# IAEA in Iraq again. US blew nuclear containment. Serious shit. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 8, 2003, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iaea-in-iraq-again-us-blew-nuclear-containment-serious-shit/180375 "2003-06-08T01:01:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iaea-in-iraq-again-us-blew-nuclear-containment-serious-shit/180375/1 "2003-06-08T01:01:59Z")
[http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2003-06-07-inspectors-iraq\_x.htm](http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2003-06-07-inspectors-iraq_x.htm) I brought it up in another thread, but methinks this one needs it’s own thread. When our glorious liberating army went in to free the Iraquis, someone in charge must have forgotten to tell them that there was a nuclear facility called **Tuwaitha**. Lowlights from the article > [@](#): > > Tuwaitha, Iraq’s largest nuclear facility and now defunct, was left unguarded for two weeks after Iraqi troops fled the area on the eve of the war. > [@](#): > > U.S. troops didn’t secure the area until April 7. In the meantime, looters from the surrounding villages stripped it of uranium storage barrels they later used to hold drinking water. Villagers said the looting continued when the Marines handed over control to another unit in mid-April. > [@](#): > > In preparation for the IAEA return, the U.S. military ordered villagers to sell back the barrels for $3 each. The Pentagon said they had retrieved 100 barrels so far. Some 3,000 barrels of low-grade uranium were stored at Tuwaitha, and even while the IAEA was inside the sprawling complex Saturday, Iraqi workers wearing white suits and breathing masks dropped off more of the blue barrels. At least they’re holding down the cost of the war by only offering $3/barrel. :rolleyes: Does anyone see a disaster here? Who in the planning department of the US military didn’t get the word that you should secure a nuclear site? After all, that was probably one of the alternative cites for going in. WMD. Nuclear material. Two fucking weeks to let them loot the place? WHO THE FUCK WAS IN CHARGE? ---
**Author:** ![SanibelMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@SanibelMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanibelMan)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iaea-in-iraq-again-us-blew-nuclear-containment-serious-shit/180375/2 "2003-06-08T01:12:15Z")
Oh, but Samclem, it simply doesn’t matter because, well, Saddam’s gone and that’s all that matters! I mean, the Iraqis are free to loot now that they’re a free people, and we’d only be hurting them by giving them security. (This post captioned for the sarcasm impaired) ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iaea-in-iraq-again-us-blew-nuclear-containment-serious-shit/180375/3 "2003-06-08T01:16:22Z")
**SanibelMan** , you failed to cite an Op-Ed piece or statistics from the mid 90s, so you lose points in the response. I give it a 6 out of 10. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Tars\_Tarkas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tars\_Tarkas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tars_Tarkas)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iaea-in-iraq-again-us-blew-nuclear-containment-serious-shit/180375/4 "2003-06-08T01:21:03Z")
But he gassed the Kurds! (with nukes, or something…) ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iaea-in-iraq-again-us-blew-nuclear-containment-serious-shit/180375/5 "2003-06-08T01:45:23Z")
> [@](#): > > WHO THE FUCK WAS IN CHARGE? The US, which magically teleported to the scene at the first opportunity and MAGICALLY had everything all secured into place in an instant! ---
**Author:** ![december](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/838e76/32.png) [@december](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/december)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iaea-in-iraq-again-us-blew-nuclear-containment-serious-shit/180375/6 "2003-06-08T01:58:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by samclem \* > Tuwaitha, Iraq’s largest nuclear facility and now defunct, was left unguarded for two weeks after Iraqi troops fled the area on the eve of the war. Also, it was left unguarded for several years, from 1998 on, except by Saddam Hussein. I trust Saddam as little as I trust the looters. ---
**Author:** ![Ben\_Hicks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bbce88/32.png) [@Ben\_Hicks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ben_Hicks)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iaea-in-iraq-again-us-blew-nuclear-containment-serious-shit/180375/7 "2003-06-08T02:47:52Z")
> [@](#): > > The US, which magically teleported to the scene at the first opportunity and MAGICALLY had everything all secured into place in an instant! Biggest army in the world they should have fucking secured it. ---
**Author:** ![Binarydrone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Binarydrone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Binarydrone)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iaea-in-iraq-again-us-blew-nuclear-containment-serious-shit/180375/8 "2003-06-08T03:04:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SPOOFE \* > \*\*The US, which magically teleported to the scene at the first opportunity and MAGICALLY had everything all secured into place in an instant! \*\* Dude, I like you and respect you and so this is a little hard to say. To be honest, it feels like you folks on the other side of the isle are grasping at straws a bit. I get the whole fog of war thing, but we are talking about 2 weeks unsupervised here. To put this another way, as a good tofu and lawn clipping eating, Birkenstock recycling, fern-sniffing liberal, I would at very least think that a **NUCLEAR** facility would be secured and guarded as rapidly as, say, the oil ministry building. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iaea-in-iraq-again-us-blew-nuclear-containment-serious-shit/180375/9 "2003-06-08T03:23:54Z")
**december** said > [@](#): > > Also, it was left unguarded for several years, from 1998 on, except by Saddam Hussein. I trust Saddam as little as I trust the looters. I didn’t ask for a history of who left the gate open. I was castigating your hero and his puppeteers for not planning very well. If that’s the best you can do, go back to posting ingenuously-posted headlines from your e-mail alerts. