Nuke, nuke, who the hell has the nukes?

Akaran_D · Post by **Akaran_D** » October 12, 2004, 10:36 am

I keep hoping that the Bush admin doesn't actually represent the average american public, because no person in power should be this damned idiotic.

UNITED NATIONS (CNN) -- Equipment and materials that could be used to make nuclear weapons have disappeared from Iraq, the chief of the U.N.'s atomic watchdog agency has warned.

Satellite imagery shows entire buildings that once housed high-precision equipment that could be used to make nuclear bombs have been dismantled, the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a letter to the Security Council.

In the letter, IAEA head Mohamed ElBaradei said that though some radioactive equipment taken from Iraq after the war began has shown up in other countries, none of the high-quality, dual-use equipment or materials that is missing has been found.

The U.S. government prevented U.N. weapons inspectors from returning to Iraq -- thereby blocking the IAEA from monitoring the high-tech equipment and materials -- after the U.S.-led war was launched in March 2003.

The Bush administration then deployed U.S. teams in what turned out to be an unsuccessful search for Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.

The IAEA said in its letter that U.S. and Iraqi officials have not reported dismantling any sites relevant to Iraq's nuclear program.

Anti-proliferation agreements say that the United States, which administered Iraq until June 2004, and the Iraqi interim government, which took over from the United States in June, must inform the IAEA of any import or export of such materials and equipment.

But since March 2003 "the agency has received no such notifications or declarations from any state," ElBaradei said.

The nuclear agency has since then had to rely on satellite imagery to work out what is happening with Iraq's nuclear sites.

"The imagery shows in many instances the dismantlement of entire buildings that housed high precision equipment ... formerly monitored and tagged with IAEA seals, as well as the removal of equipment and materials (such as high-strength aluminum) from open storage areas," he said.

In his letter, ElBaradei added that "as the disappearance of such equipment and materials may be of proliferation significance, any state that has information about the location of such items should provide IAEA with that information."

A spokesman for the U.S. Mission in New York said he had not seen the letter.

In a report to the Security Council in early September, a U.N. commission charged with overseeing the elimination of any banned Iraqi missile, chemical and biological weapons programs, also expressed concern about the disappearance of tagged equipment.

Demetri Perricos, head of the commission, known as UNMOVIC, said Iraqi authorities for over a year have been shipping thousands of tons of scrap metal, including at least 42 engines from banned missiles and other equipment that could be used to produce banned weapons.

In the first presidential debate of the 2004 campaign, President George W. Bush and Sen. John Kerry agreed that nuclear proliferation is the single most serious threat facing the United States.

George W. Bush has justified the war in Iraq in part by saying that former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was on the brink of developing a nuclear bomb that he might use against the United States or give to terrorists.

But a CIA report released last week by chief U.S. weapons inspector Charles Duelfer concluded that Hussein terminated his nuclear program after the first Gulf War in 1991.

Grats US, another brilliant fragup.

Voronwë · Post by **Voronwë** » October 12, 2004, 11:14 am

even if you support the war, the manner in which hiring decisions have been made to handle critical infrastructure decisions, the manner in which the researched peacekeeping plans were totally ignored (Dept of State plan, Army War College plan, Army Chief of Staff testimony to Congress), and the manner in which the administration alienated potential investors and coalition participants has been thoroughly incompetant.

Essentially, a substantial sector of the operation that was the responsibility of the civilian leadership has been at best questionably mismanaged.

Akaran_D · Post by **Akaran_D** » October 12, 2004, 11:26 am

More than questionably.

I do support the war. I don't support it's execution.

noel · Post by **noel** » October 12, 2004, 11:29 am

Akaran_D wrote:More than questionably.

I do support the war. I don't support it's execution.

Lol that's almost a direct John Kerry quote.

/tease Akaran

Akaran_D · Post by **Akaran_D** » October 12, 2004, 1:09 pm

Ah well.
I'm either abstaining or voting for him anywys, depends on what my stomach can take on the 4th. =p

Mukyluk · Post by **Mukyluk** » October 12, 2004, 1:34 pm

you mean the 2nd right?

Burke · Post by **Burke** » October 12, 2004, 2:07 pm

They've staggered the voting schedule this year, due to the expected record numbers of voters at the polls. Registered Democrats vote on the 2nd and registered Repubilcans vote on the 4th.

Mark it on your calendars!

Akaran_D · Post by **Akaran_D** » October 12, 2004, 5:04 pm

Yeah, I meant the 2nd. ><

Marbus · Post by **Marbus** » October 12, 2004, 6:50 pm

Akaran, John Kerry is counting on your, your vote IS important

Acies · Post by **Acies** » October 12, 2004, 7:09 pm

Hmmm you know, that is really fucking incompetent, even for Bush... and for Iraqi tagged equipment to go missing. Hmm, I wonder who will be blamed if we took it then used it on a country of the U.N., or ourselves? I am willing to bet the "terrorists who took stole the weapons from Iraq" would be to blame. Of course, the chances of a terrorist organization really taking it, while much slimmer (the President may be stupid, but his military advisors/generals/troubleshooters are not), would probably spark the same response.

Jyhad indeed. Scary.

Akaran_D · Post by **Akaran_D** » October 12, 2004, 7:40 pm

Har Marb..
I'm totally undecided atm. I'm for some things Kerry is for, for some things Bush is for, and I think between the two of them the combined charge of the synapses firing between their brains might just be enough to power a lightbulb for a tenth of a second - so in other words.. it's a tossup of tweedle dum or tweedle dim..