The Department of Energy revealed that it had hauled 1.77 metric tons of radioactive material out of Saddam Hussein's former nuclear research center on June 27 as the United States and Britain prepared to hand over authority in Iraq to a civilian government.

This operation was a major achievement for the Bush administration's goal to keep potentially dangerous nuclear materials out of the hands of terrorists, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said in a statement. It also puts this material out of the reach of countries that may seek to develop their own nuclear weapons.

The confiscated material included low-enriched uranium that will be stored and studied at secure Energy Department facilities along with Iraqi radiological sources -- a general term applied to scientific and medical devices that contain the kinds of radioactive materials anti-terrorism experts fear could be turned into a dirty bomb by terrorists who may possess a modicum of technical skills and a plethora of murderous intentions.

The Energy Department said the material was taken from the headquarters of Saddam's reputed nuclear weapons program. In addition, the department said, low-level radioactive materials intended for medical, agricultural and industrial purposes were left in Iraq.

The implication from the Energy Department was that materials spirited out of Iraq were dangerous and that getting them as far away from the Middle East as possible was a prudent and necessary move.

The move indeed avoided a repeat of the scenario that arose after the unraveling of the Soviet Union in which poorly secured nukes might be stolen or sold to terrorist organizations, or that unemployed weapons researchers would find work in rogue states such as North Korea, Iran and until-recently, Iraq itself.

Although the Cold War ended more than a decade ago and the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks thrust crude terror tactics into the spotlight, nuclear weapons nonetheless remain the ultimate threat in the 21st century as North Korea boasts of its weapons program and Iran comes under increasing scrutiny from international regulators whose power is only as great as the resolve of the United Nations.

Iran's government admitted to the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency last year that they had been conducting a wide range of nuclear research for nearly 20 years. Although the Islamic republic agreed to a new level of cooperation with the IAEA, it would be virtually impossible not to suspect that Tehran has at least the basis for a weapons program.

We know Iran's intentions, and those intentions are to keep a nuclear weapons development program going, Secretary of State Colin Powell said Tuesday. We have for the 3 1/2 years of this administration been pointing this out to the international community.

Russia has been a supplier of equipment to Iran's nuclear power program; however it would appear reasonable to assume that chaos in neighboring Iraq would prove to be a temptation for Iranian agents looking to acquire a clandestine supply of nuclear material from their one-time arch enemy, Iraq.

The transfer of the radioactive materials out of Baghdad was no doubt carried out with military precision; however there have been reports that it might have been too little too late.

In the weeks immediately after U.S. forces entered the Iraqi capital, the near absence of any kind of weapon of mass destruction -- nuclear, chemical or biological -- became frantically and painfully obvious.

The inability of coalition forces to thus far find much other than some stockpiles of chemical shells dating back to the Iran-Iraq War stirred up a political hornet's nest of accusations that the Bush administration cooked up a weapons of mass destruction scare in order to justify the deadly invasion. Lost amid the brouhaha was the more-ominous speculation that Saddam's nukes had been hidden or smuggled to Iran or some other country with a government hostile to the Western world.

Reports from embedded reporters entering Baghdad revealed disturbing evidence that the nuclear research center had been left unguarded for several days and that looters had roamed the area at will.

According to The Washington Post, U.S. troops discovered that the door to one of the storage rooms for radioactive materials had been breached, but it was impossible to tell what might have been taken. Further surveys revealed the presence of radiation, indicating that either the place was falling apart or radioactive materials had recently been moved around.

Nuclear experts in the United States surmised that if looters had unknowingly carted off highly radioactive materials, it would be best for them to get their affairs in order quickly. On the other hand, it couldn't be proven that someone who knew what they were doing had loaded lethal material into a truck and had whisked them away to destinations unknown.

The United States and the IAEA may never learn for certain what, if anything was removed from Iraq's nuclear research lab during the war. The best that can be said for now is at least nothing remains for the picking as Iraq's new government struggles to its feet.

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