This is topic IAEA reports that coalition forces are not guarding nuclear material in Iraq in forum Books, Films, Food and Culture at Hatrack River Forum.
quote:UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- Some Iraqi nuclear facilities appear to be unguarded, and radioactive materials are being taken out of the country, the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog agency reported after reviewing satellite images and equipment that has turned up in European scrapyards.
quote:The United States has virtually cut off information-sharing with the IAEA since invading Iraq in March 2003 on the premise that the country was hiding weapons of mass destruction.
No such weapons have been found, and arms control officials now worry the war and its chaotic aftermath may have increased chances that terrorists could get their hands on materials used for unconventional weapons or that civilians may be unknowingly exposed to radioactive materials.
So now, not only has the U.S. failed to find any WMDs in Iraq's possession, but its invasion may have INCREASED the chances that terrrorists and rogue nations get their hands on nuclear material that was previously guarded by Saddam's regime.
Posted by Xaposert (Member # 1612) on :
Did nobody care about this? I thought it would be a big concern, given how much we were worried about terrorists getting their hands on WMD materials prior to the war. They could be making dirty bombs with this stuff.
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
Maybe it just got lost in the shuffle of all your other Iraq war posts.
Dagonee
Posted by The Pixiest (Member # 1863) on :
I thought Sadaam didn't have any nuclear material that could be used in making a "dirty bomb". That would be a WMD.
Posted by BookWyrm (Member # 2192) on :
Most of the material (expended fuel) can be used to make a dirty bomb. That in itself doesn't constitute WMDs.
Posted by Xaposert (Member # 1612) on :
The nuclear material Saddam had was stuff declared to the U.N., and legal.
You can use almost any radioactive stuff to make a dirty bomb, because a dirty bomb is essentially just a regular bomb with radioactive stuff placed in it to be spread out by the blast.
Posted by aspectre (Member # 2222) on :
Maybe Dubya is counting on his friend Osama to use a dirty bomb to save his re-election.
Wake up, Pixiest. Or at least occasionally watch the news. Iraq's possession of nuclear material is old old old news. And it was reported a year ago that the US Marines in charge of the area containing Saddam's nuclear research site ignored US military inspectors recommendations that the site be guarded, instead allowing Iraqi villagers to loot the site.