[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 14556]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                IRAQ URANIUM SHIPMENT NOW IN SAFE HANDS

  (Mr. PITTS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PITTS. Madam Speaker, more good news out of Iraq. The AP recently 
reported that U.S. forces, in cooperation with Iraqi authorities, have 
just completed a top secret operation that involved shipping 550 metric 
tons of uranium yellowcake out of Iraq from a cache discovered there. 
This stockpile of concentrated natural uranium, which is a seed 
material for higher-grade uranium enrichment, was shipped out of Iraq 
aboard U.S. cargo planes, then shipped across two oceans, finally 
arriving in Canada where it will be used by a Canadian firm for nuclear 
power.
  The operation was an important step in ridding Iraq of the last 
vestiges of Saddam Hussein's one-time nuclear program, and it removed 
the uranium from the possibility of falling into the hands of 
insurgents or smugglers crossing into Iran to sell it for use in 
producing nuclear weapons. This issue certainly has not received much 
attention in the mainstream press, but it is important news the 
American people should know.

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