Examination of Arafats personal belongings suggest poisoning by polonium

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unokitty

Diamond Member
Jan 5, 2012
3,346
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From the CSM:

"For the moment there are lots of unanswered questions, perhaps most importantly: Why are the clothes only being tested eight years after the fact?

An in-depth autopsy was not carried out at the request of his estranged wife, Suha.

But French military doctors wrote a 500 page report on his passing that later leaked to the press that said they had tested for known poisons and found his death was from natural causes."

Let me see if I understand this, the estranged wife forbid an autopsy at the time of his death. Now, eight years later, after being handled by an unknown number of people, she turns over some of his clothes to a lab.

And now, she wants him dug up so they can do an autopsy?

Color me sceptical.

Uno
 

Nintendesert

Diamond Member
Mar 28, 2010
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Maybe her financial situation isn't as great as it was when Arafat was stealing money from the Palestinians and she's trying to find a way to profit from this. Maybe a new book or a TV deal!
 

GoPackGo

Diamond Member
Oct 10, 2003
6,414
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Wouldn't his doctors have thought or caught that he exhibited signs of radiation poisoning?
 

EagleKeeper

Discussion Club Moderator<br>Elite Member
Staff member
Oct 30, 2000
42,591
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apparently they are going to exhume and run tests

Link

Let the rumor mill get cranked up.
 

AnitaPeterson

Diamond Member
Apr 24, 2001
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It's much easier to invent such stories than face the truth: that he died of AIDS-related complications. Arafat enjoyed male sexual company, and he probably got HIV from one of his gay lovers....
 

Lemon law

Lifer
Nov 6, 2005
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As for me, I will reserve any judgment until Arifat's body is exhumed and studied.

But still , if the half life of polonium is 138 days, after eight years there would be almost none left to recover today. Roughly only a millionth of the original dose.

But we already have at least one well documented case of someone similarly murdered by Polonium. And the organ damage due to radiation should still be detectable today. Its a well known technique, take very thin segments of the major organs, use various stains, place it on a microscope slide, and a pathologists can tell a great deal about what is likely to be the cause of death.

When the French hospital looked at the cause of death, they were not looking for any radioactive causes.
 

davmat787

Diamond Member
Nov 30, 2010
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Can't they determine which reactor the polonium, or any other radioactive source that comes from a reactor or refinement center, came from? My understanding is that each has such a unique signature that it is indeed possible to identify the source.
 

Lemon law

Lifer
Nov 6, 2005
20,984
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Can't they determine which reactor the polonium, or any other radioactive source that comes from a reactor or refinement center, came from? My understanding is that each has such a unique signature that it is indeed possible to identify the source.
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I may be wrong davmat787, but I tend to believe polonium is polonium and none exists today.
Except those bred in atomic reactors owned by the US, various European powers, the Russians, and the Israelis. And once a spent breeder reactor fuel rod is separated into its various radioactive and non-radioactive elements, it may be impossible to identify its country of origin.
 

davmat787

Diamond Member
Nov 30, 2010
5,513
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I may be wrong davmat787, but I tend to believe polonium is polonium and none exists today.
Except those bred in atomic reactors owned by the US, various European powers, the Russians, and the Israelis. And once a spent breeder reactor fuel rod is separated into its various radioactive and non-radioactive elements, it may be impossible to identify its country of origin.

Right, I am assuming this polonium that was planted, err found, in Arafat was bred in some reactor. And my understanding is that if something is bred in a reactor, there exists a method to determine exactly which reactor it came from.
 

AnitaPeterson

Diamond Member
Apr 24, 2001
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Actually, polonium is a natural byproduct of radon gas, so it always exists in the environment, albeit in minute quantities....