Secret U.S. Mission Hauls Uranium From Iraq (genghis)

Correction/Update: Apparently it's not clear to everyone that the first paragraph below was meant to be somewhat satirical. I apologize for having misled everyone into believing that the Niger yellowcake referenced in the paragraph below is somehow related to the yellowcake that the actual article is about. They're two completely different subjects. Furthermore, I apologize for offending any of our beloved Canadian neighbors to the north, for posting the photo of the piece of yellow cake (to the hungry amongst you) and for possibly leaving out an apostrophe in the second sentence below (or for it appearing like a little square).

Now just wait one damn minute here! We know that this can’t be possible. Bush lied, of course, and the Niger yellowcake documents were forgeries. Saddam had no intention of building nuclear weapons. It was all a bluff to deter the American war machine and placate his unruly generals who wished to usurp his peaceful and benevolent rule. But now a right-wing “news” agency via another fascist “news” network is trying to spin a different story.

”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.”

Note: 550 metric tons is approximately equal to 1.7 U.S. LauraW humps, for comparison.

”…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.”

”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." A Cameco spokesman, Lyle Krahn, declined to discuss the price, but said the yellowcake will be processed at facilities in Ontario for use in energy-producing reactors. "We are pleased ... that we have taken (the yellowcake) from a volatile region into a stable area to produce clean electricity," he said.”

Correction: 550 metric tons is roughly equal to 1.7 megahumps. Me not good with conversion tables.

Background/Archive on the subject from the Neo-Fascist Annenberg "Political Fact Check," circa 8/04, in case anyone needs to get caught up, is here.

posted by xgenghisx at 01:01 AM

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