While the Bush administration is considering spending another $600 million on top of the $300 million they've already wasted searching for non-existent WMD there are still millions of pounds of armaments unsecured for the taking in Iraq.
Proof positive of the lack of planning for the aftermath of the Iraq invasion.
WTF are these people thinking?
Now go ahead Bush apologists, tell us how they had no way of knowing. Then explain why the morons you support didn't know and why they had to conduct their selective, unnecessary invasion that created this problem in the first place.
At Iraqi Depot, Missiles Galore and No Guards
By RAYMOND BONNER and IAN FISHER
Published: October 17, 2003
MUSAYYIB, Iraq, Oct. 16 ? It weighs more than a thousand pounds, so carting it away could present a few logistical problems for the average looter. But the fact remains that there is a very nice 15-foot-long missile, in mint condition, there for the taking, at one of Saddam Hussein's defense factories a few miles west of here.
The missile, along with a dozen ready-to-fire 107-millimeter antitank rounds, just a few feet away, is part of a problem that the American military has only begun to grapple with: as much as one million tons of ammunition is scattered around Iraq, much of it unguarded ? like the armaments here ? simply because the United States does not have the personnel to keep watch.
On Thursday in Baghdad, an American brigadier general, Robert L. Davis, acknowledged the scope of the problem, saying that there are 105 large ammunition dumps as well as scores of smaller sites, not all of them guarded regularly. But General Davis, who is overseeing the cleanup, sought to give assurances that the Pentagon is working as fast as possible.
In the past three weeks alone, he said, recently deployed private civilian contractors have destroyed more than 2.5 million pounds of ammunition, whereas American soldiers were able to destroy only a million pounds in the last six months.
"It's a very high priority," General Davis told reporters.
But on Thursday, not a single soldier or guard was to be seen at this compound in the desert 40 miles south of Baghdad. A few Iraqis wandered about, and vehicles drove on the roads in the compound; one man drove off on his three-wheeled motorcycle with a bounty of long sections of pipe.
Evidently, American soldiers were here during the war. Their graffiti attests to that ? "Saddam Free Zone," "Go Team USA #1." Apparently, they left before thoroughly searching the site, or perhaps they simply lacked the time or expertise to clean it up.
The compound ? part factory, part warehouse, with several reinforced bunkers sprinkled about the grounds ? is rubble now, demolished by American bombs. But missiles are everywhere. There is a 30-foot missile with Russian markings, still on its trolley, on a sidewalk. The propellant appears to have been removed, but the nose cone is intact.
Two Exocet missiles ? clearly labeled as such and stamped "AEROSPATIALE" ? lie on the ground several hundred yards away. They seem to have been rendered largely useless by the bombing, but parts may be of some value.
The best-preserved missile, the 15-footer, appeared to be another Exocet, though because of the container's position against the wall, only the cone could be seen. The writing on the shipping tube, in French and English, was inconclusive.
Outside in the rubble was a shoulder-fired SA-7, a Russian-made surface-to-air missile, caked with dirt.
It is impossible to know how much has been looted from this factory. In the desert about five miles away is the shell of a truck. Bedouins said the truck had belonged to looters who were captured several weeks ago by Americans.
The desert sand around where the truck was found is littered with mounds of mortar and artillery shells. Most of them appeared to have been defused, but a few live, small rockets, as well as several hundred live large caliber rounds, were found among the litter. It is not clear how the munitions got here.
The issue of unguarded Iraqi ammunition dumps has taken on greater urgency recently as the pace of bomb attacks against American forces and other targets has increased. Military officials say much of the explosives being used in the attacks come from ammunition sites like this one, which had once belonged to Mr. Hussein's army.
As if to underscore the threat, six rockets were fired on Wednesday into the green zone in Baghdad, the heavily guarded cocoon that protects senior American officials, including L. Paul Bremer III, the top civilian administrator. No one was hurt. It was the second such attack.
After American troops took over in Iraq, they were confronted with an astonishing number of obvious weapons caches: in schools and mosques, and in houses in neighborhoods where the residents had apparently been moved out before the war.
Sometimes those dumps exploded, killing and wounding people and stoking Iraqis' anger against the Americans.
Soldiers are finding more dumps every day. General Davis said that in one military zone in northern Iraq, commanders first reported 730 weapons caches. More recently, the number climbed to 1,089, though General Davis said all but 12 had been destroyed.
General Davis said the military had not ignored the problem. He said that the Pentagon had hired private contractors, but that they had only been working about three weeks and were still not here in full force.
"I don't think we've been slow to recognize the problem," he said. "You can already see the difference in what we could do in about a six-month period and what they can do in a three-week period at partial mobilization."
While he said the job of guarding the dumps was not under his command, he said many of them were either protected by American soldiers or at least patrolled regularly.
But he conceded that some were not. "I don't know why we could not guard them all," General Davis said.
Another military official said that 6,000 American soldiers had been assigned to manning the dumps, but that more were needed.
General Davis said $285 million had been allocated in the next year to clean up the ammunition, a job that he said would take several years.
Right now, there are 160 civilian contractors from four private companies, with another 120 in Kuwait. In total there will be 430 people dedicated to destroying the ammunition when the the operation is at full capacity in December, he said.
