This annoyed me

[billvon 3,090]

OK, so there's been a lot of fuss lately about how Halliburton has used some very shady accounting practices to inflate their income, and how Cheney (the CEO at the time) made a lot of money off the stock, and hence off the market's perception of that income.

And while that may be an issue (especially since the administration is making such a stink about punishing CEO's who do this) I can't get really worked up about it. Lately it seems like every company in the USA has been guilty of cooking the books a bit, and we're now enduring the inevitable overreaction to the problem.

But then I read something else that really annoyed me. First some background about nuclear weapons:

The first thing you need if you want to make one is the fissile material. This is pretty hard to get, as you need fairly pure U235 or Pu239. Good news is that it's hard to make from raw materials; U235 is refined from ore but is hard to purify, while Pu239 must come from a nuclear reactor (and still needs to be purified.) The bad news is that nearly a dozen countries can make the stuff.

The next thing you need is an initiator. There is one way to use U235 to build a weapon that doesn't need an initiator, but it results in a very large, very low yield weapon with barely subcritial masses. This makes it hard to smuggle and easy to detect. So to get a good weapon you need an initiator, which is a pulsed neutron source. The good news here is that they are very hard to build, and generally use odd, hard to get, short lived materials (like polonium and beryllium isotopes.)

The bad news? Halliburton sold a bunch of pulse neutron tubes to Iraq about eight years ago. They were caught and fined a few million. We seem to be ready to go to war to deny Iraq the ability to build nuclear weapons, which seems especially annoying given that we are selling the component parts to them.

[AggieDave 6]

Remember when that Japanese company (can't remember the name right now) sold the milling machines needed to do the finite machining needed for ultra-silent screws for the Soviet Navy. We cracked down on that company hard core, now I hear about this?

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[quade 4]

How much do you know about Harold Edgerton (aka Papa Flash)?

Interesting guy. Invented the flash tube. Co-owner of EG&G. Famous for the bullet-through-the-card photo. And . . . guess what else?

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[SudsyFist 0]

Quote

We seem to be ready to go to war to deny Iraq the ability to build nuclear weapons, which seems especially annoying given that we are selling the component parts to them.

and isn't it fascinating how the same players have had their filthy hands deeply mired in every twist of this vile plot, regardless of their role at the time?

*sigh* oh, well... guess i'll have to go jump outta some planes tomorrow to ease the pain...

steve

[quade 4]

Uh, that would have been TOSHIBA. I still won't buy their products.

I also won't buy Mitusbishi. That three diamond thing kinda pisses me off.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[FallRate 0]

If this isn't the best example of bliss in ignorance...

I don't want to know, I want to have faith and be happy.

I also want 15,500 on every load and a $2 slot!!!

FallRate

[diverdriver 7]

Bill, it's like this. You need to picture two brothers. One older and bigger. One younger and smaller. The older brother has the younger brother by his hand and is making him slap himself in the face saying "Stop hitting yourself! Stop hitting yourself!"

Anyone else see it that way?

Chris

[FallRate 0]

Wish in one hand...shit in the other...

[kallend 2,125]

Quote

U235 is refined from ore but is
hard to purify,

Understatement!

Quote

The good news here is that they
are very hard to build, and generally use odd, hard to get, short lived
materials (like polonium and beryllium isotopes.)

I think polonium was used originally (FatMan style bombs) because it was easier to obtain than Pu in 1945. I believe Pu, which is also an alpha emitter, is used nowadays because it is plentiful. The Be doesn't need to be a special isotope, plain vanilla Be will do. The alphas need to be prevented from reaching the Be until the moment of detonation, but a piece of gold foil will do the trick.


Regardless, selling the stuff to any country that isn't a very reliable ally is criminal, IMO.

[fasterfaller 0]

Well hell BIll , we need some reason to go after them . What better reason than to pick up the high tech toys we sold them so an American corporation can profit from it . I bet Halliberton will even profit from the war to stop them . I bet they made a profit even after paying the fines . Don't forget that we also sold them most of the lab equipment to make biological weapons as well .

[indyz 1]

Quote

Quote

U235 is refined from ore but is
hard to purify,

Understatement!

Quote

The good news here is that they
are very hard to build, and generally use odd, hard to get, short lived
materials (like polonium and beryllium isotopes.)

I think polonium was used originally (FatMan style bombs) because it was easier to obtain than Pu in 1945. I believe Pu, which is also an alpha emitter, is used nowadays because it is plentiful. The Be doesn't need to be a special isotope, plain vanilla Be will do. The alphas need to be prevented from reaching the Be until the moment of detonation, but a piece of gold foil will do the trick.

My first act as a "Citizen Spy" for the Bush administration will be to report the two of you...

[Sebazz1 2]

If we really dug deep into all this hoopla we'd probably be really really dissapointed. All this war ridden countries and stuff seems all intertwined with eachother. I really would not be surprised if this had to do with a wierd jerry springerish love triangle between Saddam, the bush's, and whoever else. Heck anything is possible it seams. Maybe saddam gives the best damn BJ in the world and he's not given it up right now

[freeflir29 0]

Just to give the flip side of this that is still just as crazy. Shortly after Gulf War I (As I heard it called on the news the other day. I guess a Gulf War II is inevitable) a man was arrested and charged with selling weapons to Iraq. (I forget the exact charge??) Funny thing was...he was quite "guilty" of this "charge" He didn't even deny it. He had been selling weapons such as tanks, small arms, ADA, Surface to surface missles, etc etc to Iraq for a looong time. This guy was originally born in Lebanon. He was a Christian Lebanese man and become embroiled in the civil war there against Muslim forces. OK...who do you think the US backed. Certainly not the Muslims. Well, this guy, out of necessity became an "Arms Dealer" OK...so the civil war there "ends" and now we have a still fairly youg man that only knows how to be a soldier and arms smuggler. So, what do you think he does. He starts selling guns all over the world. Just so happens that about that time there was a pretty good war going on between Iran and Iraq. If we all remember the "US" liked Iraq much better than Iran in those days so the CIA goes to our hero and ASKS him to supply weapons to Saddam. He makes lots of money, Saddam gets his weapons, the CIA thinks this guy is a hero. Fast forward to just after the Gulf War. Lots of US attorneys are on the warpath hunting down people that have assisted Iraq. They find this guy. Long story short he gets sentenced to about 30 years in jail for doing what the CIA asked him to. Eventually, he made some kind of deal and got out. He now lives in Paris as far as I know. Gee...ain't it great to be an American hero!!!! Dumbasses!!!