Another ammo site was left unguarded

[jfern]

Six months after the fall of Baghdad, a vast Iraqi weapons depot with tens of thousands of artillery rounds and other explosives remained unguarded, according to two U.S. aid workers who say they reported looting of the site to U.S. military officials.

The aid workers say they informed Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, the highest ranking Army officer in Iraq in October 2003 but were told that the United States did not have enough troops to seal off the facility, which included more than 60 bunkers packed with munitions.

"We were outraged," said Wes Hare, city manager of La Grande, who was working in Iraq as part of a rebuilding program. A colleague who also visited the depot, Jerry Kuhaida, said it appeared that the explosives at the Ukhaider Ammunition Storage Area had found their way to insurgents targeting U.S. forces.

"There's no question in my mind that the stuff in Ukhaider was used by terrorists," said Kuhaida.

http://oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/front_page/1099052619177610.xml

[aquart]

1. So, basically, we supplied the terrorists instead of our soldiers.

Well-thought-out plan.

[burrowowl]

3. That about sums it up

Winning a war is about occupying territory, not enough troops to do that, soooooo.
Rummy is an a$$.

[Eloriel]

5. Oh, he's more than an ass

Way more than just an ass. In fact, we may have to invent a new word for the particular arrogant flavor of depravity he displays.

Of course, he's not alone in the administration, either.

[aquart]

7. Fascist. It's been invented.

[Carolab]

2. Wes Clark said it all

this is on the civilian leadership--it's BUSH'S fault

[sandnsea]

4. ALL the ammo dumps were left unguarded

ALL the hospitals and science buildings where bacteria and viruses were kept. EVERYTHING was left unguarded except the oil fields. We saw it on television, I don't understand why people are surprised about this now. I'm glad it's coming out, finally, but it shouldn't be the big mystery all the reporters and officials are making it out to be.

[Eloriel]

6. And there were plenty of internet sources for it as well

(Wish I had my old hard drive where I probably bookmarked dozens of those reports.)

[underpants]

11. Right-remember seeing the bunny lose at the Iraqi national labs?

Just one example.

This was completely unreported right after the war. There was a news story a couple of months ago about how one of the first things al Sadr did was tell his people to run out and grab as much ammo (anything really) that they could find. I remember seeing one aerial photo of a massive amount of ordinance just sitting out in the open.

Basically while the US flew Chalabi's "army
into Baghdad for the statue photo op al Sader (and others) were loading up just outside of town. Not enough troops and NO planning.

[cynthia]

8. what a quagmire

how the hell is Kerry going to clean up this mess?

[LosinIt]

9. I remember seeing a news report about unguarded weapons

shortly after the occupation started. It showed an Iraqi man all excited and pointing to a building and the reporter explained that the building was an ammo site. Anybody else remember?

[teryang]

10. This is outrageous

<"The country was made into a major ammo dump by the Hussein regime as they prepared to fight, and have left cleanup to us," the official said by e-mail. "If that were our only job we could devote more troops to the task, but the majority of our troops are fighting the enemy. When bullets are flying you've got to decide on your priorities, and sending a bullet back is the preferred alternative." >

This couldn't be more wrong. The supply of insurgents is potentially infinite. If one does not cut them off from their supplies of weapons, then war is interminable. Sending a bullet back is basically a waste of lives and resources because now not only the supply of insurgents is infinite but also the supply of his weapons. Keep in mind that the war is asymmetric to begin with. Getting between an enemy and sources of supply is the most effective tactic. If you don't do it, you can't win. See United States v. Vietnam.

This is basically proof of incompetence and failure.

[UL_Approved]

12. So what's the total up to now?

I've just been curious over the last two days, how many sites went unaccounted for, and how many tons of material is actually missing? Is 380 tons a high enough figure? What is this based on? How could they know that they have 380 tons missing if they can't identify where any of it went or even how it disappeared? WHY HAS THERE BEEN NO EFFORT TO TRACK IT DOWN????

[w4rma]

13. Because an investigation might bring more attention to the problem and

that might hurt the political chances of Republicans.

The decision to NOT investigate is totally political.

[damntexdem]

14. Not enough troops to secure armaments ...

but enough to secure the Oil Ministry. I wonder if that reflects any priorities. ;-)