Official: Libyan nuclear material in U.S.

[rodbarnett]

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A U.S plane filled with Libyan nuclear components landed this morning at a U.S. facility in Knoxville, Tennessee, for destruction, a senior administration official said.

"It is chock full of nuclear materials," the official said. "They let us take out some extraordinary stuff."

The C-17 filled with nuclear materials followed a planeload of documents -- which arrived in the United States last week -- related to Libya's weapons of mass destruction program.

The plane will return to Libya in early February to transport another load of nuclear materials to the United States, the official said.

"They had a lot of stuff," this official said. "We have more plans to take materials out, but this is quite a step forward."

http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/01/27/libya.plane/

[jpak]

1. Notice no details of that "extraordinary stuff"

If it was so extraordinary, why didn't they trot it out for the press???

[demdave]

2. This is great news and diplomacy made it happen.

"The official said two congressional delegations, one headed by Rep. Tom Lantos of California, the senior Democrat on the House International Relations Committee, and the other led by Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pennsylvania, helped the situation."

"We told them initially we didn't want them to go because this agreement is fragile," the official said. "But the congressmen have every right to do this ... and they might have actually helped."

"Both delegations were very supportive of the president's policy," the official said, adding that during the meetings with Gadhafi, both sides reiterated the desire for better relations.

[The Stranger]

3. I'm sure it will make a good campaign ad this Fall.

I can see it already. Meanwhile, Iraq? What is "Iraq"?

[demdave]

5. There are things that transcend politics, like peace and humanitarian aid.

The Libyan people have lived under sanctions for too long. If their leader has finally wised up and decided to stop wasting money on a military dream, I am all for it. That money is better spent helping his own people. This is a political victory for everyone.

[Blitz]

4. My respect for Representative Lantos

continues to grow.

Tell me again why naturalized citizens should be barred from the Presidency?

[Moochy]

8. Governator of Colliephonia

> Tell me again why naturalized citizens should be barred from the Presidency?


There are ammendments that are going through both houses of congress, proposed by Orrin Hatch to do allow for naturalized citizens to become president.

http://quickstart.clari.net/qs_se/webnews/wed/bg/Qus-vote-president.RKNH_DO8.html

[denverbill]

9. Rupert Murdoch and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

[demdave]

10. Because the founding fathers thought this would eliminate any problems

and questions about a candidates national loyalty. It is al explained in The Federalist Papers.

[papau]

6. So this is as "hot" as it get in "nuclear materials"-just lab equipement?

Libya Nuclear Components Arrive in U.S.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- An American plane carrying components of Libya's nuclear weapons program has arrived in the United States as Moammar Gadhafi follows through on a pledge to dismantle the program....

[demdave]

7. Lab equipment is essential in the creation of a nuclear device...BUT

as stated in the article, this plane followed another plane full of documents, also essential to the construction of a nuclear device.

Further in the article....Libya has a substantive amount of chemical material, the official said, and some of it might be destroyed in the country because "some of the containers are leaking."

"Removing the chemical material poses particular problems," the official said. "We have to see."

[daleo]

11. I have my doubts

If there was anything really interesting, I think they would be doing a show and tell, with independent experts, etc. That would be something for Bush to trot out on the campaign trail. Since this isn't happening, this is probably just a plane full of plastic turkeys and mission accomplished signs.

[JohnOneillsMemory]

12. More distraction from Kay and Blair probs. Throw the press a stick-Fetch!

[MasonJar]

13. Why do we want it? We can't get rid of what we have.. n/t