[Peace-discuss] US Nuke find claim in Iraq critiqued

Thu Apr 10 23:25:17 CDT 2003

Here's an article about a US claim of finding nuclear weapons related
materials in Iraq that was quickly called into question by the
International Atomic Energy Agency.  A few days ago NPR reported an
unconfirmed claim that the US had found 20 300 mile range missles loaded
with VX nerve gas or mustard agent.  Does anybody know what became of this
claim?  Has it been substantiated or refuted?

U.S. Nuke Find Claim in Iraq Critiqued
By WILLIAM J. KOLE

VIENNA, Austria (AP) - American troops who suggested they uncovered
evidence of an active nuclear weapons program in Iraq unwittingly may have
stumbled across known stocks of low-grade uranium, officials said
Thursday. They said the U.S. troops may have broken U.N. seals meant to
keep control of the radioactive material.

Leaders of a U.S. Marine Corps combat engineering unit claimed earlier
this week to have found an underground network of laboratories, warehouses
and bombproof offices beneath the closely monitored Tuwaitha nuclear
research center just south of Baghdad.

The Marines said they discovered 14 buildings at the site which emitted
unusually high levels of radiation, and that a search of one building
revealed ``many, many drums'' containing highly radioactive material. If
documented, such a discovery could bolster Bush administration claims that
Saddam Hussein was trying to develop nuclear weaponry.

Lt. Cmdr. Charles Owens, a spokesman for the U.S. Central Command, said
officials there have not heard anything through military channels about a
Marine inspection at Tuwaitha.

The Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency, which has inspected
the Tuwaitha nuclear complex at least two dozen times and maintains a
thick dossier on the site, had no immediate comment.

But an expert familiar with U.N. nuclear inspections told The Associated
Press that it was implausible to believe that U.S. forces had uncovered
anything new at the site. Instead, the official said, the Marines
apparently broke U.N. seals designed to ensure the materials aren't
diverted for weapons use - or end up in the wrong hands.

``What happened apparently was that they broke IAEA seals, which is very
unfortunate because those seals are integral to ensuring that nuclear
material doesn't get diverted,'' the expert said, speaking on condition of
anonymity.

The Army Times, meanwhile, reported that troops with the 101st Airborne
Division have unearthed 11 shipping containers, filled with sophisticated
lab equipment, buried at a chemical plant in Karbala. It said the
equipment's value and evidence that some of it may have been smuggled into
Iraq raised suspicions that the facility had been used to manufacture
chemical weapons.

U.N. arms inspectors visited a facility in the immediate vicinity of the
chemical plant Feb. 23, but did not find the buried equipment. Officials
at the U.S. Central Command suggested that no conclusions should be drawn.

Several tons of low-grade uranium has been stored at Tuwaitha, Iraq's
principle nuclear research center and a site that has been under IAEA
safeguards for years, the official said. The Iraqis were allowed to keep
the material because it was unfit for weapons use without costly and
time-consuming enrichment.

Tuwaitha contains 1.8 tons of low-grade enriched uranium and several tons
of natural and depleted uranium.

The uranium was inspected by the U.N. nuclear agency twice a year and was
kept under IAEA seal - at least until early this week, when the Marines
seized control of the site.

The U.N. nuclear agency's inspectors have visited Tuwaitha about two dozen
times, including a dozen checks carried out since December, most recently
on Feb. 6. It was among the first sites that IAEA inspectors sought out
after the resumption of inspections on Nov. 27 after a nearly four-year
break.

On at least one occasion, inspectors with special mountaineering training
went underground there to have a look around, according to IAEA documents.

David Kay, a former IAEA chief nuclear inspector, said Thursday that the
teams he oversaw after the 1991 Gulf War never found an underground site
at Tuwaitha despite persistent rumors.

``But underground facilities by definition are very hard to detect,'' he
said. ``When you inspect a place so often, you get overconfident about
what you know. It would have been very easy for the inspectors to explain
away any excessive radiation at Tuwaitha. The Iraqis could have hidden
something clandestine in plain sight.''

American intelligence analysts said before the U.S.-led campaign began
that new structures photographed at Tuwaitha might indicate a revival of
weapons work. IAEA inspectors checked but found nothing.

The Tuwaitha complex, run by the Iraqi Atomic Energy Commission on a bend
in the Tigris River about 18 miles south of Baghdad, was the heart of
Saddam's former nuclear program and was involved in the final design of a
nuclear bomb before Iraq's nuclear program was destroyed by U.N. teams
after the 1991 Gulf War.

The IAEA, charged with the hunt for evidence of a nuclear program in Iraq,
told the Security Council just before the war that it had uncovered no
firm evidence that Saddam was renewing efforts to add nuclear weapons to
his arsenal.

IAEA Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei, clearly wary of any coalition
claims, said this week that any alleged discoveries of weapons of mass
destruction in Iraq would have to be verified by U.N. inspectors ``to
generate the required credibility.''

ElBaradei said the inspectors should return as soon as possible, subject
to Security Council guidance, to resume their search for banned arms.

04/10/03 22:39