Americans find key component to Iraqi nuclear program

[NecronLord]

I'm still waiting for Blair's '45 minute capability'. Hot dang building a nuke in 45 minutes from buried parts and delivering it is pretty impressive. Why isn't this guy working for us (the west) yet?

He's getting absolutely cooked for that- the British press is a lot less cowardlly than the American mainstream press.

I know, I live in the UK. "Fizzle fool!" I say to Blair.

[Axis Kast]

This isn't evidence, and they've admitted it themselves. There was absolutely no evidence in 02-03 that Iraq had restarted working on such weapons, that Iraq could build such weapons (witness the falsified uranium report from Niger) with the sanctions regime in place. In short, the imminent threat from Iraq has still not been shown to exist- and without showing such an imminent threat, not a single person in any position of power would've been able to seriously advocate going to war with Iraq (as one hawkish commentator put it: "we are not in the business of militarily liberating all the world's oppressed")

Assembled, the components would not be useful in making much uranium. Hundreds of centrifuges are necessary to make enough to construct a nuclear weapon in such programs (so says Fox News, anyway- I was doing my daily propaganda check).

It’s evidence of the strength of the original American claim: United Nations weapons inspections were no longer sufficient to ensure that Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction were accounted for entirely, imports or contravention ended, and all programs abandoned. This new found also begs new questions. How much more remains to be found in private hands? Was Blix’ team looking in all the obvious places but ignoring potentially mundane havens for hidden components? What kind of cohesion did existing Iraqi scientists and projects retain? Were there scattered remnants that vanished after the collapse?

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Originally posted by phongn:

Hamel, there aren't many uses for a gas centrifuge, IIRC, other than for enrichment of nuclear material. Anyone else know if there's other uses?
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If there's another use I've also never heard of it other then uranium enrichment. Enriched uranium has a rather narrow list of uses as well.

what do you mean there isn't other uses for it? Come on, I have a couple of gas centrifuges at home, doesn't everyone? It's a common every day item. Used for innocent scientific research. You know, how else do you make things glow in the dark, it's innocent I tell you, just like the labs on wheels, those were for cooking up some good ol' moonshine, and some second hand Viagara.

[Natorgator]

You know, how else do you make things glow in the dark, it's innocent I tell you, just like the labs on wheels, those were for cooking up some good ol' moonshine, and some second hand Viagara.

Oh, you mean those "labs on wheels" that were used to fill weather balloons? Gotcha.

[Vympel]

Oh, you mean those "labs on wheels" that were used to fill weather balloons? Gotcha.

Artillery weather balloons to be precise- the British teams were the last to analyse them and the verdict has been in as of a week and a half ago, IIRC- not bioweapons labs. Is anyone surprised?

[Sea Skimmer]

Artillery weather balloons to be precise- the British teams were the last to analyse them and the verdict has been in as of a week and a half ago, IIRC- not bioweapons labs. Is anyone surprised?

Hydrogenlike everything else on earth is toxic at high levels. Clearly they are mobile chemical weapns labs.