US snubs Maliki pullout timetable

WASHINGTON: In a rebuff to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki, the
Pentagon said yesterday that any timetable for a US withdrawal from
Iraq would depend on conditions on the ground there.
Maliki told Arab ambassadors he was pressing for such a timetable in
negotiations with Washington on an agreement on the status of US forces
in Iraq beyond this year.
Asked about the prime minister's comments, a Pentagon spokesman
said: "With respect to timetables I would say the same thing I would
say as respects to the security situation - it is dependent on
conditions on the ground."
He said the US had made clear "that we have no long term desires to
have forces permanently stationed in Iraq." "But timelines tend to be
artificial in nature," he said.
"In a situation where things are as dynamic as they are in Iraq, I
would just tell you, it's usually best to look at these things based on
conditions on the ground." Maliki's comments to Arab ambassadors to the
UAE marked the first time he has specifically demanded a timetable for
a US withdrawal.
"The direction we are taking is to have a memorandum of
understanding either for the departure of the forces or to have a
timetable for their withdrawal," a statement from Maliki's office
quoted him as saying.
"The negotiations are still continuing with the American side, but
in any case the basis for the agreement will be respect for the
sovereignty of Iraq," he added.
Iraq appears on track to establishing sustainable security - a key
step toward withdrawing US troops - the top US military officer said
after visiting the newly quiet Sadr City section of the capital.
Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said
that important elements of a solution to the Iraqi war - including
reduced levels of sectarian violence, political reconciliation and
stronger Iraqi forces _ are coming into view more than five years after
the US invasion.
He repeatedly stressed, however, that the improvements are fragile and could still be reversed.
Mullen's assessment was notably upbeat and comes as the last of five
Army brigades sent to Iraq last year as reinforcements amid escalating
sectarian conflict and rising death tolls is heading home.
"From all I see, the security conditions are holding, the level of
violence is down; we're down to a level that we haven't seen in more
than four years," Mullen said on his fourth visit to Iraq since
becoming Joint Chiefs chairman last October.
Conclusion
Pressed to say how much longer it might take to reach a conclusion
about the permanence of the security gains, Mullen declined to be
pinned down.
Meanwhile, the US military recently transferred hundreds of metric
tons of yellowcake uranium from Iraq to Canada in a secret, weeks-long
operation.
The 550 metric tonnes of uranium, which was sold to a Canadian
company, was moved by truck convoy to Baghdad's "Green Zone," then
flown by military aircraft to a third country where it was put on a
ship for Canada, the spokesman said.

"Meanwhile, the US military recently transferred hundreds of metric
tons of yellowcake uranium from Iraq to Canada in a secret, weeks-long
operation."

Did anyone else notice this statement present in an offhanded manner by this author?

yeah, that was very sneaky, putting it at the end of the article! LOL

And where did all of this uranium come from?????????????

this is from wikipedia............

Yellowcake is used in the preparation of fuel for nuclear reactors, where it is processed into purified UO2 for use in fuel rods for PHWR and other systems using unenriched uranium. It may also be enriched, by being converted to uranium hexafluoride gas (UF6), by isotope separation through gaseous diffusion or in a gas centrifuge to produce enriched uranium suitable for use in weapons and reactors.[u]

Howler, they said it came from Iraq. Sarcasm intended.

...no one will pick up on this in the media. Doesn't fit into their agenda about no WMD's.

Howler wrote:yeah, that was very sneaky, putting it at the end of the article! LOL

And where did all of this uranium come from?????????????

I don't know but it sure is reminiscient of Bush's notorious, "yellow cake from Africa" statement in the union address. You think it would be a headline story.

I've heard so many firsthand accounts from people in Iraq of WMD being found that I almost wonder if the US doesn't want the world to know. Not sure why though if that is the case.

thats allot of uranium, although not weapons grade yet, not far from it.


as far as I know, Iraq has ZERO nuclear power plants.

dealorbuydinar wrote:

Howler wrote:yeah, that was very sneaky, putting it at the end of the article! LOL

And where did all of this uranium come from?????????????

I don't know but it sure is reminiscient of Bush's notorious, "yellow cake from Africa" statement in the union address. You think it would be a headline story.

I've heard so many firsthand accounts from people in Iraq of WMD being found that I almost wonder if the US doesn't want the world to know. Not sure why though if that is the case.

well it takes a little work, and some know how to turn yellow cake into weapons grade uranium. But like I said above, if you dont have any nuclear power plants, why have the yellow cake? And so much of it at that?

Howler wrote:

dealorbuydinar wrote:

Howler wrote:yeah, that was very sneaky, putting it at the end of the article! LOL

And where did all of this uranium come from?????????????

I don't know but it sure is reminiscient of Bush's notorious, "yellow cake from Africa" statement in the union address. You think it would be a headline story.

I've heard so many firsthand accounts from people in Iraq of WMD being found that I almost wonder if the US doesn't want the world to know. Not sure why though if that is the case.

well it takes a little work, and some know how to turn yellow cake into weapons grade uranium. But like I said above, if you dont have any nuclear power plants, why have the yellow cake? And so much of it at that?

No nuclear plants and 550 metric tonnes of uranium.

thanks Seaview, I was just going to do some more research on that.

maybe Iran is hiding WMD in iraq ?

i think the almondjohhny guy would like to get his hands on some of that yellow cake...

