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Politics : Foreign Policy Discussion Thread -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Alastair McIntosh who wrote (5451)	4/10/2003 4:42:53 PM
From: KLP	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 15987

Keyword is UNDERGROUND.....nuclear facilities...Also, Hamza wrote a book and he is known as Saddam's Bombmaker... Read yours again, and then the link below.... P>>>>>>>>ublic may be at risk after Iraqi nuclear plant searched, UN says By JEFF SALLOT - From Thursday's Globe and Mail POSTED AT 3:18 AM EST Thursday, Apr. 10, 2003 Three weeks into their campaign in Iraq, U.S. coalition forces still haven't found any secret caches of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons — but they may have jeopardized public safety by breaking into a sealed nuclear storage facility south of Baghdad, according to UN sources. UN sources said they are concerned at reports that radiation is escaping from a nuclear storage building that U.S. marines entered three or four days ago. "The marines barged in there, blasted through the seals, opened the building up, breaking these very important containment measures," said a UN official who is familiar with the site, the old nuclear power facility at Al-Tuwaitha, about 20 kilometres south of Baghdad. The International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN's nuclear watchdog, had "many tonnes" of uranium waste under lock and seal in drums stored in a secure building before the war. "When they arrive at these places they should take certain precautions. . . . They're putting their own people at risk," the official said. "Extreme caution should be used when handling this material."<<<<<<<<<< 8888888888888888888888888888888888 This post by the embedded reporter to the Marines from Pittsburg suggests that the UN didn't know about it... Message 18821519 >>>>>>>>>>"On days when the inspectors were scheduled to visit, only the fuel fabrication rooms were open to them," he said in the report, written with Khidhir Hamza, an Iraqi nuclear engineer who defected in 1994. "Usually, employees were told to take to their rooms so that the inspectors did not see an unusually large number of people." Chief Warrant Officer Darrin Flick, the battalion's nuclear, biological and chemical warfare specialist, said radiation levels were particularly high at a place near the complex where local residents say the "missile water" is stored in mammoth caverns. "It's amazing," Flick said. "I went to the off-site storage buildings, and the rad detector went off the charts. Then I opened the steel door, and there were all these drums, many, many drums, of highly radioactive material." Iraq began to develop its nuclear program at Al-Tuwaitha in the 1970s, according to the Institute for Science and International Security. Israel destroyed a French-built reactor there in 1981 and a reactor built by the Russians was destroyed during the 1991 Gulf War. Hamza testified before Congress last August that if left unchecked, Iraq could have had nuclear weapons by 2005. Noting that the ground in the area is muddy and composed of clay, Hamza was surprised to learn of the Marines' discovery, the Tribune-Review said. He wondered if the Iraqis went to the colossal expense of pumping enough water to build the subterranean complex because no reasonable inspector would think anything might be built underground there. "Nobody would expect it," Hamza said. "Nobody would think twice about going back there." Michael Levi of the Federation of American Scientists said the Iraqis continued rebuilding the Al-Tuwaitha facility after weapons inspections ended in 1998. "I do not believe the latest round of inspections included anything underground, so anything you find underground would be very suspicious," said Levi. "It sounds absolutely amazing." The Pittsburgh paper said nuclear scientists, engineers and technicians, housed in a plush neighborhood near the campus, have fled, along with Baathist party loyalists. "It's going to take some very smart people a very long time to sift through everything here," said Flick. "All this machinery. All this technology. They could do a lot of very bad things with all of this." Marine Capt. Seegar said his unit will continue to hold the nuclear site until international authorities can take over. Last night, they monitored gun and artillery battles by U.S. Marines against Iraqi Republican Guards and Fedayeen terrorists. The offices underground are replete with videos and pictures that indicate the complex was built largely over the last four years, the Tribune-Review said worldnetdaily.com <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<