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Units of the 101st Airborne Division overran a facility at which their radiological alarms went off. Further investigation showed that extensive amounts of radioactive materials were stored in an underground facility there. The barrels and other storage materials were in extremely poor condition and leaking. Further testing was to be undertaken to discover if any of the materials were of weapon grade.
The BBC also reported that the site (the ground level facility) had been visited by UN inspectors multiple times (Mr. Blix and Co.) and had not reported anything abnormal.
Read the resolutions... and the process by which they were passed.
Iraq nuclear complex
'Mohamed ElBaradei, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said he received assurances from Washington that the Tuwaitha nuclear research center would be protected and that access to the complex would be restricted. "Until our inspectors return to Iraq, the U.S. has responsibility for maintaining security at this important storage facility," he said in a statement. "As soon as circumstances permit, the IAEA should return to verify that there been no diversion of this material."
ElBaradei did not directly respond to unconfirmed reports that radiation may be leaking from the complex 18 miles south of Baghdad.
But he made it clear that the site is well-known to the nuclear agency, suggesting there was little to document the notion that Saddam Hussein was actively pursuing nuclear weapons there or that the Marines had uncovered anything new.
High radiation levels are normal at the site, "and great care must be taken" when entering storage buildings, the IAEA said.
Leaders of a Marine Corps combat engineering unit claimed earlier this week to have found an underground network of laboratories, warehouses and bombproof offices beneath the 70-building complex.
The Marines said 14 buildings at the site emitted unusually high levels of radiation, and that a search of one building revealed numerous drums containing highly radioactive material.
However, the Vienna-based IAEA - which has inspected Tuwaitha at least two dozen times - said Iraq was allowed to keep several tons of low-grade uranium and other nuclear material there under IAEA seal because the material could not be used directly for weapons.
An expert familiar with the inspections, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press on Friday that some of those seals apparently were broken when the Marines arrived at Tuwaitha. It was unclear whether any materials were missing, or if they could be used by terrorists to construct a "dirty bomb."'
Proverb: Half the truth is often a whole lie.
Its not as if the history of what the Pentagon chooses to let the public know isnt riddled with coverups and spin. :rolleyes: