The last major remnant of Saddam Hussein's nuclear program — a huge stockpile of concentrated natural uranium — reached a Canadian port Saturday to complete a secret U.S. operation that included a two-week airlift from Baghdad and a ship voyage crossing two oceans.
The removal of 550 metric tons of "yellowcake" — the seed material for higher-grade nuclear enrichment — was a significant step toward closing the books on Saddam's nuclear legacy. It also brought relief to U.S. and Iraqi authorities who had worried the cache would reach insurgents or smugglers crossing to Iran to aid its nuclear ambitions.
... A CIA officer, Valerie Plame, claimed her identity was leaked to journalists to retaliate against her husband, former Ambassador Joe Wilson, who wrote that he had found no evidence to support assertions that Iraq tried to buy additional yellowcake from Niger. - msnbc
There hasn't been much of a fuss about this material because it had been discovered already by United Nations inspectors after the first Gulf War. ... For all the talk about America's failure to discover Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, this is a big deal. - nysun
Is yellowcake uranium a weapon of mass destruction?
Not this type, no.
Did we miss this for years while searching for WMDs?
No, WMD searchers knew about this all along.
Why would Saddam need to buy more from Niger if he already had 550 metric tons? Did this come from Niger?
Unknown.
If you check into this, you’ll quickly find that the uranium a) was not weapons grade and b) was well known to the UN and IAEA and was being stored legally by Saddam’s government. It was legally in Iraq according to international law. - crooksandliars
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