The incredible Uranium vaudeville:

1) we found URANIUM !!!!!!!!!!!!

YAHOO: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/020928/161/2c9nb.html

Captured weapons-grade uranium weighing more than 33 pounds is on display at the paramilitary police headquarters of southeast province of Sanliurfa, Turkey, September 28, 2002. Turkish gendarmes seized the uranium and detained two men accused of smuggling the material, Anatolian Agency said. Authorities believe the uranium came from an eastern European country and has a value about $5 million. (Anatolian via Reuters) (29/9/2002)

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) (29/9/2002) - Paramilitary police have seized about 35 pounds of uranium and arrested two Turks who they said planned to sell the weapons-grade substance, the Anatolia news agency reported.

Police, acting on a tip, stopped a taxi on a highway near the southeastern city of Sanliurfa, Anatolia said Saturday. They found the uranium in a secret compartment under one of the car seats.

Police in Sanliurfa confirmed the arrests but refused to give further information.

Anatolia said the uranium was enriched for use in weapons. Police believe it was smuggled from an eastern European country.

The agency did not say when the arrests were made. Sanliurfa, some 480 miles from Ankara, is close to the Syrian border.

The article includes a photograph which it says is the weapons-grade
uranium. Clearly written on the side is "Made in West Germany". !!!!!!!!!
No! I am not joking!!!!! Look for yourself.

Turkish Police Say Seized Uranium Weighs 5 Ounces

Sun Sep 29,12:33 PM ET

DIYARBAKIR (Reuters) - A Turkish police official said on Sunday the amount of uranium recently seized by officers was around 5 ounces and did not weigh 33 lbs as initially reported.

The state-run Anatolian news agency on Saturday reported that paramilitary police in the southern province of Sanliurfa detained two men after discovering 15 kg of uranium in a lead container hidden beneath a taxi car seat.

But that amount had included the weight of the container and the radioactive material was actually around 140 grams, an official from the gendarmes force in Sanliurfa said on condition of anonymity.

The International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna was also skeptical because the amount previously reported would have been enough to make a nuclear bomb, spokeswoman Melissa Fleming told Reuters on Sunday.

The Turkish official said the weapons-grade uranium was seized on Friday after police stopped the vehicle on a road in Sanliurfa, which borders Syria and is about 155 miles from the Iraqi border.

The incident comes at a time of heightened tension between the United States and Iraq, accused by Washington of developing weapons of mass destruction.

President Bush ( news - web sites) claims Baghdad has tried to acquire uranium to develop a nuclear bomb as his administration works to build international support for a military operation to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein ( news - web sites).

The IAEA also questioned the contents because the word uranium was spelled in a strange way on the container, which itself was made in West Germany, Fleming said.

"We have no primary information and are trying to verify the contents of the object but it's very suspicious," she said.

The Anatolian agency on Sunday quoted Sanliurfa's provincial governor Muzaffer Dilek as saying experts had yet to determine the amount of uranium but that intelligence agents believed it only weighed about 100 grams.

Dilek also said police charged the two men in connection with the case but released them pending trial.

"These people said they believe that what was given to them was medical material," he said, adding police were now looking for two other suspects.

Here is a reaction from Iraq:

“First it was 15.7 Kg now it is 100 grams ! First It was from "an eastern European country" now it is "Made in West Germany". First it was "weapons-grade uranium" now "its grade has yet to be determined".

Tell a really big lie and everybody reads it and it sticks in one's mind. The truth will emerge later and very few will pay attention to update their memory. The aim is to inflict a propaganda damage.

Regrettably they did it.

Best regards
Ghazwan Al-Mukhtar
Baghdad, Iraq

And here’s a reaction coming from America:

“It brought me so much pleasure this morning to wake up to CNN telling the
world that in fact, there was no Weapons Grade Uranium, in fact it was not
even Uranium. Will love to see how this plays out, just now am waiting on
Senator Lott to apologize to the US people for misleading us and to the Iraqi
people for spreading mis-information about them. Really looking forward to
the Senator switch board opening up so I can call them.
Lovely way to start the day!”
Roger Stroope
"Ideas are more powerful than weapons"
Austin College

The BBC's story on this is available at
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/2286597.stm. The text is below. It indicated that the uranium's destination, and even its grade, was unknown.

Turkish police seize smuggled uranium
By Tabitha Morgan
Istanbul

Turkish police say they have seized 100 grams of weapons grade uranium,
which had been smuggled into the country from Eastern Europe.
At first officers announced gave the quantity as 15 kilograms (34.5 pounds)
but later explained that this included the weight of a lead container.
Two men have been arrested for questioning in the south of the country,
close to the Syrian border.
According to the Turkish state news agency, the uranium was being
transported in a taxi, concealed beneath the seats.
The taxi was intercepted near the south-west town of Sanliurfa, after police
received a tip-off.

Smuggling route

It is not yet clear where the uranium, estimated to be worth $5m on the
black market, was being taken, but it is unlikely there would have been a
market for it within Turkey.
The Turkish media have been speculating that the alleged smugglers, both
Turks, may have planned to take the weapons grade material through Syria and
on into Iraq.
The seizure is the biggest of its kind in recent years.
Since the collapse of the Soviet bloc, Turkey has been a transit route for
smuggled nuclear materials, many of which have found their way onto the

black market in Istanbul.

