US Removes Iraq’s ‘Yellowcake’ To Canada

From the instant revisionists at the Associated Press:

Girl standing outside the Al-Majidat school for girls (900 pupils), next to the Tuwaitha nuclear facility, 24 June 2003.

US secretly ships tons of Hussein-era yellowcake to Canada

By BRIAN MURPHY | The Associated Press

July 5, 2008

The last major remnant of Saddam Hussein’s nuclear program — a huge stockpile of concentrated natural uranium — reached a Canadian port Saturday to complete a secret U.S. operation that included a two-week airlift from Baghdad and a ship voyage crossing two oceans.

The removal of 550 metric tons of "yellowcake" — the seed material for higher-grade nuclear enrichment — was a significant step toward closing the books on Saddam’s nuclear legacy. It also brought relief to U.S. and Iraqi authorities who had worried the cache would reach insurgents or smugglers crossing to Iran to aid its nuclear ambitions…

"Everyone is very happy to have this safely out of Iraq," said a senior U.S. official who outlined the nearly three-month operation to The Associated Press. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject…

The Iraqi government sold the yellowcake to a Canadian uranium producer, Cameco Corp., in a transaction the official described as worth "tens of millions of dollars." ….

And, in a symbolic way, the mission linked the current attempts to stabilize Iraq with some of the high-profile claims about Saddam’s weapons capabilities in the buildup to the 2003 invasion.

Accusations that Saddam had tried to purchase more yellowcake from the African nation of Niger — and an article by a former U.S. ambassador refuting the claims — led to a wide-ranging probe into Washington leaks that reached high into the Bush administration.

Tuwaitha and an adjacent research facility were well known for decades as the centerpiece of Saddam’s nuclear efforts.

Israeli warplanes bombed a reactor project at the site in 1981. Later, U.N. inspectors documented and safeguarded the yellowcake, which had been stored in aging drums and containers since before the 1991 Gulf War. There was no evidence of any yellowcake dating from after 1991, the official said.

U.S. and Iraqi forces have guarded the 23,000-acre site — surrounded by huge sand berms — following a wave of looting after Saddam’s fall that included villagers toting away yellowcake storage barrels for use as drinking water cisterns…

The yellowcake wasn’t the only dangerous item removed from Tuwaitha.

Earlier this year, the military withdrew four devices for controlled radiation exposure from the former nuclear complex. The lead-enclosed irradiation units, used to decontaminate food and other items, contain elements of high radioactivity that could potentially be used in a weapon, according to the official. Their Ottawa-based manufacturer, MDS Nordion, took them back for free, the official said.

The yellowcake was the last major stockpile from Saddam’s nuclear efforts, but years of final cleanup is ahead for Tuwaitha and other smaller sites.

The U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency plans to offer technical expertise…

550 metric tons = 1,212,542.44 pounds. That is a lot of yellowcake.

So where did it come from in the first place? And why didn’t the cash-strapped Iraqis sell it after the Israelis destroyed their nuclear weapons program?

Of course none of these questions occur to the Associated Press or any of the rest of our watchdog media.

They have their story and they are sticking to it.

Accusations that Saddam had tried to purchase more yellowcake from the African nation of Niger — and an article by a former U.S. ambassador refuting the claims

Once again the AP is confused about the meaning of the word "refute." Mr. Wilson "refuted" nothing.

He wrote an article which claimed no such attempt had happened, even though he had reported exactly the opposite to the CIA.

But of course Mr. Wilson is a well-known liar.

Also brought relief to U.S. and Iraqi authorities who had worried the cache would reach insurgents or smugglers crossing to Iran to aid its nuclear ambitions.

You see, it was never an aid to Saddam’s nuclear ambitions, but it could be to Iran’s.

(Thanks to Shapter for the heads up.)

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