low-grade natural uranium at Location C,'' Fleming said.

''WHAT IT DOESN'T SAY''

The environmental organisation Greenpeace organised its own mission to Iraq to determine the level of contamination of areas around Iraq's looted nuclear sites.

''It's not what the report says but what it doesn't say that is cause for concern,'' Greenpeace's team leader in Iraq, Mike Townsley, told Reuters in Amsterdam. ''What the report doesn't talk about is the other radioactive material, the much more dangerous industrial radiation sources.''

''Nobody says these isotopes are still there,'' he said. ''Within one week our mission found three sources of these industrial isotopes. We had access to the community, the IAEA did not.'' <more>

[rhite5]

10. Great Resource, Steph! Keep it up!

[Donna Zen]

12. Mushroom Cloud

IIRC Cheney also had his "mushroom" moment. Remember over a year ago when they claimed that Saddam was 6 months from the big one? Of course it was a lie, but imminent threat is the only reason one country can attack another and still claim a legal war status. The yellow-cake is part of the case they could never make.

Great job Stef!

[Stephanie]

13. Right! Thanks Donna

I'm looking for Cheney's remarks - I think it was on Meet the Press. That's a very good point, that another reason they had to lie about nukes, aside from scaring the crap out of everybody so they'd agree to the war, was that LEGALLY they couldn't invade without that imminent threat. So now in hindsight, especially with their certain knowledge that they were LYING about the threat, the whole thing was ILLEGAL.

[nannygoat]

16. Great post, Stephanie!

Here are a couple of resources both of which have condescenda's (thanks to another DUer for that one!) remarks about the mushroom cloud and the second one which mentions cheney's appearance on MTP:

Claims of Iraqi nuclear weapons program discounted
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/text/2001097214_bush16.html

Top Bush Officials push case against Saddam-September 8, 2002
http://www.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/09/08/iraq.debate/

[Stephanie]

17. thanks for the links nanny - here's Cheney's big lie

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/text/2001097214_bush16.html

On March 16, Cheney appeared again on "Meet the Press" and reiterated his views of the previous August about Saddam's nuclear program. "We know he's been absolutely devoted to trying to acquire nuclear weapons, and we believe he has, in fact, reconstituted nuclear weapons."

Also from that article, the "neo-cons" (which ones? why are they never named?) were circulating the mushroom cloud threat too.

On Aug. 26, Vice President Dick Cheney, the official most publicly vocal about Iraq as a nuclear threat, began the campaign when he told a Veterans of Foreign Wars audience: "Many of us are convinced that Saddam will acquire nuclear weapons fairly soon. Just how soon we cannot gauge."

On Sept. 8, the New York Times disclosed that intelligence showed that Iraq had "embarked on a worldwide hunt for materials to make an atomic bomb" by trying to purchase "specially designed aluminum tubes" that unidentified administration sources believed were for centrifuges to enrich uranium.

The story referred to Bush "hard-liners" who argued that action needed to be taken because if they waited for proof that Saddam had a nuclear weapon, "The first sign of a smoking gun may be a mushroom cloud."

That day, Bush national security adviser Condoleezza Rice appeared on CNN's "Late Edition" and confirmed the Times story. She said that the tubes "are only really suited for nuclear-weapons programs, centrifuge programs." She also said, "The problem here is that there will always be some uncertainty about how quickly he can acquire nuclear weapons, but we don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud."

Someone needs to be held accountable for these outrageous talking points. Clearly the memo went out to scare us into war by invoking the mushroom cloud, while they knew there was no such threat from Iraq. It's unforgiveable. It's an absolute outrage.

Have you no decency, Dick Cheney??

[rhite5]

14. This Trifecta Needs a Bump!

[Karenina]

15. And another

for GREAT WORK!!! :hi:

[Donna Zen]

18. This thread needs to be heard

...on the Senate floor? I say put it in a package and send it out to as many critters as possible. Personally, I'd send it to the Senator from the great state of West Virginia, Senator Robert Byrd.