MY Vast Right Wing Conspiracy

Iraq on the verge of nukes in 2002? [UPDATES]

• Posted by Beth on November 3rd, 2006 filed in General, Iran, Iraq, Journalism, Politics, The War, WTF    

[BUMPED TO TOP, newer posts below--originally posted at 12:05am]

I haven’t really had time to digest this–or filter out the NY Times’ obvious attempt to minimize this important stuff and spin it into a story about the Bad Bush Administration™–but…am I seeing things?

The Web site, “Operation Iraqi Freedom Document Portal,” was a constantly expanding portrait of prewar Iraq. Its many thousands of documents included everything from a collection of religious and nationalistic poetry to instructions for the repair of parachutes to handwritten notes from Mr. Hussein’s intelligence service. It became a popular quarry for a legion of bloggers, translators and amateur historians.

Among the dozens of documents in English were Iraqi reports written in the 1990’s and in 2002 for United Nations inspectors in charge of making sure Iraq abandoned its unconventional arms programs after the Persian Gulf war. Experts say that at the time, Mr. Hussein’s scientists were on the verge of building an atom bomb, as little as a year away.

European diplomats said this week that some of those nuclear documents on the Web site were identical to the ones presented to the United Nations Security Council in late 2002, as America got ready to invade Iraq. But unlike those on the Web site, the papers given to the Security Council had been extensively edited, to remove sensitive information on unconventional arms.

Note that the point of the article is that there was a “nuclear guide” on the US government’s website–the cache of documents retrieved from Iraq, waiting for translation. The site is shut down (temporarily?) now because of it, but…WTF? Iraq was a year away from nukes?

More on this later, er, tomorrow, after I’ve had some time to look at this some more. I see Michelle Malkin is questioning the timing of the NY Times being “concerned about dangerous disclosures.” Hot Air is updating like mad, and Ace sees the same thing I do:

Unbelievable. Supposedly Iraq has advanced nuclear research, which could be used to build a bomb, and this gets spun against Bush.

Sierrahome

UPDATE: Jim Geraghty–

I’m sorry, did the New York Times just put on the front page that IRAQ HAD A NUCLEAR WEAPONS PROGRAM AND WAS PLOTTING TO BUILD AN ATOMIC BOMB?

What? Wait a minute. The entire mantra of the war critics has been “no WMDs, no WMDs, no threat, no threat”, for the past three years solid. Now we’re being told that the Bush administration erred by making public information that could help any nation build an atomic bomb.

Let’s go back and clarify: IRAQ HAD NUCLEAR WEAPONS PLANS SO ADVANCED AND DETAILED THAT ANY COUNTRY COULD HAVE USED THEM.

OK, so I’m not “seeing things.” Yes, the New York Crimes is friggin’ insane. Iraq had a nuclear weapons program and was plotting to build an atomic bomb, but the Bush Administration is bad because those plans ended up online and could help Iran. Iran, who of course is only interested in nuclear technology for “peaceful purposes.” Allllll-righty then.

HEY! IRAQ HAD ADVANCED NUCLEAR WEAPONS PLANS. Get it? It’s that simple. “Mr. Hussein’s scientists were on the verge of building an atom bomb, as little as a year away.”

I doubt this is going to mean anything to the permanently brain-damaged BDS set, though. Hell, they could find there was a nuke on an Iraqi plane bound for America but shot down by the Air Force, and they’d turn it into an indictment of Bush and the Evil Neocon Cabal™.

UPDATE 2, 0650am: Oh, looky here. Or here. Halp us, Jon Carry–we can’t reed! Watch ‘em spin.

UPDATE 3, 0700am: JVeritas at Free Republic has been translating these documents all this time, and has posted this about the NY Times article:

What is important in this whole issue is that the New York Times has ridiculed these documents all along and never payed attention to them including the very important documents that show Saddam regime never stopped its programs related to WMD including nuclear programs. These documents were translated and posted here on FR.

On the subject of nuclear program, I translated and posted a document last month dated January 2001 that shows with a shadow of doubt that Saddam was personally involved with his nuclear scientist to re-build the nuclear program. In this document it states that Saddam personally approved his Iraqi Atomic Energy Agency to re-use nuclear equipments that include something called “Degussa Furnaces” that were used in the previous and prohibited Iraq nuclear program. These furnaces can be used to melt uranium and other nuclear related activities. The Degussa Vacuum furnaces were supplied to Iraq in the 1980’s by a German firm (Degussa AG based in Frankfurt Germany) and these furnaces later on became the subject of investigations of the German firm in the early 1990’s where the company claimed that they did not know that Iraq would have used them in its nuclear program.

The New York Times had an article in 1998 titled “An Iraqi Defector Warns of Iraq’s Nuclear Weapons Research” where the Degussa furnaces were mentioned as part of “previous” Iraq nuclear program and the controversy surrounding the sale of these furnaces and the investigations later on(link: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~sanders/214/other/news/iraqi_defector.html ). The irony is that this is not only a New York Times article but also it was written by JUDITH MILLER and JAMES RISEN once of the worst accusers (liars) that the Bush administration lied about Iraq WMD. Where are you Scott Shane????

Link to the translated document on FR: 2001 Iraqi Document: Saddam Approved the Re-Use of Nuclear Equipment http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1725141/posts

Moreover, there are documents dated 1999-2001 that talk about Saddam regime projects to re-build some of the nuclear program facilities like RWTS (Radioactive Waste Treatment Station) and Radio-Chemistry laboratories which were part of Iraq previous clandestine nuclear program. Link to the translated document on FR: Iraqi Documents: Projects to Rebuild Saddam Nuclear Facilities http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1718125/posts .

Also this one:

Iraqi Documents Show Plans for Prohibited Nuclear Projects http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1709390/posts