July 6, 2008
Final Yellowcake Removed from Iraq
Sixteen words...
Sixteen words...
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.
This is not the yellowcake you've been looking for. Iraq Posted by AlexC at July 6, 2008 4:02 PM
Mmmm, cake.
Am I missing something here? I saw a couple of things on this, but it seems to be a non-story. The MSNBC story you linked has 300 words on the difficulty of safely removing it -- and then a weird non sequitor ending about Scooter Libby.
Am I the only one who thinks the story might be, um, something like: "SADDAM HUSSEIN HAD MORE THAN 600 TONS OF URANIUM!!"
Posted by: jk at July 6, 2008 4:43 PMThat evil Karl Rove...he has such power, even after leaving the Bush Administration, that he makes the MSM forget about his evil plans to out Valerie Plame and frame Scooter!
Seriously now, why should this be a "problem" for Washington, when it vindicates the Bush Administration's belief that Saddam harbored stuff he shouldn't have had? Sheesh, only the damn liberal media could spin it this way. I suppose this was among the banned materials Saddam shouldn't have had, which the inspectors for a long time said he didn't have, then on the eve of the invasion "found" it again. I was briefly acquainted with one of the inspectors, a real bitch who did little to dispel the stereotype of French arrogance. She had a Ph.D. in physics, specializing in rocketry, but she was a poor detective.
So Saddam didn't buy any from Niger. Now we see why: he still had plenty at home, which apparently could have been used in the so-called "dirty bomb." I wonder how many degrees of separation there were between Saddam and the likes of Jose Padilla.
Posted by: Perry Eidelbus at July 6, 2008 10:35 PMNor am I willing to concede that Joe Wilson IV was right that none of the 600 tons was bought from Niger. Speaking of people who are really not good detectives...
Posted by: jk at July 7, 2008 10:32 AMBut the important thing was that the CIA told Bush not to use the intelligence information on yellowcake in his SOTU address (and he did it anyway, that impertinent little man) - not whether it was true or not. No matter what you can't take away from that bit of "gotcha" journalism that the Times is so proud of.
Posted by: johngalt at July 7, 2008 3:48 PMI don't know that I'd give a **** what the CIA asked me to say or not say. This is the same CIA that has its own agenda, whose least sin is continuing to keep Valerie Plame in covert status -- after she outed herself to a guy she was romantically involved in (she revealed her covert status to Joe Wilson when they were dating). Love trumped duty and being a competent spy, as I explained here to a dimwit limey.
http://www.alarmingnews.com/archives/007395.html
Anyway, the only "gotcha" the liberals ever had on Bush is accusing him of lying about something he never said. If John Kerry or B. Hussein had said it, liberals would say that the 16 words were too "nuanced" for critics to understand.
Posted by: Perry Eidelbus at July 8, 2008 2:32 PM | What do you think? [5]