Boston Globe: "Explosives were looted after Iraq invasion"

[milkyway]

By Farah Stockman, Globe Staff  |  October 26, 2004

WASHINGTON -- Iraqi officials reported that thieves looted 377 tons of powerful explosives from an unguarded site after the US-led invasion last year, the top UN nuclear official said yesterday. And a former weapons inspector said he had counted about 100 other unguarded weapons sites that may have been stripped of munitions for use in the wave of attacks against US soldiers and Iraqi civilians.
<snip>

''This is not just any old warehouse in Iraq that happened to have explosives in it; this was a leading location for developing nuclear weapons before the first Gulf War," said Gary Milhollin, director of the Wisconsin Project, a nonprofit organization that has followed Iraq's attempts to procure weapons of mass destruction for more than a decade. ''The fact that it had been left unsecured is very, very discouraging. It would be like invading the US in to order to get rid of and not securing Los Alamos or Livermore ."
<snip>

''The military did not view guarding these sites as their responsibility," David Kay said, recalling that he witnessed US troops guarding the gates of the Tuwaitha nuclear facility while Iraq civilians carried away radioactive pipes and metal drums through other exits.

''There just were not enough troops to guard the number of sites. It was just crazy."

At the time, there was no major insurgency and US military officials felt the war had been won, Kay said, so the Department of Defense did not fear that the weapons that disappeared in widespread looting would be used against US soldiers.

http://www.boston.com/news/world/articles/2004/10/26/explosives_were_looted_after_iraq_invasion?mode=PF
__________

So even if the bush admin was right about the war being over and our troops not endangered by these weapons, how did they think these weapons would be used?

[Kierkegaard]

1. Maybe the Scrubbies thought the explosives were going to be

used for peaceful means...

:eyes:

[maddezmom]

2. so there was no plan to secure these site, cuz * thought we WON

what an ass...David Kay has turned out to be an asset to the Kerry campaign

[antonialee839]

3. Well, I'm just shocked

I tell ya.

[Tamyrlin79]

7. Is that the sound of sarcasm?

I know I am shocked by few things anyway, but I expect the worst from this administration as a matter of course. Short of declaring war on Europe or invading Canada, I am not sure this administration could shock me.

[Cronus Protagonist]

4. Mission Accomplished?

That phrase should always be accompanied with a question mark now, if it wasn't before...

[dogman]

5. Mission Accomplished!

Taking direction from their Commander-in-Chief. This incompetent fool was awol 30 years ago and was awol for the last 4 years.

[grytpype]

6. Oh, my! This is the exact opposite -- THE EXACT OPPOSITE -- of what the

Administration is saying!

And the problem was there were too few troops! Which was the Adminsitration's decision, contrary to professional military advice!

Oh, my.

[Tamyrlin79]

8. Yay! I'm glad this story came out...

It will keep the story going into tomorrow's news cycle! And that is SO good for us.

New Meme/Talking Point: al QaQaa was just a single example of a much larger, ongoing problem that was directly related to the fact that we had too few troops in Iraq. And the results are catastrophic.

[milkyway]

10. Check out this report from Salon.com. It's going to get a lot worse.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=934924&mesg_id=934924

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/10/26/iraq_weapons_caches/index.html

[NNN0LHI]

9. "how did they think these weapons would be used?" Silly you

4th of July celebrations.

Don

[milkyway]

11. Neocons were so delusional, they might actually have thought that.

[bain_sidhe]

12. "how did they think these weapons would be used?"

The completely utterly cynical answer:

Well, you can't have a war on terror without terrorists, can ya?

Ok, that may be too much even for me. Nonetheless, George "WTF?!?" Bu**sh** has supplied terrorists with weapons for YEARS to come with this incompetence.

[fortyfeetunder]

13. I'm afraid some of this stuff is already here!

As Bushistas turned the other way, THIS STUFF got LOOTED? WTF?

I won't wager but fear that these explosives have found their way to the US. And we might not have an October Surprise, but a surprise nonetheless. And probably enough damage to eclipse 9/11!

[DeepModem Mom]

14. kick

[symbolman]

15. Maybe the Iraq

people were going to do their OWN home redecorating, without those pesky missles coming in their windows.

This should be impeachable.

I predict that BUSH will give himself a PARDON on the way out, the first self pardon by a "president" in the History of the US..

[natrat]

16. wow they really are that stupid

every day i wake up i can say that

[wishlist]

17. Proves Bush Admin was not concerned about weapons/war on terrorism

Seems crystal clear to me that this war was not conducted as part of war on terrorism or to find and secure weapons and WMD's that could be used against innocent people. If it had been a legitimate operation, a top military priority would have been to take measures to prevent proliferation of weapons and ammo.

[milkyway]

18. kick for those who missed it. David Kay hangs the bush admin.

[goodboy]

19. dupe....

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=2544927&mesg_id=2544927

[young_at_heart]

20. I wonder who will take the heat on this?

Couldn't possibly be Bush because he didn't know anything about it. You can't expect him to know everything.....he's too busy!

[Just Me]

21. They never did care about WMDs,...they just wanted a quick profit. n/t

[Mandate My Ass]

22. Fire Rummy

NOW!!!

:grr:

[Moderator]

23. Duplicate topic--Please continue discussion here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=2544927&mesg_id=2544927