This is from CNN 2004
Looks like they have taken uranium out before. But this was only 2 tons!



http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/07/07/iraq.nuclear/


Wednesday, July 7, 2004




The United States removed nearly two tons of radiological and nuclear materials from Iraq last month, the Energy Department said.


The low-enriched uranium will be sold to "vendors" for use at nuclear power plants, he said. U.S. authorities were concerned that the uranium could have been converted to weapons-grade materia

Howler wrote:thanks Seaview, I was just going to do some more research on that.

Here's something to get your teeth into then - lol

Dismantling the Iraqi nuclear facility at Tuwaitha

Begins Ministry of Science and Technology supported by the International Atomic Energy Agency launched a project removing the first nuclear facility in the devastating Tuwaitha site, which contains several laboratories dealing with radioactive materials.

And so talked Minister of Science and Technological Raid Fahmi told "Radio Sawa":

"This project very important for our facilities and continuation of a devastating threat to public health and we are working to overcome this challenge and a task requiring considerable scientific and material requirements. Lama building where pollution but there are large buildings at Tuwaitha where the pollution is very large."

And the plan followed in the decontamination of the building either at Tuwaitha, which will take about two years, and implemented by the Iraqi cadres and the use of special tools researcher and specialist in the liquidation of installations and nuclear sites Adnan Salim told "Radio Sawa" during celebrations marking the occasion on Monday held direct the project:

"Established devastating, so we plan to remove four stages begin with Scrappy and isolate it by the sound pollution from the building after an inmate so we do measurements and then dismantle Albismonk."

The researcher explained Ron Bridge from the University of Texas Technological objective of the project is to control radioactive contamination valuable Iraq, and many training courses set up to create an Iraqi cadres to implement the project ruled out the possibility of setting a date for the completion of the implementation of this campaign:

"We will continue to work at the site of the largest Tuwaitha With the improved security situation in the freedom of action will be greater and this third visit to Iraq has improved work at the site than in my last visit is difficult to determine a date for the completion of work in dismantling the site but it is possible to say that it will take Several years. "

The Tuwaitha was a building containing a small amount of radioactive material not being used for the purposes for which they were designed after the destruction of Tammuz and one by Israel in 1981 had been destroyed in air strikes against coalition forces in the first Gulf War in 1991 has included a site within the first 10 Site pollution risk is divided between Baghdad and north and western regions.

http://66.102.9.104/translate_c?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&langpair=ar%7Cen&u=http://www.iraqdirectory.com/DisplayNewsAr.aspx%3Fid%3D6464&prev=/language_tools&usg=ALkJrhg84yefUA6FoGUaUsN5TpajCifIHA

yuck!
I was over there 3 years, and now I find out this crap was all over the place?


Seaview, I looked but could not not find any references to nuclear power plants in Iraq. Do you know if any were up and running? Or were they just research facilities?

Again, this is old from CNN.
Looks like they were trying to run a civilian nuclear program to hide their military nuclear program side by side. Everytime they built a nuclear power plant, someone would blow it up (for good reason) I still cant find any reference to an up and running nuclear power plant. Thats a but load of yellow cake to be sitting around with no power plant!!!!


Am I the only one really bothered by this? LOL


Iraq began limited efforts in the civilian nuclear field in the late 1960s. By the early 1970s, then Vice-President Saddam Hussein issued direct orders for the creation of a nuclear weapons program. The Iraqi plans called for the initial development of a civilian fuel cycle and related expertise. A parallel weapons program was then to be built off the civilian efforts. Accordingly, Iraq acquired a French nuclear reactor in 1975. Israel later destroyed the reactor in a June 1981 air strike, leading Iraq to explore a number of clandestine uranium enrichment methods. By the start of Operation Desert Storm in 1991, Iraq had created a robust, covert nuclear weapons program that included a complete, although untested, nuclear weapon design. Subsequent estimates suggest that Iraq was perhaps only one to three years away from building a nuclear weapon at that time. Following Iraq’s defeat in the first Operation Desert Storm, inspectors from the United Nations and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) worked to uncover the full extent of Iraq’s nuclear weapons program. They destroyed facilities and relevant equipment in the process, with this work continuing until inspectors left Iraq in 1998.




Iraq began limited efforts in the civilian nuclear field in the late 1960s. By the early 1970s, then Vice-President Saddam Hussein issued direct orders for the creation of a nuclear weapons program. The Iraqi plans called for the initial development of a civilian fuel cycle and related expertise. A parallel weapons program was then to be built off the civilian efforts. Accordingly, Iraq acquired a French nuclear reactor in 1975. Israel later destroyed the reactor in a June 1981 air strike, leading Iraq to explore a number of clandestine uranium enrichment methods. By the start of Operation Desert Storm in 1991, Iraq had created a robust, covert nuclear weapons program that included a complete, although untested, nuclear weapon design. Subsequent estimates suggest that Iraq was perhaps only one to three years away from building a nuclear weapon at that time. Following Iraq’s defeat in the first Operation Desert Storm, inspectors from the United Nations and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) worked to uncover the full extent of Iraq’s nuclear weapons program. They destroyed facilities and relevant equipment in the process, with this work continuing until inspectors left Iraq in 1998.

Howler - here is a link to the history of Iraq's nuclear weapons programme/Reactor Project.

It's quite long...

http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/iraq/nuke/program.htm