Tell me if I've got this right.

[Tom Rinaldo]

Let's see, we invaded Iraq to keep dangerous weapons out of the hands of terrorists after pulling the plug on U.N. inspectors who were successfully monitoring Hussein's weapons programs. Didn't we accuse the U.N. of letting Iraqis move stuff around to hide it from their inspectors? I think so. Anyway, of course we had to go there ourselves to get the job done right.

By my rough calculations it would take a convoy of roughly 200 pickup trucks to "loot" that size stockpile of explosives. Or maybe about 5,000 people loading 75 pounds each into backpacks. Something like that could be easy to miss. Someone yells out, "Hey look at that big bird over there", our sentries turn their heads to look for the bird, and "poof!" the explosives are whisked away. Oh yeah I forgot, there were no sentries.

I'm sure Iraq must have a maze of busy highways that the looters were able to blend onto inconspicuously. Either that or lots of outdoor enthusiast backpackers that terrorists could co-mingle with. Something like a gazillion tons of explosives might be hard to steal, move, and hide without being caught of course, but a mere 380 tons? You can't expect the U.S. to plan for every evil act by every evil doer.

Now had we somehow known that terrorists might possibly get their hands on those 380 tons of Saddam's deadliest explosives (just one pound equals one downed plane, very efficient) we might have come up with a plan to seal Iraq's suddenly American opened borders so that terrorists from around the world couldn't flow on into Iraq to pick up a ton or two to take home as souvenirs. And in that case maybe we would have prevented terrorists from setting up handy meet and greet centers in the Sunni triangle where they could trade plastic explosives for Camel Cigarettes, or whatever they do their when they aren't firing rocket propelled grenades at American troops.

But in the immortal words of Condi Rice, No one could possibly have foreseen something like that happening.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

1. my effing head is about to explode!

[troublemaker]

2. re: paragraph two

A simpler way to say this looting shouldn't have been missed is that the IAEA discovered it by looking a commercial sattelite photos.

You could see it from outer-fucking-space, but we were walking around clueless.

[jhain]

12. my rant

that line got me the most- I was screaming.

We kick them out and they have to rely on commercial photos to do OUR job.

We couldn't have paid for a little close-up snapshot with that 87 billion.

[KharmaTrain]

3. Are These Those "Freeper Trucks" To Syria??

Hmmm...I have no reason to question your math, and 380 tons aren't the type of thing you just put down your pants and walk out with. There was a lot of systemic looting that went on in the days following the invasion and history will look back on that month or so after Hussein was driven from Baghdad as some of the worst in American history as we stood by and watched (and some say condoned) the total looting of this country.

On topic...the freeper keep claiming the WMDs exist and keep squawking about trucks that were seen on satellite in the days following the fall of Baghdad slipping into Syria. Hmm, is this what the trucks were carrying and were they manned by "contractors?"

One day I hope to see a full inquiry into the execution of this invasion and justice meted to those responsible!

[Tom Rinaldo]

6. That is a very interesting thought

Nice putting two and two together. I remember when the Bush administration started going ballistic on Syria about the border. I would guess that they had it figured out by then that some of those explosives moved to Syria. And since they are not, Gasp, technically WMD, once they made it into Syria there was nothing "illicit" about them.

Perhaps it will come out that he Bush Administration knew what was happening then and could have kicked up specific a international fuss, but kept the details under wraps to not embarrass themselves.

[KharmaTrain]

7. Lots Of Things Vanished Very Quickly In Those Days

I just read the Kerry release which had some quotes from Ari Fleischer at the time and those words were chilling then and even moreso now.

It'd be interesting if there's a PNAC connection here (tin foil hat firmly planted) that the looting was encouraged to create pretexts for future invasions into Syria & Iran (and don't think those plans are still in Wolfowitz's pocket???).

It was too surreal how quickly Hussein's regime fell and how quickly it melted into the population. The media told us the Iraqi army had been crushed, I knew different then and still do now.

There was just a report on the killing of those Iraqi cops over the weekend and how it's framed that these people were "protecting the Iraqis"...as if the killers weren't Iraqis, too. The distortion and lack of proper perspective of this entire "war on terror" will lead to so much more suffering.

