Girl standing outside the Al-Majidat school for girls where Greenpeace identified and quarantined radioactive materials. The US government rushed to secure oil production facilities in Iraq, leaving an enriched uranium storage facility unguarded.
The US has removed "roughly 1000 highly radioactive sources" and
enriched uranium from Iraq in a secret airlift, according to a
statement by Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham. "It just ain't good
enough to say 'roughly 1000' when talking about highly radioactive
sources" said Greenpeace activist Mike Townsley. "The IAEA has been
trying for over a year to get access to these materials and been
denied."
Initial reports suggest that the International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA) was "informed," though it appears that the strict
regulations requiring inspectors to be present and a full inventory
of items be provided, have been ignored by the US. One of the
reasons that the US went to war in the first place was the
allegation that Saddam Hussein's was refusing to cooperate with
IAEA inspectors or comply with international regulations regarding
nuclear materials.
Greenpeace entered and inspected the main
storage facility for these materials in Tuwaitha one year ago,
and revealed that while US forces had immediately secured oil
production facilities, Tuwaitha remained unguarded for more than
six weeks. Local residents looted radioactive barrels and building
materials for use in their homes. Greenpeace inspectors found one
source kicking out 10,000
times background radiation in the home of one Tuwaitha
resident, and a source of 3,000
times background outside a school where children were
playing.
"We want a full inventory of the removed materials" said
Townsley, who led the Greenpeace team in Tuwaitha, "and full
authority over the materials given to the IAEA."
"The US government has lied, bullied, and bullshitted their way
into this war, and I see no reason why anyone should trust them to
do the right or safe thing with nuclear materials. The
international community can have no confidence US government
assurances that the inventory of radioactive industrial isotope is
complete."
"This is a job for the IAEA and the US ought to be setting an
example of compliance with the full international regulations
concerning nuclear weapons proliferation."
The materials in question are not capable of creating a nuclear
bomb, though some of the more highly radioactive sources could be
packed around a conventional explosive to create a "dirty
bomb."
The US is calling the operation a "major achievement" in keeping
nuclear materials out of the hands of terrorists. However, in
failing to secure the material during the invasion hundreds of
local residents were exposed to dangerous levels of radioactivity.
US military personell broke IAEA seals that had been securing some
of the material for years.
In recent weeks, nuclear material from Iraq has been found in
both the Netherlands and Turkey, showing that nuclear material can
and does leave the country, leading to possible pathways to
terror.
There are reasons that the world has drawn up strict regulations
about handling and transporting nuclear materials. The US is not
immune to those rules, and ought to be on the front line of
ensuring that nuclear materials are fully accounted for, monitored,
and controlled.
The Iraqi government needs to do what Paul Bremmer and
Washington could not; rejoin the international non-proliferation
community and allow the IAEA free access to all of its nuclear
facilities.
Take action! Write to
Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham to demand the IAEA be given full
authority over the nuclear materials smuggled out of Iraq, and that
a complete inventory be provided to them as soon as possible. Write
to: 
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