] Campaigners from Greenpeace say they have found abandoned
] uranium "yellow cake" scattered across the local
] community, after the plant just south of Baghdad [Tuwaitha]
] was looted during the recent US-led conflict.

BBC NEWS: Radiation fears grow in Iraq

] In a week long survey Greenpeace radiation experts found
] abandoned uranium yellowcake and radioactive sources
] scattered across the community. Much of the material was
] looted from the facility by villagers who used it for
] house building and water and food storage. Local people
] are still storing radioactive barrels and lids in their
] houses, as they do not realize the potential danger.
 . . .
] "If this had happened in the UK, the U.S. or any other country,
] the villages around Tuwaitha would be swarming with radiation
] experts and decontamination teams," said Mike Townsley of
] Greenpeace. "It would have been branded a nuclear disaster site
] and the people given immediate medical checkups."

I agree! I've been following this Tuwaitha story for almost two months now, and have been horrified by the reports of radiation poisoning there, that have not been resulting in any kind of international outcry. This place is Iraq's Chernobyl. It needs cleanup, and it needs it now.

Greenpeace Takes 'Hot' Iraqi Canister to U.S. Forces

] COPENHAGEN (AFP) -- A former Iraqi army chief who in
] March escaped house arrest in Denmark where he was
] suspected of committing war crimes is in Iraq and is
] politically active, his son told Danish daily Politiken
] on Tuesday.
]
] Nizar Al Khazraji, a former head of the Iraqi armed forces, fled
] Denmark on March 17, reportedly with the help of the CIA. He had
] been under house arrest in Denmark since November 2002 on charges
] of taking part in chemical weapon attacks on Iraqi Kurds in the
] 1980s.

Now we get to find out what "politically active" means . . .

Postscript: More information on this story is here:
 http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/030521/2003052117.html

According to his son, former Iraqi general Khazraji is now back in Iraq

] VIENNA (Reuters) - The head of the United Nations nuclear
] watchdog agency warned Monday that a nuclear
] contamination emergency may be developing in Iraq and
] appealed to the United States to let his experts back
] into the country.

More reports have been coming in about deaths and radiation poisoning near Tuwaitha in Iraq. I agree, that the area needs international attention, and it needs it immediately.

Reuters: El Baradei Warns of Iraq Nuclear Emergency

] TUWAITHA, Iraq (CNN) -- Villagers near Iraq's largest
] nuclear research facility complain that they are falling
] ill from what doctors say may be radiation poisoning.
]
] The research facility, which stores nonweapons-grade
] radioactive materials, was looted in the final days of
] the Iraq war. Many containers were stolen and used by
] residents near the Tuwaitha complex to store drinking
] water, among other things.

More information on the cases of acute radiation poisoning near the looted Tuwaitha facility. And *still* the U.N. inspectors (who are the only ones with exact info on what was stored there) are not being allowed in by the U.S. Army??

CNN.com - Iraqis complain of illness near nuclear facility

] . . . hundreds of looters, including many
] children, stole dozens of drums filled with toxic
] chemicals and worse -- uranium oxide, or yellowcake,
] a key nuclear agent.
]
] Saef, a 14-year-old, said most people just dumped
] the contents near their homes and recycled the drums.
 . . .
] Now radioactive drums litter the area, and
] villagers are getting sick.
]
] El Tifat was a healthy 13-year-old girl until she
] washed her brother's clothes after he had come in
] contact with yellowcake. Since then, she says, she's
] had difficulty breathing and gets nosebleeds three times
] a day.
]
] Others complain of rashes. In all, there are over
] 30 recent cases of radiation poisoning.

:(

MSNBC: Tuwaitha, Iraq Radiation Poisoning Cases on the Increase

From the "World Socialist Web Site", I actually found the most thorough summary of the news concerning the Tuwaitha contamination. If you'd like a brief summary of what's been discovered thus far, this is a good article to read. They also editorialize a bit, but I have to say that I'm starting to agree with some of the sharper criticisms:

] Thus far, the Bush administration has stonewalled the IAEA,
] maintaining that it will "eventually" allow its inspectors back
] in, but that there is no immediate plan to grant them a role in
] Iraq. It is carrying out this exclusion despite the fact that
] the UN inspectors are the only ones who have a detailed knowledge
] of what was stored at the looted sites and therefore are able to
] confirm what has been taken. This seemingly irrational refusal to
] allow the inspectors to carry out this urgent task is bound up
] with Washington's determination to prevent any international
] interference in the US installation of its own hand-picked Iraqi
] puppet regime.
]
] The US media has paid scant attention to these "disturbing"
] reports [about Tuwaitha radioactive contamination]. It has
] focused instead on unsubstantiated claims by the Bush
] administration that US occupation troops have found a truck in
] northern Iraq that "could have been used" as a mobile
] biological weapons lab. The Pentagon admits that thus far it has
] found no trace of biological agents on the vehicle.
]
] The relative indifference to what may soon prove the worst
] nuclear disaster since the Chernobyl meltdown in 1986 underscores
] the predatory character of the US war and occupation.

Tuwaitha may be 'the worst nuclear disaster since the Chernobyl meltdown'

] When Saddam Hussein's regime fell, the guards disappeared
] and looters poured in.
]
] Employees say the thieves emptied barrels containing
] low-grade uranium on the ground and then made off to use
] them to store food and water.
]
] Workers at the site say they then buried the uranium.
]
] One of the facilities chief engineers told the BBC he was
] concerned about the damage that had already been done.
]
] "The people inside this village, they may die in four
] months. We need the special teams of radiation, radiation
] decontamination, decontamination of the area, my
] village."

More information about "Iraq's Chernobyl", the looted Tuwaitha site.

Appeal for help at looted Iraq nuclear site (Tuwaitha)

] BAGHDAD - Former foreign minister Adnan Pachachi, tipped
] for a key role in post-Saddam Hussein Iraq, insisted
] Wednesday he will only take part in an interim government
] if he is elected.
]
] Pachachi, who returned to Iraq on Tuesday after 33 years
] in exile, turned down a seat on a US-sanctioned
] leadership council of opposition leaders that is taking a
] lead role in forming the new government.
]
] "What is important now is not the leadership council but
] the interim government which has to be elected and not
] nominated by someone else," the octogenarian told a
] packed Baghdad press conference.

I agree with Salam Pax -- I'm liking Pachachi. :)

Middle East Online - Pachachi declines seat on Iraq Council

] Severe destruction of the Al-tuwaitha site took place
] during the bombing compaign in 1991 within the desert
] storm operation. Destroyed were the Tammuz-2 mini
] reactor, the cooling tower, the LAMMA, and the waste
] treatment facility. Destroyed also was the Russian
] reactor, where the reactor pool can be seen in open air.
] Chernobyl-like severe radioactive contamination all over
] the region including excessive radioactive exposure of
] the public could result if the highly radioactive reactor
] fuel were hit during the bombing. Complete damage is
] evident. The state of the empty site after 10 years of
] sanctions and embargo with ruins everywhere resembles
] that of Chernobyl site in Ukraine.

With the recent reports of the looting of material from Tuwaitha, this could mean that this area is now one of the biggest radioactive disasters in the history of mankind, up there on the list with Chernobyl and Three Mile Island. Reports are still coming in and being confirmed about the extent of the contamination, but the potential is huge.

2001 Report: Tuwaitha has the potential to be as huge a disaster as Chernobyl