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Binarydrone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Binarydrone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Binarydrone)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iaea-in-iraq-again-us-blew-nuclear-containment-serious-shit/180375/10 "2003-06-08T03:33:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tars Tarkas \* > \*\*But he gassed the Kurds! (with nukes, or something…) \*\* 😛 While despoiling virgins or some shit. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iaea-in-iraq-again-us-blew-nuclear-containment-serious-shit/180375/11 "2003-06-08T04:32:43Z")
Has the US or any international relief agency begun screening people in the affected villages for radiation poisoning ? TV news (ABC?) showed some footage of people with nasty looking sores on their hands and legs, but I’ve seen no mention of cleanup and intervention teams. As the occupying power, we have a responsibilty to take care of this problem, but it doesn’t seem to be getting done. ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iaea-in-iraq-again-us-blew-nuclear-containment-serious-shit/180375/12 "2003-06-08T04:33:18Z")
**december** , the fact that one person left something unguarded doesn’t mean it should have, nor does it excuse the fact. Or am I reading your post wrong? You seem as though you’re defending a military who left a nuclear facility unguarded. ---
**Author:** ![PatriotX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@PatriotX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotX)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iaea-in-iraq-again-us-blew-nuclear-containment-serious-shit/180375/13 "2003-06-08T04:58:56Z")
Well, we _were_ there to keep dangerous materials from falling into the hands of terrorists, right? ---
**Author:** ![Sterra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8c91f0/32.png) [@Sterra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sterra)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iaea-in-iraq-again-us-blew-nuclear-containment-serious-shit/180375/14 "2003-06-08T06:01:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by iampunha \* > \*\ ***december** , the fact that one person left something unguarded doesn’t mean it should have, nor does it excuse the fact. Or am I reading your post wrong? You seem as though you’re defending a military who left a nuclear facility unguarded. \*\* It wasn’t left unguarded untill we got there. It was left only guarded by Saddam Hussein. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iaea-in-iraq-again-us-blew-nuclear-containment-serious-shit/180375/15 "2003-06-08T06:13:14Z")
Hey, at least we succeeded in securing the Oil Ministry! Don’t we get credit for that??? ---
**Author:** ![Desmostylus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@Desmostylus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desmostylus)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iaea-in-iraq-again-us-blew-nuclear-containment-serious-shit/180375/16 "2003-06-08T10:16:05Z")
It’s not like it was accidental. Rumsfeld’s strategy was to use fewer troops than the army thought would be required. [http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/030616/usnews/16army.htm](http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/030616/usnews/16army.htm) > [@](#): > > “Rumsfeld is like the football coach who is so confident of victory that he puts only 10 players on the field to prove a point,” says one Army official. “Our fear is that he’s going to play the whole season like this.” > > \ > > Army officials see Iraq as the exception, not the rule. The dash to Baghdad stretched supply lines to their breaking point. Despite the wholesale dismantling of Saddam’s military, generals still argue that Rumsfeld’s determination to keep the invasion force small put U.S. troops at unnecessary risk in the event something went wrong. And, they add, a larger force would have allowed the United States to bring order to the chaos of Iraq after Saddam’s regime toppled. “It should come as no surprise to anyone,” says Thomas White, who was recently ousted by Rumsfeld as Army secretary, “that it takes far more people to win the peace than it does to win the war.” ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iaea-in-iraq-again-us-blew-nuclear-containment-serious-shit/180375/17 "2003-06-08T11:05:03Z")
NPR reported a couple of days ago that local children are showing signs of early radiation poisoning because some of the barrels were used to store food for the local school. Beyond that, I’ve heardeth not. ---
**Author:** ![december](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/838e76/32.png) [@december](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/december)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iaea-in-iraq-again-us-blew-nuclear-containment-serious-shit/180375/18 "2003-06-08T11:07:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Desmostylus \* > \*\*It’s not like it was accidental. Rumsfeld’s strategy was to use fewer troops than the army thought would be required. \*\* Yes, he did. And, our rapid victory with relatively low casualties justified his decision. As far as Iraq’s nuclear facility goes, it would have taken more time to get more troops into Iraq. The longer Rumsfeld waited to begin the war, the longer the nuclear facilities would have remained in Saddam’s control. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iaea-in-iraq-again-us-blew-nuclear-containment-serious-shit/180375/19 "2003-06-08T11:30:30Z")
As opposed to those materials being in the control of A) people we know not who B) no one Good plan. ---
**Author:** ![Desmostylus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@Desmostylus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desmostylus)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iaea-in-iraq-again-us-blew-nuclear-containment-serious-shit/180375/20 "2003-06-08T11:45:41Z")
You are a complete and utter fuckwit, **december**. The material was yellowcake, in a storage facility. It wasn’t weapons grade plutonium, or anything that Saddam could have used in a bomb. It was under a regular inspection and sealing regimen. Now 20% of it is gone. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iaea-in-iraq-again-us-blew-nuclear-containment-serious-shit/180375.md?page=2)