Raymond Bonner reported for this article from Musayyib and Ian Fisher from Baghdad
Proof positive of the lack of planning for the aftermath of the Iraq invasion.
WTF are these people thinking?
Now go ahead Bush apologists, tell us how they had no way of knowing. Then explain why the morons you support didn't know and why they had to conduct their selective, unnecessary invasion that created this problem in the first place.
At Iraqi Depot, Missiles Galore and No Guards
By RAYMOND BONNER and IAN FISHER
Published: October 17, 2003
MUSAYYIB, Iraq, Oct. 16 ? It weighs more than a thousand pounds, so carting it away could present a few logistical problems for the average looter. But the fact remains that there is a very nice 15-foot-long missile, in mint condition, there for the taking, at one of Saddam Hussein's defense factories a few miles west of here.
The missile, along with a dozen ready-to-fire 107-millimeter antitank rounds, just a few feet away, is part of a problem that the American military has only begun to grapple with: as much as one million tons of ammunition is scattered around Iraq, much of it unguarded ? like the armaments here ? simply because the United States does not have the personnel to keep watch.
On Thursday in Baghdad, an American brigadier general, Robert L. Davis, acknowledged the scope of the problem, saying that there are 105 large ammunition dumps as well as scores of smaller sites, not all of them guarded regularly. But General Davis, who is overseeing the cleanup, sought to give assurances that the Pentagon is working as fast as possible.
In the past three weeks alone, he said, recently deployed private civilian contractors have destroyed more than 2.5 million pounds of ammunition, whereas American soldiers were able to destroy only a million pounds in the last six months.
"It's a very high priority," General Davis told reporters.
But on Thursday, not a single soldier or guard was to be seen at this compound in the desert 40 miles south of Baghdad. A few Iraqis wandered about, and vehicles drove on the roads in the compound; one man drove off on his three-wheeled motorcycle with a bounty of long sections of pipe.
Evidently, American soldiers were here during the war. Their graffiti attests to that ? "Saddam Free Zone," "Go Team USA #1." Apparently, they left before thoroughly searching the site, or perhaps they simply lacked the time or expertise to clean it up.
The compound ? part factory, part warehouse, with several reinforced bunkers sprinkled about the grounds ? is rubble now, demolished by American bombs. But missiles are everywhere. There is a 30-foot missile with Russian markings, still on its trolley, on a sidewalk. The propellant appears to have been removed, but the nose cone is intact.
Two Exocet missiles ? clearly labeled as such and stamped "AEROSPATIALE" ? lie on the ground several hundred yards away. They seem to have been rendered largely useless by the bombing, but parts may be of some value.
The best-preserved missile, the 15-footer, appeared to be another Exocet, though because of the container's position against the wall, only the cone could be seen. The writing on the shipping tube, in French and English, was inconclusive.
Outside in the rubble was a shoulder-fired SA-7, a Russian-made surface-to-air missile, caked with dirt.
It is impossible to know how much has been looted from this factory. In the desert about five miles away is the shell of a truck. Bedouins said the truck had belonged to looters who were captured several weeks ago by Americans.
The desert sand around where the truck was found is littered with mounds of mortar and artillery shells. Most of them appeared to have been defused, but a few live, small rockets, as well as several hundred live large caliber rounds, were found among the litter. It is not clear how the munitions got here.
The issue of unguarded Iraqi ammunition dumps has taken on greater urgency recently as the pace of bomb attacks against American forces and other targets has increased. Military officials say much of the explosives being used in the attacks come from ammunition sites like this one, which had once belonged to Mr. Hussein's army.
As if to underscore the threat, six rockets were fired on Wednesday into the green zone in Baghdad, the heavily guarded cocoon that protects senior American officials, including L. Paul Bremer III, the top civilian administrator. No one was hurt. It was the second such attack.
After American troops took over in Iraq, they were confronted with an astonishing number of obvious weapons caches: in schools and mosques, and in houses in neighborhoods where the residents had apparently been moved out before the war.
Sometimes those dumps exploded, killing and wounding people and stoking Iraqis' anger against the Americans.
Soldiers are finding more dumps every day. General Davis said that in one military zone in northern Iraq, commanders first reported 730 weapons caches. More recently, the number climbed to 1,089, though General Davis said all but 12 had been destroyed.
General Davis said the military had not ignored the problem. He said that the Pentagon had hired private contractors, but that they had only been working about three weeks and were still not here in full force.
"I don't think we've been slow to recognize the problem," he said. "You can already see the difference in what we could do in about a six-month period and what they can do in a three-week period at partial mobilization."
While he said the job of guarding the dumps was not under his command, he said many of them were either protected by American soldiers or at least patrolled regularly.
But he conceded that some were not. "I don't know why we could not guard them all," General Davis said.
Another military official said that 6,000 American soldiers had been assigned to manning the dumps, but that more were needed.
General Davis said $285 million had been allocated in the next year to clean up the ammunition, a job that he said would take several years.
Right now, there are 160 civilian contractors from four private companies, with another 120 in Kuwait. In total there will be 430 people dedicated to destroying the ammunition when the the operation is at full capacity in December, he said.
Raymond Bonner reported for this article from Musayyib and Ian Fisher from Baghdad
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