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Agathon
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Leafs 4TW!! - CPA
Dec 2002
time: 00:29
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Well not quite, but I'm sure this will be hyped to the heavens.
http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast...fuge/index.html
quote:
From David Ensor
CNN Washington Bureau
(CNN) -- The CIA has in its hands the critical parts of a key piece of Iraqi nuclear technology -- parts needed to develop a bomb program -- that were dug up in a back yard in Baghdad, CNN has learned.
The parts were unearthed by Iraqi scientist Mahdi Obeidi who had hidden them in his back yard under a rose bush 12 years ago under orders from Qusay Hussein and Saddam Hussein's then son-in-law, Hussein Kamel.
U.S. officials emphasized this was not evidence Iraq had a nuclear weapon -- but it was evidence the Iraqis concealed plans to reconstitute their nuclear program as soon as the world was no longer looking.
The parts and documents Obeidi gave the CIA were shown exclusively to CNN at CIA headquarters in Virginia.
Obeidi told CNN the parts of a gas centrifuge system for enriching uranium were part of a highly sophisticated system he was ordered to hide so as to be ready to rebuild the bomb program at some time in the future.
"I have very important things at my disposal that I have been ordered to have, to keep, and I've kept them, and I don't want this to proliferate, because of its potential consequences if it falls in the hands of tyrants, in the hands of dictators or of terrorists," said Obeidi, who has been taken out of Iraq with the help of the U.S. government.
Centrifuges are drums or cylinders that spin at high speed and separate heavy and light molecules, allowing increasingly enriched uranium to be drawn off.
Former U.N. arms inspector David Kay, now in charge of the CIA search for unconventional weapons, started work two days ago in Baghdad. CNN spoke to him about the case over a secure teleconferencing line.
"It begins to tell us how huge our job is," Kay said. "Remember, his material was buried in a barrel behind his house in a rose garden. There's no way that that would have been discovered by normal international inspections. I couldn't have done it. My successors couldn't have done it."
CNN had this story last week but made a decision to withhold it at the request of the U.S. government, which cited safety and national security concerns.
The U.S. government told CNN the security and safety issues have been dealt with and there is no risk now in telling the story fully.
The gas centrifuge equipment dates to Iraq's pre-1991 efforts to build nuclear weapons.
Experts said the documents and pieces Obeidi gave the United States were the critical information and parts to restart a nuclear weapons program and would have saved Saddam's regime several years and as much as hundreds of millions of dollars for research.
Obeidi said he felt unsafe in Iraq after the U.S.-led invasion and that he was getting pressure from different corners of the country.
He also said other Iraqi scientists were watching to see if he was safe after he cooperated with the U.S. government.
Now that he is safe, Obeidi said he believes other scientists would come forward with other components of Iraq's weapons program.
CNN National Correspondent Mike Boettcher contributed to this report. |
I see the government wanted to keep it quiet at first. I guess they were making sure it wasn't a milking machine.
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Cruddy
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Quick! Dig up all Iraqi rose bushes at once!
And don't forget the azaelias!
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DRoseDARs
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"My god, it's full of peas..."
Jul 2002
time: 21:29
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For the record (again...), I've always believed Saddam had WMDs hidden somewhere inside Iraq (or Syria potentially). That's never been a question for me (though I have strong doubts about them having much in the way of developing nuclear weapons).
My thing is that was the justification for the war: Saddam has wmds and is an imminent threat to the West, led by the USA, and is scant months away from having nuclear weapons.
The burden of PROOF is on the Bush Administration. He risks very bad backlash from home and abroad if he does not find what he said he knew about. Grasping straws won't cut it, side-stepping questions won't cut it, down-playing setbacks won't cut it, shouting-down critics won't cut it...only hard physical proof will be apropriate.
I don't care about Bush's political future. One way or another he'll be gone, be it in 1 year or 4 more. My concern is the damage he has already done to the United States' image in the eyes of the rest of the world and the damage he is likely to continue to contribute until his presidency ends. Years after he is gone this country will still be smarting from it's poor world image. Whether one cares about what the rest of the world thinks or not is immaterial: even the most isolated nation still has contact with the outside world. The USA, being the Western Industrialized country that it is, WILL be affected by world opinion of it.
My generation and the one after mine will be the ones who have to repair the damage when it's our turn to lead the nation...
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Cruddy
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quote:
Originally posted by notyoueither
Chemical warfare shells have already been found, have they not? |
Yes, a dozen or so were found.
They are, of course, completely useless without a chemical weapon to go inside them.
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Cruddy
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Maybe this new "search for WMD" is a cover for a new oil prospecting program.
Be interesting to see what turns up under the rosebushes and azaelias.
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DRoseDARs
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"My god, it's full of peas..."
Jul 2002
time: 21:29
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Notyoueither, I'm one of these people who still believe that evidence, not opinion, are what matter. Yes, there are people who are still going to piss and moan about every little thing anyone who is not them does - they can sod off - but the fact of the matter is this war, it's "justifications," on top of everything already done by the Bush Administration, WILL be remembered by enough people, both in the halls of power and the general public, that the damage done will affect the USA's near future. Political clout, economic influence, military cooperation. All will be affected to one degree or another. How much? Only time will tell...
It's easy for you to sit in Canada and say what you said. Afterall, when was the last time CANADA pissed the whole world off?  You've been fortunate that you haven't fallen victim to the ugly mess of Guilt-by-Association with the USA. The UK already had a history in the Middle East, so they've got their own problems with the region; it's my perception that you Canadians haven't really inherited the stigma of bad-blood over there from either country. 
Must be hard to be Canadian, what with the whole "No one hating us and declaring Jihad on us all the time" racket you got going up there... 
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26-06-2003 04:07
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