Posted on 03/13/2005 1:14:45 AM PST by txradioguy
Looting at Iraqi Weapons Plants Was Systematic, Official Says
BAGHDAD, Iraq, March 12 - In the weeks after Baghdad fell in April 2003, looters systematically dismantled and removed tons of machinery from Saddam Hussein's most important weapons installations, including some with high-precision equipment capable of making parts for nuclear arms, a senior Iraqi official said this week in the government's first extensive comments on the looting.
The Iraqi official, Sami al-Araji, the deputy minister of industry, said it appeared that a highly organized operation had pinpointed specific plants in search of valuable equipment, some of which could be used for both military and civilian applications, and carted the machinery away.
Dr. Araji said his account was based largely on observations by government employees and officials who either worked at the sites or lived near them.
"They came in with the cranes and the lorries, and they depleted the whole sites," Dr. Araji said. "They knew what they were doing; they knew what they want. This was sophisticated looting."
The threat posed by these types of facilities was cited by the Bush administration as a reason for invading Iraq, but the installations were left largely unguarded by allied forces in the chaotic months after the invasion.
Dr. Araji's statements came just a week after a United Nations agency disclosed that approximately 90 important sites in Iraq had been looted or razed in that period.
Satellite imagery analyzed by two United Nations groups - the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, or Unmovic - confirms that some of the sites identified by Dr. Araji appear to be totally or partly stripped, senior officials at those agencies said.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I just did not sleep at night when the best reporting was going on at the beginning..I was convinced Saddam had chemical weapons and would use them as a last gasp..if not sooner..He had some of his Generals convinced he would,too!
I'm not sure why they weren't used...but I'm GLAD they weren't.
I just wish the goombah hadn't hidden them do well! LOL!
Drudge must be lurking tonite. Guess what's just popped up on his website within the last 30 minutes?
NYT: Looting at Iraqi Weapons Plants Was Systematic, Official Says
He had used them before...but not against the US..
It doesn't take much of that stuff to create death and panic..God bless all the troops who had to swelter in those protective suits and gear. I dread to think some bulldozer is going to unearth and break open some weapons some day. Hope there is not a crowd around.
Thank you for serving our country.
Yeah it's amazing how everyone likes to forget that little tidbit huh?
Guess it helps them sleep better at night or something.
No thanks needed MEG...just doing my job.
Two part Question.
First, the UNSCOM and IAEA abetted Sadam by wasting time. Too little too late, wandering around a sand pit, who may or may not have had access to a suspected site. Asking Saddam for his word (and trusting it) was foolish policy.
Second, I don't think the UN helped smuggle machines out of the country. They weren't even there for the most part. I don't think they had the capability to organize it. The UN was not in control. IMO the profiteering underworld snagged the known wealth of Iraq and sold it to the highest bidder.
what... no siren?....... lol
LOL! I stink at HTML..I have no way to post it.
I agree. Good point.
I have personal knowledge of soldiers in the desert digging out weapons from the desert with quantities of MIXABLE chemicals alongside the munitions....
And that it was done clandestinely and never reported.
All I can say in resoinse is :)
The same.
:>)
oh, I didn't mean for you to post it, I ment Drudge. When it was going hot and heavy he would use something like that (usually on Sunday nights) to get people to listen to his radio show
I appreciate your military service and experience here on this topic and glad your posting
"Fact of the matter is we have the satellie evidence that shows large convoy's moving to the Syrian border days before Iraq fell and they were allowed to pass without hindrance."
Links?
[..and why were these not bombed?]
"We have the satellite images, and Assad knows we have them"
Links?
Click:
"Links?
[..and why were these not bombed?]"
Another comment on Syria I thought. A constant thorn in our sides. Not our enemies but certainly not our friends. The Syrians were allowing cross-border traffic into and out of Iraq. "Get (Army Colonel Gary)Harrell and (Major General Dell) Dailey to work up at lest an aviation screen along that border," I said to Gene Renuart. "We're going to put a crimp in that traffic."
"Okay, Boss," Gene said.
exercpt from Tommy Franks "American Soldier" page 281 Chapter titled "A Campaign Unlike Any Other"
IMHO sounds like they did what they could to bomb the traffic.
"Looters took off with all that right under the nose of the US?"
Iraq is a big place. We can't even secure the border between the US and California.
I wonder which side of that Border MellyK is on?
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