March 13, 2005
WELL, IF THE TIMES SAYS HE HAD WMD...:
Looting at Weapons Plants Was Systematic, Iraqi Says (JAMES GLANZ and WILLIAM J. BROAD, 3/13/05, NY Times)
In the weeks after Baghdad fell in April 2003, looters systematically dismantled and removed tons of machinery from Saddam Hussein's most important weapons installations, including some with high-precision equipment capable of making parts for nuclear arms, a senior Iraqi official said this week in the government's first extensive comments on the looting.The Iraqi official, Sami al-Araji, the deputy minister of industry, said it appeared that a highly organized operation had pinpointed specific plants in search of valuable equipment, some of which could be used for both military and civilian applications, and carted the machinery away.
Dr. Araji said his account was based largely on observations by government employees and officials who either worked at the sites or lived near them.
"They came in with the cranes and the lorries, and they depleted the whole sites," Dr. Araji said. "They knew what they were doing; they knew what they want. This was sophisticated looting."
The threat posed by these types of facilities was cited by the Bush administration as a reason for invading Iraq, but the installations were left largely unguarded by allied forces in the chaotic months after the invasion.
Who got the yellowcake? Posted by Orrin Judd at March 13, 2005 9:10 PM
Have to wonder if that sophisticated looting was carried out by Coalition Forces?
Posted by: TW at March 13, 2005 9:48 PMWell, duh, we know some of it ended up in European scrap yards.
Posted by: Sandy P at March 13, 2005 10:28 PMThose goalposts sure do move a lot.
Posted by: Jeff Brokaw at March 13, 2005 10:31 PMProbably overseen by UN Weapons Inspectors with long checklists.
Posted by: Vanderleun at March 13, 2005 11:11 PMHow could there be "a highly organized operation" of "sophisticated looting" of things which never existed?
Posted by: Raoul Ortega at March 13, 2005 11:56 PMYou've got it, Raoul.
Bush not only lied and invaded on false pretenses that Iraq had dangerous weapons, but he failed to secure the weapons that Saddam had stored all over the place.
And Bush not only invaded Iraq to steal their oil, but her in Chicago gas just topped $2 per gallon.
Clearly Bush is totally incompetent!
No wonder the price of 'Baby Milk' in Iraq has gone down lately.
Posted by: Bart at March 14, 2005 8:22 AM"The threat posed by these types of facilities was cited by the Bush administration as a reason for invading Iraq, but the installations were left largely unguarded by allied forces in the chaotic months after the invasion."
Guns don't kill people.
Posted by: Robert Schwartz at March 14, 2005 9:45 AMOJ:
It was turned into 'glow-in-the-dark' tourist knick-knacks.
We're going to the Bekaa,
And we're going to get even,
We're going to the Bekaa,
And we're going to get even.
Gee, Bashir, we liked you,
But we're going to get even,
And we're going to the Valley of Blood.
Didn't have enough infantry.
Some of us knew that going in.
I'm less concerned that somebody got away with part of a nuclear bomb machine -- what's that good for? -- than the roadside bombs killing real people.
Like suicide bombers, there seems to be an inexhaustible supply over there.
Posted by: Harry Eagar at March 15, 2005 4:28 PMI sure hope you never wrote an article praising the peace dividend, Harry, because that's where your infantry went.
Posted by: joe shropshire at March 16, 2005 12:55 AMActually, it went with the draftees. Paying infantry a living wage ain't cheap.
Few know it, but the Cold War argument for massive retaliation was premised primarily on the claim that it would be a lot cheaper than keeping up an army big enough to contend with the Asian hordes.
Whether that turned out to be true, in the long run, would be hard to figure. But nukes had other benefits than a short payroll.
We sort of have more infantry now than in Gulf War the First, since then all we had were heavy armored divisions.
Now we have 'infantry divisions,' though most of them have more armor than German panzers divisions ever enjoyed.
Whatever, we don't have enough groundpounders.
Never will, without the draft. My daughter, who is in theory covered by military medical services as wife of an active duty military man, tells me she cannot get a doctor's appointment. They're all loaded up with guys trying to get out of tours in Iraq.
Posted by: Harry Eagar at March 16, 2005 8:04 PMWe've too many--it keeps us from using nukes when we should.
Posted by: oj at March 16, 2005 8:13 PMWhat part of Baghdad are you're planning to nuke?
Posted by: Harry Eagar at March 17, 2005 5:02 PMWhat part of Baghdad are you planning to nuke?
Posted by: Harry Eagar at March 17, 2005 5:02 PMPyongyang's nuclear facilities.
Posted by: oj at March 17, 2005 5:08 PM