Good read. I wouldn't be surprise if a lot of this stuff was grabbed selling as junk to smelters whatever, not that Iraq has any smelting capabiities, or do they? Things like pumps are composed mostly of perhaps pig iron. So like anywhere else it has value. Surely Iraq still has scrap yards, and folks finding and selling stuff. Just a thought. Those hundreds of thousands of Iraqi's that where going nuts during the opening days of OIF I surely where not organized insurgent groups. This process of finding and stealing stuff at various sites could have been an ongoing thing. Of course one who still believes Iraq had an ongoing record of R&D and some manufacturing of WMD's, I am not trying to presume all the stuff noticed missing is all innocent attempts to salvage junk and or sell it to feed ones family.
Wish I could find a great pic I've seen. Two Iraqis making Aluminum ingots in a makeshift forge from scrap.
You are right on with your post.