CNN is reporting that an Iraqi scientist has led U.S. investigators to a gas centrifuge and related equipment typically used to enrich uranium for bombs. Apparently, he buried it in his back yard on orders from Saddam or his sons.
Justification at last? If you were against the war or (like me) at least somewhat disillusioned by the lack of hard evidence, does this change your mind?
If you aren’t getting the right answers, just change the questions.
According to even Administration officials, this is still not the smoking gun. No weapons. No uranium.
These items were buried before even the first Gulf War.
You could post a link to the story so everyone can read it.
The war wasn’t over what they might do. It was over a clear and present danger.
http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/06/25/sprj.irq.centrifuge/index.html
It’s a start.
Another link…
hmmmm…why would those nice Hussein boys BURY something? That’s odd. Especially when they were being so forthcoming…
Why do people bury stuff?
Just let me know when they find bunsen burners, test tubes and petri dishes, too. THEN we’ll be on to something!
Hard to build a bomb when parts you need are in some guys backyard under a bush.
What’s more, as this was buried under some guy’s rose bush, there is no way in hell that this was what Bush was talking about in his State of the Union address. Dubya could not have possibly known about the existence of these parts. This is simply something that the Administration lucked out on in finding – and it’s not that impressive at that. Certainly not sexy enough for the Republicans to take advantage of, especially when the CNN article has to define what a centrifuge is.
Azael
How?
I’m awaiting for the upcoming scandal of the Secret Iraqi High School Chemistry Textbooks, myself.
Sorry. I assumed that everyone knew where to find CNN’s site and its featured story.
To a strawman. I think Somersby has done a good job of pointing this out. The questions that are being asked are very very different from those being answered.
And yet the question being ANSWERED always implies that the question is “Did Saddam Hussien ever have a weapons program or WMD at any time?” And they answer it “of course, you fools, how can you be so dumb as to deny that?”
**
Anything is better than nothing. They found a centrifuge, that’s one less centrifuge waiting to become buried treasure for some disaffected Islamic group.
Someone more accuainted with the processes involved in uranium enrichment may give a more substantial opinion, but… as far as I know you won`t get too far with a single centrifugue, I remember that uranium enrichment plants have hundreds of centrifugues working in series to do the process. A single centrifugue, buried for 12 years doesn´t seem to me like a big deal.
Here’s a nice shot of the multi-centrifuge banks at Urenco’s enrichment facility.
When did Dick Cheney say that Iraq had nukes? I don’t remember it. He said they could be as little as six months away IF they had the fissionables.
What a crock.
The MSNBC link above shows what looks to be a single bearing. The CNN link shows a hub.
So how far would they get with a single centrifuge (assuming for the moment that the whole thing was there, and not just a couple of bits)?
So they’d need to run this centrifuge for about ten thousand years to get enough enriched uranium for a single bomb. Wow.
From the MSNBC article:
And this is what bothers me. The evidence presented here does not really prove some of the claims Bush made for why we should go to war. I still believe we went into war under false pretenses. When I see more definitive evidence of WMD’s I’ll believe it.
How operable could a centrifuge that’s been buried for 12 years be?
If we have to wait for disaffected Islamic groups to stumble across buried centrifuges in order for us to be threatened by WOMDs, then I think we’ve got a few more years of liberty and freedom to enjoy.