[ From the article below:
Some Iraqi nuclear facilities appear to be unguarded, and radioactive materials are being taken out of the country…. The International Atomic Energy Agency sent a letter to United States officials three weeks ago telling them of the findings…. Officials said the agency was awaiting a reply from the United States … Arms control officials fear that the war and the continuing unrest may have increased chances that terrorists may get their hands on materials used for unconventional weapons or that civilians may be exposed to radioactive materials. The agency has been unable to investigate, monitor or protect Iraqi nuclear materials since the United States invaded the country in March 2003. The United States has refused to allow the agency’s weapons inspectors into the country, saying that the alliance has taken over responsibility for illicit weapons searches.
–BL ]
April 16, 2004, ASSOCIATED PRESS
UNITED NATIONS, April 15 — Some Iraqi nuclear facilities appear to be unguarded, and radioactive materials are being taken out of the country, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog agency has reported after reviewing satellite images and equipment that has turned up in European scrap yards.
The International Atomic Energy Agency sent a letter to United States officials three weeks ago telling them of the findings. The information was also sent to the Security Council in a letter from the agency’s director, Mohamed ElBaradei, which was circulated on Thursday.
Officials said the agency was awaiting a reply from the United States, which leads the alliance administering Iraq. Arms control officials fear that the war and the continuing unrest may have increased chances that terrorists may get their hands on materials used for unconventional weapons or that civilians may be exposed to radioactive materials.
According to Dr. ElBaradei’s letter, satellite imagery shows “extensive removal of equipment and in some instances, removal of entire buildings,” in Iraq.
In addition, “large quantities of scrap, some of it contaminated, have been transferred out of Iraq” from sites previously monitored by the agency.
In January, the agency confirmed that Iraq was the likely source of radioactive material found in a shipment of scrap metal in Rotterdam Harbor.
The material, natural uranium ore, probably came from a mine in Iraq that was active before the 1991 Persian Gulf war.
The material was uncovered on Dec. 16 by a Rotterdam-based scrap metal company, Jewometaal, which had received it in a shipment of scrap metal from a dealer in Jordan. A small number of Iraqi missile engines have also turned up in European ports, agency officials said.
“It is not clear whether the removal of these items has been the result of looting activities in the aftermath of the recent war in Iraq or as part of systematic efforts to rehabilitate some of their locations,” Dr. ElBaradei wrote to the council.
The agency has been unable to investigate, monitor or protect Iraqi nuclear materials since the United States invaded the country in March 2003. The United States has refused to allow the agency’s weapons inspectors into the country, saying that the alliance has taken over responsibility for illicit weapons searches.
So far those searches have come up empty-handed.
