U.S. Finds Nuclear Materials Buried in I raq

“U.S. Finds Nuclear Materials Buried in Iraq







Wednesday, June 25, 2003

WASHINGTON — An Iraqi scientist has led the CIA (search) to nuclear materials buried in his backyard, Fox News has learned.





Mahdi Obeidi (search) told U.S. agents in Iraq he was ordered in 1991 to hide documents and parts for a centrifuge to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons.

"A box of parts and a bunch of documents were buried under the rose bushes in his backyard," one U.S. official told Fox News.

Obeidi also said he was told the materials should remain buried in the backyard of his Baghdad home until sanctions against Iraq ended, when they would be dug up and used to reconstitute a program to enrich uranium to make a nuclear weapon.

"This shows how hard a job it will be to find stuff when it's under people's rose bushes," the U.S. official added.

Obeidi told the CIA he was one of four Iraqi nuclear scientists told to hide such plans and parts. He did not know the identities of the other three and the CIA has so far been unable to locate them, a senior U.S. official told Fox News.

Officials said they believe Obeidi's statements are credible, and described the recovery of the buried materials as evidence of the lengths to which Saddam Hussein was willing to go to hide and maintain his weapons of mass destruction capability. But, one official cautioned, "This is not a 'smoking gun' -- it is not evidence of an ongoing uranium enrichment program."

Before the 1991 Gulf War (search), Obeidi headed Iraq's program to make centrifuges that would enrich uranium for nuclear weapons, the official said. Most or all of that program was dismantled after U.N. inspections in the early 1990s.

Details of Obeidi's activities during the past decade were not immediately available, although he was interviewed often by inspectors from the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency in 2002, the official said.

Obeidi turned over a two-foot-tall stack of documents that includes detailed designs for centrifuges, intelligence officials said. Obeidi told intelligence officials the parts from his garden were among the more difficult-to-produce components of a centrifuge.

Assembled, the components would not be useful in making much uranium. Hundreds of centrifuges are necessary to make enough to construct a nuclear weapon in such programs.

Obeidi and his family have left Iraq, the intelligence official said.

Since the war, U.S. teams looking for evidence of Iraq's alleged chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programs have been chasing leads and tips from Iraqis who stand to win reward money offered for evidence. So far no weapons have been found.

Before the second Gulf War, U.S. and allied intelligence agencies said they had evidence that Iraq was seeking to reconstitute its nuclear weapons program, although some of that evidence has since been debunked.

Other evidence, such as reports that Iraq tried to import precision-made tubes for centrifuges, was hotly debated, with some experts saying those tubes were for conventional weapons.

Earlier this year, the U.N. agency said there was no new evidence or indications that Iraq was working to revive the program

Fox News' Jim Angle and The Associated Press”

“Did you bother to read it *and* understand it?

Quote: "This is not a 'smoking gun' -- it is not evidence of an ongoing uranium enrichment program."”

“Alaska I have been waiting to hear from you! I just wanted you to pipe in!”

“This does describe the lengths it may take to find proof for your witch hunt!”

“it won't matter if they find a factory under there, the libs will say we planted it....”

“You all know the Bush nay sayers will say that it was planted. The only way they would've been convinced is if the weapons were used against us. Even then, I'm sure some of them (Alaska, thebackpacker et.al.) will find a way to blame that on Bush too.”

“another dunk by dunk...”

“Yep. Sure sounds like an eminent threat to me. You guys are really grasping at straws, now.”

“well there ya go.....tilt's sceptical. i am stunned.....”

“See!”

“I'm quite sure that when the dust settles this will just be another case of the Trailers of Mass Destruction we found. Just proves that 12 years ago he had an active WMD program, and after the sanctions ended he would re-constitute it (implying he didn't have one now, maybe Bush was lying after all).”

“Wrong again. I didn't say it was planted, (even though it WAS under the rose bushes, LOL).

"A box of parts" that have been in the dirt a dozen years? C'Mon, guys! Get serious, LOL”

“rose bushes?????


ok, i'm convinced.....”

“YUP!

"A box of parts and a bunch of documents were buried under the rose bushes in his backyard," one U.S. official told Fox News."

