American naval and air forces intercepted two North Korean vessels clandestinely en route for Iran with cargoes of enriched uranium and nuclear equipment in the past month. The shutdown of Pongyong's nuclear facilities has made these items surplus to North Korea's requirements and the Islamic Republic was more than willing to pay a hefty price for the goods.
On July 12, the second intercepted North Korean freighter was sunk in the Arabian Sea by torpedoes fired from a US submarine 100 miles southeast of the Iranian naval base-port of Chah Bahar. Delivery of its freight of enriched weapons-grade uranium and equipment and engines for manufacturing more fissile material including plutonium in its hold could have jump-forwarded Iran's nuclear bomb and warhead project, lopping off at least a year of work. For this Iran's rulers were ready to reportedly pay out a cool $500 million.
A few hours earlier, President Bush received an intelligence briefing on the vessel, its freight and destination. Apparently the shipment was brought forward by several weeks to evade detection by UN nuclear inspectors scheduled to visit Pyongyang this week to verify the dismantling of its nuclear facilities.
US airplanes had been tracking the freighter and picked up signs of radioactivity, indicating the presence of nuclear materials aboard.
President Bush had the option of ordering US Marines to board the vessel or to sink it. He decided on the latter - both because the North Korean freighter was approaching an area patrolled by Iranian naval units and seizure of the vessel by American marines might have provoked a clash; secondly, it was the better choice in order to avoid exposing US troops to radioactive contamination. American naval and air units in the Persian Gulf, Middle East and seas opposite North Korea were ordered to go on a high state of readiness and the torpedo the North Korean vessel was accomplished without delay.
After the attack, US warships raced to the spot where the ship went down where they picked up three lifeboats. Most of the North Korean sailors aboard were either injured or dead. Twenty in all died in the attack. They all bore symptoms of contamination. After the episode, the area was cordoned off and underwater equipment dropped to salvage the cargo from the sunken ship.
All the parties to the incident, the United States, North Korea and Iran, have kept the incident under wraps as the situation in and around the Gulf is inflammable enough to explode into a full-blown Iranian-US clash at the slightest provocation.
Why waste a torpedo on an unarmed ship full of evidence? You can keep a floating ship "under wraps" (as the article suggested) more easily than a torpedoed one...
El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de Poriuncula
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Remember when Maverick shot down six MIGs over the indian Ocean back in the mid-eighties? None of us heard ANYthing about that until Tony Scott turned it into a film.
BS..pure BS..The US would take the ship into "custody"..have a big press conference to expose the evidence. The whole friggin' World would have seen it. Sink it? No way! And as was pointed out why has no other news media pickd up on the story?? BS to prompote some web site thats all....
I heard that a US Navy destroyer was taken over by a group of narco terrorists and after a few hours of savage gunfights, it was recaptured by an undercover Navy SEAL who was working as a chef aboard the destroyer..
..oh shoot never mind, that wasnt in the news, that was Under Siege last nite on cable. ok carry on.
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US Sinks North Korean Ship Bound for Iran (?)
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