Iraqi Nuke Scientist Denies British Claim (no uranium from Niger)

[Barrett808]

LONDON - Iraq did not seek uranium in Africa in the 1990s because it already had a good supply, the father of Iraq's nuclear program said.

Jafar Dhia Jafar, who headed Saddam Hussein's nuclear weapons program, told the British Broadcasting Corp. that his country had 500 tons of yellow cake uranium at the time. He dismissed a claim made in a British intelligence dossier published in September 2002, that Iraqis were shopping for uranium after 1998, when U.N. weapons inspectors left Iraq, including Niger.

"We had 500 tons of yellow cake in Baghdad at the time so why should we go buy another 500 tons from Niger?" Jafar said in the BBC interview, broadcast Wednesday.

President Bush included the claim about African uranium in his State of the Union speech in January 2003, against the advice of U.S. intelligence officials. Some documents which allegedly supported the claim that Iraq sought uranium in Niger were subsequently exposed a forgeries, though British officials have continued to insist they had independent evidence.

(more)

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=ap/britain_iraq

[coreystone]

1. Jafar Dhia Jafar says they "had 500 tons....

of yellow cake uranium"??? Who is zooming who?? Where is it Jafar Dhia Jafar??? It sure sounds as though the deserts of Iraq hid an awful lot of camel stuff from Blix, etc. This sounds totally incredulous! It certainly is excellent silage for "after the fact" justification of our travesty in BEING in Iraq.

[Career Prole]

2. Jafar Dhia Jafar's "500 tons of yellow cake" must refer to

a warehouse full of Twinkies.

[Poiuyt]

6. Hmmmm, Twinkies!

[Barrett808]

3. It was looted - some of it ended up at bottom of Rotterdam harbor

The rest was apparently dumped around Tuwaitha.

Thanks to W.

[BushLicks]

4. Who's Next?...

What is Brazil up to?

[shraby]

5. All that yellowcake he is referring

to was sealed in barrels, counted and U.N. inspections made sure it stayed that way. At least before the war.