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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ish who wrote (148875)	10/24/2004 5:27:21 PM
From: Michael Watkins	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

The IAEA was mentioned in an article last week about about nuclear materials and bomb making equipment that was in Iraq and is now missing. If Iraq didn't have it, how come it's missing? A very good question. Answer: Ask the US Military, they are the ones that let materials slip out of what had been well known storage depots. But first you should ask a different question: How do we know something is gone, i.e. how do we know they are missing in the first place? Answer: Because these materials were known about before the war. Before the war. Known. Identified. Inventoried. Tagged and in many cases under lock and key. These same materials and equipment had previously either been a) fully disclosed by Iraq in its UN ordered CAFCD (Dec 2002) or b) documented, locked up and monitored/verified by inspectors from IAEA and UNSCOM and UNMOVIC missions over the years. Some of these inventoried materials had been imported into Iraq in the 1970's. Back when the US was supplying Saddam with arms and intel, by the way. Essentially the locations and inventory of these items were well known - had been for years - and could easily have been secured in the early days of the invasion. Some of these items have multiple uses, not just nuclear - a precision milling machine can be used to make molds for toys after all - so all these things had basic black market value. Its no surprise that someone would want them. What is a surprise is that "Coalition forces" did not secure well known sites where nuclear materials were stored. Instead they secured the Oil Ministry offices. Reports at the time lambasted the administration for failing to secure the National Museum even as looters were hiking off with all its treasures. They did not even secure the Iraqi intelligence headquarters - surely a desirable source of intelligence if the goal is to uncover WMD programs - and reporters were on film roaming around offices picking up documents on their own. And they did not secure these materials and items stores the IAEA refers to. Well, forget the museum, the ministry of oil and the Iraqi intelligence offices, the military didn't even guard supplies and materials which could be used in a nuclear weapons program. Does that speak to priorities? I don't blame the troops - but I do blame planners and the folks in Washington. Anyway, remember, the war? You know, the war which is supposedly about weapons of mass destruction? Think of that while you repeat this three times... the military didn't even guard known supplies and materials which could be used in a nuclear weapons program. the military didn't even guard known supplies and materials which could be used in a nuclear weapons program. the military didn't even guard known supplies and materials which could be used in a nuclear weapons program.