Re: any info about htis from Europe

[Mcgrathhoffman@AOL.COM]

My apologies in advance if this info has been distributed. I just

received the following from my niece who is a journalist

in D.C.   



Thank you Melissa!



Mary Jo McGrath









The article below from NYTimes.com 

has been sent to you by melrae83@hotmail.com.





MJ- Here is the AP piece that ran in the NY Times. 

~ Melissa



melrae83@hotmail.com





U.N. Warns of Possible Nuclear Thefts in Iraq



April 16, 2004

By THE 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.





http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/16/international/middleeast/16NUKE.html?ex=1083

119980&ei=1&en=67b9fae56c97b2c2

******************************************************************************

***

Greetings,



I checked the news section of the IAEA web site 



http://www.iaea.or.at/NewsCenter/Dpr/pressreview.html 



and found this link to a Reuters news item:



http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=4831347



Regards,



Ben