GET THEE TO A SHRUBBERY!



Further inquiries should be directed to P. Allen Smith.

LOL”

“Oh yea, just dig that stuff up, spend at least another 3/6 years getting everything together (the CIA's estimate) and there you have it...eminent threat .

Couldn't wait another minute, gotta invade right now.....”

“The scientist and the alleged materails are pre-1991, meaning they haven't used the crap in over 10 years...and the materials have been in the scientist's garden since then.”

“Interesting you mention straws,,, well Tilt, this processes is like looking for a needle in a hay stack. Its a large country, roughly the size of Cali., and has approx. 24 mil. people that for the most part let us march unopposed into their capital.

The depots were most likely cleared out weeks ahead of the invasion, since they saw it coming on CNN. Saddam moved fighter planes and other items to Iran in the 1st war (remember that Blitzkrieg, I know for sure Saddam did),,,sooo what was to keep him from moving items to Iran or Syria this time. If you snooze you loose. We had no element of surprise. They knew we were coming.

and BTW those items looked to be in decent shape for spending the last 10+ yrs in the dirt. I can only hope for the sake of arguement that the Iraqi people start coming forward with the leads needed to find the 'smoking guns'. I still have faith in those liars why can't you have faith in ours.

If the Bush administration was mislead by his pigs of war, so be it, the damage has already happened, and their day of reckoning won't come for another 465+ days.

Maybe we need to flash them a bigger carrot, a greater reward for speaking up soon rather than later. How many doors are we gonna have to kick in? But alas I fear many are still scared to come forward for some reason. Why? Could it be secrets about WMD and the fractions of loyalist that blended back into the pop..

This is a cureable cancer, mind you a difficult one and one we should not give up on. Even if there are no credible ties to Terrorist networkings that are visible in Saddam regime, they still may exist in another form. Because we all know its rather easy to keep ones hands clean if you have enough scapegoats and patsie's. And Bush will have plenty of those to throw at you witch hunters.”

“...the rabid collection of War-mongers on TT think a hunk of metal the size of a break drum and some moldy papers buried in a garden for over 12 years is justification for the deaths of over 200 American Soldiers and thousands of Iraqi's?

You girls need to get your head on straight.

Despite the recent White House attempt to move the goalpost on what justify's all this death and destuction, no convincing, independently verifiable evidence has been produced. Certainly nothing that convinces anyone that Saddam was an "immeninent Threat" to the US.

Bush’s own words are particularly damning, "a vast Iraqi weapons program... several mobile labs, 30,000 munitions, 500 tons of chemical weapons, 25,000 liters of anthrax and 38,000 liters of botulinum toxin."

Make sure you war-bunnies let that Iraqi kid who had his whole family wiped out and his arms blown off know that it was worth it.

Jesus this is sickening.”

“Still, there has been no proof of an imminent threat, that threat that Powell so passionately layed out at the United Nations.

Thirty years ago there were those who defended Nixon to the bitter end too.

Tilt, would that be H Allen Smith, author of "Life In A Putty Knife Factory"?”

“One other point you seemed to gloss over while getting excited about this 'find'. Without uranium, this chunk of metal would seem less dangerous than riding a segway...”

“.......and
"Lo, The Former Egyptian"

"Larks In The Poporn"

? ? ?”

“treebeard, you are such a whyzass”

“Thank you, Tom. I'll take that as a compliment coming from you... :)”

“It's a shame some of you yahoo's couldn't be made to deliver the message to the families.

2 U.S. Soldiers Killed by Iraqi Ambushes
1 hour, 30 minutes ago
Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Assailants launched a wave of ambushes against U.S. forces in Iraq, dropping grenades from an overpass, blowing up a vehicle with a roadside bomb and destroying a civilian SUV traveling with U.S. troops, soldiers and Iraqi police said Thursday. Two U.S. soldiers and two Iraqi civilians were killed.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&e=4&u=/ap/20030626/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq”

“uh..there's still a war going on?

Sorry, if it's no longer being hyped up every two freakin' minutes by the media...well then, it must be over and done with eh?

~sarcasm~”

“*distant echo*
...and don't forget Afghanistan!”

“You got that right, honey!


Its a replay of things 35 years ago......on a much smaller scale.

