Article: Iraqis grapple with post-war radioactivity; Iraq's ministry of health launched a survey Thursday to look for radiation sickness.(WORLD)

Byline: Scott Peterson Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

TUWAITHA, IRAQ -- Salaam Kadhim had no idea what he would find last April, when he and three thieving friends breached the walls of Iraq's nuclear facility at Tuwaitha, as the regime of Saddam Hussein collapsed.

What they found were countless barrels full of radioactive uranium powder, known as "yellowcake." They emptied the barrels to use them as water cisterns at home - and then had a taste.

"I thought it was milk powder," Mr. Kadhim recalls in his village on the edge of Tuwaitha, 15 miles southeast of Baghdad. "But when we poured it out, it made us dizzy. It tasted very ...

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