[techweenie]

Actually, some aluminum tubes Iraq ordered did have US intelligence folks in an uproar. But the application turned out to be relatively benign.

No one has yet answered why Iraq, with tons of uranium ore deposits on its own territory, tons of "semi-enriched" ore in its posession, and NO means of turning the stuff into a weapon would be pursuing yellowcake as alleged.

There are several explanations I can think of:

1. All of the 'yellowcake' info was made up. Several sources subscribe to this theory, and some have suggested Iran as the instigator of the forgeries.

2. Saddam was desperately trying to appear strong to his aggressive (and nuke-capable) neighbor, Iran, and wanted them (and the rest of the world) to think he had more powerful weapons at hand than he really did. This explanation would cover his lack of cooperation with the UN weapons inspectors. Saddam knew that if Iran attacked again, this time, he could not count on help from the US -- or any one else, for that matter.