Iraq

Radioactive material taken out of Iraq

WASHINGTON - American officials have seized about 1,000 sources of radioactivity and nearly two tons of low-enriched uranium from an Iraqi nuclear center, and shipped the material to an undisclosed location, the Energy Department announced Tuesday.

None of the material was usable in a nuclear bomb, but the uranium could have been further enriched to make it useful in a weapon, said Bryan Wilkes, a spokesman for the National Nuclear Security Administration, part of the Energy Department.

He also said the radioactive sources could have been mixed with conventional explosives to make a "dirty bomb."

The radioactive sources included "a huge range of all types," including isotopes of the elements cobalt, cesium and strontium, Wilkes said. Such sources are commonly used to provide radiation for cancer treatments, or for industrial X-rays, he said.

Some of the sources were in powdered form, which would make them easy to use in a dirty bomb, Wilkes said.

A dirty bomb is not likely to give off lethal doses of radiation, according to experts, but could contaminate valuable real estate with low levels of contamination in a way that would require an expensive cleanup or simply make an area unusable.

BAGHDAD - Prime Minister Iyad Allawi signed into law broad martial powers that allow him to impose curfews anywhere in the country, ban groups he considers seditious and order the detention of people suspected of being security risks.

The new law is one of the first official actions Allawi has taken against the insurgency and lays the groundwork for a forceful response to civil unrest.

"Whenever and wherever it's going to be necessary, we will apply this law," Allawi said.

LONDON - Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain, America's closest ally in Iraq, said the unconventional weapons cited as a justification for the war in Iraq might never be found.

It was the closest Blair has come to acknowledging that his central argument for last year's invasion in the face of widespread public opposition may never be proven true or false. Blair's handling of the issue has damaged his popularity with voters.

"We know Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, but we know we haven't found them," Blair said. "I have to accept we have not found them, that we may not find them."

Blair suggested that unlawful weapons "could have been removed, could have been hidden, they could have been destroyed." But he maintained that Hussein had been a threat and had been in breach of U.N. resolutions concerning unlawful weapons.

World and national headlines

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times 490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 Contact the Times | Privacy Policy Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright