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US removes uranium from Iraq
[Quote:]
The last major remnant of Saddam Hussein’s nuclear program — a huge stockpile of concentrated natural uranium — reached a Canadian port Saturday to complete a secret U.S. operation that included a two-week airlift from Baghdad and a ship voyage crossing two oceans.
The removal of 550 metric tons of “yellowcake” — the seed material for higher-grade nuclear enrichment — was a significant step toward closing the books on Saddam’s nuclear legacy. It also brought relief to U.S. and Iraqi authorities who had worried the cache would reach insurgents or smugglers crossing to Iran to aid its nuclear ambitions.
A lot of US Republican voters will probably go “Ah, see, Bush was right, he was trying to get WMDs”, conveniently forgetting a few things:
1. yellowcake alone is not considered potent enough for a so-called “dirty bomb”.
2. A major reason for the war in 2003 was that it was claimed Saddam was trying to get yellowcake from Niger. Why would he, if he had tons of it lying around? And this is old stuff. From the article: “Israeli warplanes bombed a reactor project at the site in 1981. Later, U.N. inspectors documented and safeguarded the yellowcake, which had been stored in aging drums and containers since before the 1991 Gulf War. There was no evidence of any yellowcake dating from after 1991, the official said.” 550 tons of material sitting unused for 2+ decades doesn’t lend much credence to the idea that he was pursuing nuclear weapons. Much to the contrary, it’s a good clue that he wasn’t. For all you game players out there: the cake was a lie.
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