Boys would come home from HELL and people would not know or care much about what was really happening on the other side of the world.”

“I wasn't even a twinkle in my daddy's eye 35 years ago ;)”

“whoa there - this is not Vietnam.”

“Afganistan Banana Stand”

“I hope everyone on both sides of the aisle can agree that the case that the Bush administration made was full of... um... misrepresentation of the facts. I don't mean that Saddam had nothing, I mean that the emminent threat, active programs, large quantities of weapons grade vector and chemicals was somehow wrong.”

“Zen I am most certain that a lot of these families would love to have you deliver that message. I am sure that have all the same beliefs and thoughts that you have. You make me laugh.”

“From 'The Hot Rock' with Robert Redford, Tom...”

“Planted? By Rose Bush? Is Rose Bush kin to W.?”

“Son, when I was president, I didn't get the job done, now that your gonna be president, I want you to finish the job for me. But Dad...I don't think its right. Right has nothing to do with it, you need to do this for ME, after all I am your father. Well ok Dad, I'll do it for you, and make up some excuses as I go along.

I think that about sums up the early Bush conversation.”

“This is typical fox news reporting. Scream: NUCLEAR! - whisper: plans buried since 1991 under a rosebush.

Scream: WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION! - whisper: have not been found, despite our knowlege of imminent Iraqi threat that led us to invade Iraq.

Scream: HIDDEN STACHE OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS CHILD-KILLER FAMILY DESTROYING DEVICES FOUND! - whisper: in hidden bunkers in the midwest.”

“Flash, a shell casing was just found somewhere in Baghdad!”

“No-one actually takes Fox News seriously do they? It's an Aussie guy playing a big joke.”

“I'm glad you're having such a good time UpUrs.”

“I am not laughing at the situation you idiot. I am laughing at you. Typical! Twist! Turn! What ever makes it sound better for you. Did you sign in on the moron thread yet?”

“treebeard, you are the man!

1972...Zero Mostel, too....just saw it again recently.

Most people don't know about Afganistan Banana Stand.

(That'll be our secret password)”

“wait a minute....rose bush? so THAT'S what mutt's always talkin about hedgonomy in the region.......



stikmon, what if my dad told me jump off a bridge? do you really think i'd do it?


i saw a report last night on rwanda and liberia and there were french troop running around in tanks.....and there were german troops too. they were talking about sending more in.......wonder what the IMINENT THREATto france and germany was in west africa......


tiltie la pue?”

“This big find is like when I was a teen and my friend got pulled over by the NJ state police. Now the officer who stopped us had been in the force over twenty years and he can smell druggies and he knows that there is dope in the car. My friend allows the search and this guy and his back-upS, tear this Beetle apart. The back seat is by the side of the road, spare tire is out of the front, he had us take our shoes off, dump the contents of our pockets. After about ten minutes he comes out of the car with a film can. Oh, $h!t, where did that come from? Is it a plant? He shakes it with a menacing twinkle in his eye. He pops the lid and makes like he is pouring out a kilo. A seed and a little bit of stem fall out. He tells us to pick up our litter (the back seat and spare and all the trash from the back of the car) and GIT before he cites us for littering. No ticket for illegal lane change or anything. But boy, did he have the goods on us!
( I know, so what?!?)”

“Strat - just how ill-imformed can one man be?”

“Now, you're beginning to understand, ynami.”

“my point would have been better had I not spelled informed wrong ;o)”

“Zen, its easy to take the high road and show the ugliness of war the way you and others have. And don't think it doesn't sicken the rest. I don't know about you folks but I'm running out of cheeks to turn. I don't want any more terror in my country or elsewhere and I believe we should do what it takes to tell the world ' you don't mess with Texas'.”

“So the threat of terrorism is in any way diminished then? You feel safer now BR?”

“We interrupt this thread to bring you a news bulletin. A second shell casing has been found in Baghdad. We now return you to your regularly scheduled thread.”

“enlighten me with a real answer yabadabadoodoo.....

UN sanctioned peacekeepers? oh goody goody gumdrops! the UN security voted unaminously to give hussein ONE MORE CHANCE, which he feiled....so but really now....let's hear it”