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VIENNA (Reuters) - The mysterious removal of Iraq's mothballed nuclear facilities continued long after the U.S.-led invasion and was carried out by people with access to heavy machinery and demolition equipment, diplomats said on Thursday.
The United Nations nuclear watchdog told the Security Council this week that equipment and materials that could be used to make atomic weapons had been vanishing from Iraq without either Baghdad or Washington noticing.
''This process carried on at least through 2003 ... and probably into 2004, at least in early 2004,'' said a Western diplomat close to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which monitored Iraq's nuclear sites before last year's war.
Several diplomats close to the IAEA said the disappearance of the nuclear items was not the result of haphazard looting.
They said the removal of the dual-use equipment -- which before the war was tagged and closely monitored by the IAEA to ensure it was not being used in a weapons program -- was planned and executed by people who knew what they were doing.
''We're talking about dozens of sites being dismantled,'' a diplomat said on condition of anonymity. ''Large numbers of buildings taken down, warehouses were emptied and removed. This would require heavy machinery, demolition equipment. This is not something that you'd do overnight.''
Independent expert Alex Standish, editor of Jane's Intelligence Digest, said Iraqi nuclear and weapons-related material that was monitored by the U.N. before the invasion had since been found in Europe. Raw ''yellowcake'' uranium, apparently from Iraq, was found in Rotterdam last December, he said.
''It seems extremely negligent for the authorities in Iraq to allow this quantity of material to have been exported from the country,'' Standish said.
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12 yrs.
You have to thank UN for that.
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Kerry's Tax Increase Already Sta
Kerry's Claim: Kerry Says He Will Not Increase Taxes For Anybody Earning Less Than $200,000.
Think about it--it's your money
The Facts:
Kerry's Tax Increase Already Starts At $147,000, Not $200,000. Kerry has already broken his pledge to not increase taxes for anybody earning less than $200,000. The tax increase Kerry has admitted to in his 1-page budget would ''restore top two rates'' for individual income taxes to their levels prior to the 2001 tax relief bill. The second highest tax rate begins at $146,750 in taxable income for singles and $178,650 in taxable income for couples. (Table on page 7 of ''The Kerry-Edwards Plan to Keep Spending in Check While Investing in Priorities and Cutting Wasteful Spending,'' Kerry-Edwards 2004 Inc, 8/3/04, http://www.johnkerry.com/pdf/pr_2004_0803.pdf; ''Tax Withholding and Estimated Tax,'' IRS, 2/04)
By Just he FactsMan,Just The Facts
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Oz
Good post. Unfortunately, Democrats are known for skimming over the project and not really reading the content. Everything is a trick. The trick is to read the damn paper. In the liberal world, Black and White does not exist. It must be that left sided brain thing. To top it off they are rumor mongers. WHAT ABOUT THE DRAFT? There is no talk about a draft. Actually a bill was submitted b two democrats and all the Republicans voted against it and two Dems were for reinstituting it. WHAT ABOUT ANTI GAY MARRIAGE MOVEMENTS? It is all about the preservation of the definition of marriage. WHAT ABOUT STEM CELL RESEARCH THAT NEEDS TO BE DONE? Stem cell research is being done. Institutions of research like Harvard want your tax dollars paying for the research instead of them having to apply for grants or using their money. No! people with spinal cord injuries will not walk aagain with stem cells. Stem cell research could prove to be waste of time. Nothing says it will work. WHAT ABOUT BUSH'S MILITARY RECORD. Never labeled a traitor. How did Kerry get an honorable discharge from the military for his actions? Sleeping with the enemy. That should be his new campaing slogan. Beats sleeping with Theresa the bag lad. Somebody got paid off.
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