If you carefully read the text on the container, it seems to say “Made in West Germany”.
Why would the container say “Made in West Germany”?
If “Authorities believe the uranium came from an east European country”, why would it be written in English? And using “West Germany” seems to indicate that it came before the fall of the Berlin wall. Has this been explained or talked about in the news?
It seems awfully convenient that in the 10 years that Iraq has supposedly been building nuclear weapons, they would find this kind of product right when the US government is beating the drums of war. I mean, the probabilities seems against it… Has this been a regular occurences in past years?
Of course, if this was really a conspiracy, it would be a pretty incompetent one ;-).
This is all conjecture, so take it for what it’s worth…
The container was made in W.Germany (Pre-unification, obviously). It was intended for use in radioactive materials transportation to other countries. (Germany did, and presumably still does, sell refined uranium to other countries. In and of itself, not illegal.)
So the smugglers used that old canister to transport the goods.
Forget the conspiracy - doesn’t anyone find this development especially frightening? After all, the world community has agreed for quite a while that Saddam can make a nuclear bomb if he had the fissile material. The big disagreement was whether or not he could possibly buy or make enough fissile material for a bomb.
Well, now we know he can. We intercepted one shipment of enough uranium to make a small nuke. How many were missed?
Does this change anyone’s mind about the threat Iraq poses?
Sure, it’s just that some of us also **Remember the Maine ! ** It would be foolish to ignore the possibilities when the president himself is pushing a war for the political gain of his party.
If there’s a simple explanation of the origin of that pig of uranium, we deserve to hear it. Or is the truth suddenly too much to ask ?
So your default assumption is not that Hussein was trying to get nuclear material, but rather that the United States is manufacturing a case by shipping a slug of weapons-grade Uranium to Turkey and allowing it to be driven around in a car?
No Sam, the default assumption is that something is wrong with the picture. It doesn’t match what’s being said in the stories. Rather than run about and scream and shout that the frigging sky is falling, it behooves all rational men to pause a moment and think things out.
Of course I believe in coincidence. What I dont believe in is drawing three cards to an inside straight flush. That strains my credulity. Just as it looks like the steam is draining from the Bushista’s war stampede, just as they shift the emphasis on Iraq’s potential nuclear capacity, at that very instant…
The Turkish police intercept a chunck of uranium on its way to Iraq.
Serendipitous, to say the least. Highly suspect, to say a bit more.
What I just saw on the CNN website says the uranium is assumed to have originated in the Soviet Union, though no reason is offered.
Oddest thing: They seem to be uncertain as to whether it is simply uranium or has been refined into “weapons grade” uranium. Now, isn’t weapons grade uranium, by definition, fiercely radioactive? A simple Geiger counter should give the answer. And, if this is highly radioactive shit, why is on display on a table?
I saw an article that called it “enriched uranium.”
Squink, we know or belieive that Saddam has been working on nukes for years, thathe needs weapons-grade uranium, and that he probably has redoubled his efforts given an imminent potential attack. Under those circumstances it seems like the most natural thing in the world that a shipment of enriched uranium would be on its way to Iraq.
The only thing “wrong with the picture” is that anti-war people would have to acknowledge that they may have been wrong.
I’ve read descriptions of the horribel destruction in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I am petrified that Saddam Hussein might acquire the ability to do that same damage to New York City or Tel Aviv.
I think you would believe it if they showed you a picture of a duck and said that it was made of antimatter. Is it too much effort for you to disengage your fear for a moment, and re-engage your brain ? Even Brutus has taken the time to come up with a plausible, and verifiable, hypothesis. Unless the story is quashed, we should have a better idea of what’s going on within a few days. No ones going to shove any ants down anyones pants if we don’t all immediately go off half-cocked about Saddam plans to nuke Tel Aviv next wednesday afternoon.
But in the meantime, you’d rather believe that the U.S. government is concocting a big conspiracy in order to start a war, rather than believe that Saddam Hussein is trying to get nuclear materials.
You guys are treading over into tinfoil hat territory, just so you can deny the reality of the situation.
Do you have any idea what the world’s reaction would be if the U.S. conspiracy was exposed? As opposed to the dubious gain of showing that Saddam is trying to get Uranium, when they already have plenty of proof that he’s doing that?
And they’d take the risk of dropping a chunk of refined Uranium in freaking Turkey, riding around in a car?
And I love your ‘evidence’. What, that the CIA forgot to rub ‘made in West Germany’ off the side of their fake cylinder?
I would assume that once some radioactive materials is placed in a container by the producer, it is not transferred from one container to another until it reaches it destination. We can also assume that the uranium was produced in Germany during the cold war.
Now, let’s suppose that the canister was exported post-cold war (certainly, W. Germany did not sell to those eastearn european countries during the cold war!) why the heck would they write tech information and origin in English? Sounds more like a shipment due for Britain or the U.S…
And that’s where Germany seems to do most of their export; see for example http://www.ugtrading.com/; 40% North America, 40% Western Europe 20% Far East. Would one of these Eastern European countries have enough money to import Uranium from Germany when their old masters (Russia) are a big producers? And it would certainly not be weapons grade uranium…
Lots of assumptions of course and I’ll be happy to see a better explanation. Its just that something sounds fishy when there is a “Made in Germany” thing and the automatic assumption is that its from an eastearn european country (probably Russia??)!
So this could really be… 500$ worth of natural uranium!
To come back to my little conspiracy theory… The US needed to create the impression in the public that “Iraq is buying Uranium and making weapons with it”. Doesn’t matter if it is later proven false or improbable, just needs it to make the news. So the CIA use one of their operative in Turkey, give him a perfectly useless canister of natural uranium and then tip off the police knowing full well that the story is going to collapse by itself in a few weeks and that the operative will get maximum a few months in prison… Doesn’t matter if its true or not you see - just have to remember the “Babies in Incubators” story in Kuwait… But now, the public and the journalists (who don’t even bother reading the “Made in Germany” or know the difference between weapons grade and natural uranium) are scared, real scared…
*Police in Istanbul seized more than one kg (2.2 lbs) of weapons-grade uranium last November that had been smuggled into Turkey from an east European nation. The smugglers were detained after attempting to sell the material to undercover police officers. *
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by jacksen9 *
***Police in Istanbul seized more than one kg (2.2 lbs) of weapons-grade uranium last November that had been smuggled into Turkey from an east European nation. The smugglers were detained after attempting to sell the material to undercover police officers. *
I think that journalists are just usually incompetent on technical issues. Just take note the articles coming out now; every one of them refers to the “Anatolia News Agency” unsupported assertion that this is weapons-grade material. But if you read the quote I took from CNN, the Turks haven’t even tested it yet… So your Reuters story could just be more of the same; some natural uranium initially reported as weapons-grade material with no follow-up. Or it could also have been the real thing but my point is, it is not because some article says it is weapons-grade uranium that it necessarily is!
Did you see a single article trying to explain why it had a “Made in Germany” marking on it? I would say that not even talking about why this is written on the container (and what else is written on it?) is clearly incompetence. Just sharing an hypothesis such as the one HenryB is giving would have been enough… Again, I’m not saying that the press is part of a conspiracy, they are just not doing their job anymore. Just think back again on Irak vs Kuwait, where they basically just reported the “facts” (and lies) from the military and the White House!
How many investigative journalist do you think Reuters (or associated news agency) have in Turkey?? They are basically reprinting press releases and whatever comes down the wire.
Please note that the second paragraph in the quote is obviously not from jacksen9 but from me…