[MrModerate]

13. Actually, no conspiracy theory required

EVERYTHING was being looted in the early days. The "200 pickup trucks?" -- they we're probably stolen from the UN.

Some of the looting that I saw was systemic, but a lot was opportunistic. And a lot of people figured out that high explosives would turn out to be very useful (or at least marketable) just a little ways down the road.

These were the bright guys -- the less bright ones would cut a hole in the side of a big electrical transformer so the oil would run out, set the oil on fire, and toss in coils of copper wire encased in plastic insulation. After the fire died down, they'd haul the copper out (now freed from its plastic covering) and schlep it to the scrap metal markets in Iran. Net gain to the looters: about $200. Net loss to Iraq: about $250,000 (the cost of a transmformer).

But of course, we didn't have enough troops to guard every transformer/government office/library/museum/transmission tower/sewer plant, etc., etc., etc.

As I said, no conspiracy required. Just Bushian fuckwitery and a populace degraded by decades of bad government and war grabbing for every dinar they could get their hands on.

[KharmaTrain]

16. There's Such A Lack Of Perspective Here

Unlike a true liberation, this invasion seemed more like a rebel insurrection as it unleashed so many different actions and motives. While Iraqis were glad to be rid of the shakles of Hussein, the signs of division in Iraq were well known within this country and ignored...then unleashed and now killing our kids.

Rumsfeld's "small, leaner army" and Franks rush to Baghdad without really securing supply lines, then pushing even further north while the south hadn't been secured will forever be one of the tactical blunders that opened the doors to the quagmire that exists today.

What is most gauling is knowing a lot of this destruction was encouraged since the plans were to turn this country into a protectorate for Haliburton and KBR...a war profiteer's field day.

That profiteering iritates me more than anything else that goes on here as it's the ultimate in cynicism, exploitation and lack of any human emotion.

Again, welcome to DU and thanks for your observations.

Cheers!

[LynnTheDem]

15. freepers are WRONG and very STOOPID.

BOTH of bush's own hand-picked weapons inspectors, Dr. David Kay and Charles Duelfer have said Iraq DID NOT HAVE WMD SINCE 1991.

They also both say Iraq DID NOT HAVE THE ABILITY to possess or purchase or produce any WMD since 1994.

Over a DECADE before bush invaded.

You CAN'T give Syria WMD you HAVEN'T HAD for over a DECADE.

And bush & Cheney have both ADMITTED THIS last week. So that shows just how INCREDIBLY STOOPID the freeping rightwingnuts really are.
Stunningly stoopid, aren't they!

[KC21304]

4. And Bush and Co. has the guts to say we are all

better off than before we started this G.D. mess. You are right on.

[maine_raptor]

5. Just about nailed , Partner....and it does explain

just why Bush felt America's security was "Up in the Air", like he said the other day. Think maybe he did know about all this when he was doing the interview?

[Tom Rinaldo]

8. Condi nailed this Administration's standing defense

"No one could possibly have foreseen..." while commenting on 9/11. Not with your eyes closed. With them open it gets pretty clear.

[tomfodw]

9. Well, if someone had told her who was taking the stuff

and on which day and where they were taking it, she might have told someone else...maybe...unless she was having her hair done...or she was off on the campaign trail telling us how the Bush administration has made us safer than we were...during the first eight months of the Bush administration...

[Tom Rinaldo]

11. That's Perfect. LOL n/t

[BootinUp]

10. I suspect

that former Iraqi military people "arranged" for its disappearance. This was a bonanza for the resistance. Its probably safely buried in different locations and controlled by the insurgents.

Just another total F'up by this administration.

[LynnTheDem]

14. Iraq's borders were never sealed.

Iraqis could always have JUST LEFT Iraq if they didn't like their government...the same thing the freeping rightwingnuts tell us to do if we don't like their bush-god.

And bush was specifically told BEFORE the invasion to guard Al Qaqaa & the 380 tons of explosives...AND the 150+ munitions depots with some 650,000 tonnes of munitions.

bush decided it wasn't worth the bother.