Last year two men were arrested in the city after trying to sell a kilo of
uranium wrapped in newspaper to undercover police agents.
While the Turkish authorities will welcome this latest seizure, they will be
uneasy about the international focus on Turkey as a smuggling route for such
dangerous materials.

Reuters
(http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=topnews&StoryID=1514687)
reports that only 5 oz (140 g) of material has been seized, and that its
grade has yet to be determined. It also reports that the US administration
is responding cautiously.

WACO, Texas, Sept 30 (Reuters) - The United States reacted cautiously on Monday to reports that Turkish paramilitary police had seized about 5 ounces (140 grams) of weapons-grade uranium and detained two men accused of smuggling the material.

"We continue to evaluate the information," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters in Waco, as President George W. Bush was returning to Washington after a weekend at his Texas ranch.

"I do not have at this time anything that is determinative about it," Fleischer said. "Unless and until we have that, and we will, the administration is just going to monitor. ... I would just urge people not to leap to conclusions."

Turkey's state-run Anatolian news agency said on Saturday officers in the southern province of Sanliurfa, which borders Syria and is about 155 miles (250 km) from the Iraqi border, were acting on a tip-off on Saturday when they stopped a taxi cab and discovered the uranium in a lead container hidden beneath the vehicle's seat, the agency said.

Atomic energy experts in Turkey have not yet determined the amount of the confiscated substance and whether it is in fact weapons-grade uranium, Anatolian said on Monday.

"The material said to be of a purity used in nuclear weapons has not yet reached the Nuclear Research and Training Center, where an analysis will be immediately conducted," the Atomic Energy Institute said in a statement carried by Anatolian.

The incident came at a time of mounting speculation that the United States could launch a military attack on neighboring Iraq for its alleged program of weapons of mass destruction.

Bush has accused Baghdad of clandestine efforts to develop a nuclear bomb as his administration works to build international support for an operation to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

Turkish authorities believe the uranium may have come from an east European country.

And then came the anti-climax:

Turkey Says Seized Substance Not Uranium

Tue Oct 1, 8:25 AM ET

By Mehmet Emin Caliskan

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish scientists said on Tuesday the substance at the center of a nuclear weapons scare was not uranium and that the material seized in the south of the country posed no threat.

Turkish police said over the weekend they had seized 33 lbs of weapons-grade uranium in a taxi about 155 miles from the border with Iraq, facing possible U.S. military action over its alleged program of weapons of mass destruction.

Officials said later the amount had in fact been about five ounces. The difference was explained by the weight of the metal container holding the material.

Scientists at Turkey's Nuclear Research and Training Center on the outskirts of Istanbul said on Tuesday the substance was not uranium and was not radioactive.

"It is a powder of zinc, manganese, iron and zirconium," Guler Koksal, director of the research facility told Reuters. "It is not radioactive, it is not chemical and it is not explosive."

Suspicions had been aroused by the words "primarily youranuom" written on the outside of the metal tube in which the sandy powder was stored in a glass vial.

"It doesn't mean anything," Koksal said, calling it "a very big mistake" for officials to have declared the substance weapons-grade uranium without proper checks.

President Bush ( news - web sites) says Baghdad has tried to acquire uranium to develop a nuclear bomb. The Bush administration is working to build international support for a military operation to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein ( news - web sites).

Iraq denies it has weapons of mass destruction.

Report: Seized Material Not Uranium

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) - Atomic energy officials said Monday that a substance seized by police near the Syrian border was not weapons-grade uranium as Turkish officials first reported, according to the Anatolia news agency.

Atomic Energy Institute chief Guler Koksal said the material was harmless, containing zinc, iron, zirconium and manganese.

The announcement ended days of speculation that the substance might have been destined for neighboring Iraq, which the United States accuses of trying to smuggle in nuclear material for a secret weapons program.

Police, acting on a tip, recovered the material in a taxi last week in Sanliurfa province, near the Syrian border. Two Turks who were trying to sell the material as uranium were released from custody.

The seizure alarmed intelligence agencies around the world when the Turkish police said it weighed 35 pounds last week. On Monday, police said the material weighed only 5 ounces.

The disparity occurred because authorities initially included the weight of the lead container in which the material was placed, police said.

Turkish atomic energy institute says seized material not uranium

Mon Sep 30, 3:27 PM ET

ANKARA, Turkey - Turkey's Atomic Energy Institute said Monday that a substance seized by police near the Syrian border was not radioactive uranium as initially feared, the Anatolia news agency reported.

Institute chief Guler Koksal said the material was harmless and contained zinc, iron, zirconium and manganese.

Police, acting on a tip, recovered the material in a secret compartment of a taxi last week in Sanliurfa province, near the Syrian border. Two Turks who were trying to sell the material as uranium were released from custody.

The seizure alarmed intelligence agencies around the world when the Turkish police said it weighed 15.7 kilograms (35 pounds) last week. On Monday, police said the material in fact weighed only 140 grams (5 ounces).

The disparity occurred because authorities initially included the weight of the lead container in which the material was placed, police said.