Rumsfeld on looting in Iraq: 'Stuff happens'
4/12/03
He also asserted the looting was not as bad as some television and newspaper reports have indicated and said there was no major crisis in Baghdad, the capital city, which lacks a central governing authority. The looting, he suggested, was "part of the price" for what the United States and Britain have called the liberation of Iraq.
THE SOURCE
MAJOR INCOPETENCE!
After categorically dismissing the looting as "Stuff Happens"
Today our troops are in MORE danger because of it:
IAEA: Tons of Iraq explosives missing
10/25/04
VIENNA, Austria (CNN) -- Some 380 tons of explosives, powerful enough to be used to detonate nuclear warheads, are missing from a former Iraqi military facility that was supposed to be under American control, the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog says.
Melissa Fleming, spokeswoman for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told CNN the Iraqi interim government reported several days ago that the explosives were missing from the Al Qaqaa complex, south of Baghdad.
The explosives -- considered powerful enough to demolish buildings or detonate nuclear warheads -- were under IAEA control until the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003. IAEA workers left the country before the fighting began.
"Our immediate concern is that if the explosives did fall into the wrong hands they could be used to commit terrorist acts and some of the bombings that we've seen," Fleming said.
She described Al Qaqaa as "massive," and said it is one of the most well-known storage sites. Besides the 380 tons, there were large caches of artillery there.
Fleming said the IAEA does not know whether some of the explosives may already have been used.
A senior administration official told CNN that National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice was notified about the missing stash about a month ago. Iraq Survey Group inspectors are investigating, the official said.
The discovery was not made public sooner because standard intelligence practice is not to let the enemy know such information, the official said.
There are hundreds of tons of other weapons and munitions missing around the country, and it is impossible for the United States to track down all of them, the official said.
Even so, he conceded, Monday's story is not a good one for the White House, just over a week from election day.
A European diplomat told The New York Times that Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the IAEA, is "extremely concerned" about the potentially "devastating consequences" of the vanished stockpile.
"The immediate danger" of the lost stockpiles is its potential use by insurgents to make small, but powerful, explosive devices, an expert told the Times. The expert said the explosives could be transported easily across the Middle East.
According to the Times, the stockpiles missing from Al Qaqaa are the strongest and fastest in common use by militaries around the globe.
The Iraqi letter to IAEA identified the vanished explosives as containing 194.7 metric tons of HMX, or "high melting point explosive," 141.2 metric tons of RDX, or "rapid detonation explosive," among other designations, and 5.8 metric tons of PETN, or "pentaerythritol tetranitrate."
Fleming said the IAEA, whose mission is to keep track of everything with potential nuclear weapons applications, had been monitoring about 100 sites in Iraq, but there were only a few of special concern, including Al Qaqaa.
"The concern is that other sites that have items that are potentially dangerous have gone missing," Fleming added.
Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry's campaign decried the missing explosives.
In a statement, Kerry senior adviser Joe Lockhart said, "the Bush administration must answer for what may be the most grave and catastrophic mistake in a tragic series of blunders in Iraq.
"How did they fail to secure nearly 380 tons of known, deadly explosives despite clear warnings from the International Atomic Energy Agency to do so? And why was this information unearthed by reporters -- and was it covered up by our national security officials?"
"These explosives can be used to blow up airplanes, level buildings, attack our troops and detonate nuclear weapons. The Bush administration knew where this stockpile was, but took no action to secure the site."
Lockhart criticized Bush for his "stunning incompetence."
The SOURCE - CNN
This is a terrible miscalculation!
4/12/03
He also asserted the looting was not as bad as some television and newspaper reports have indicated and said there was no major crisis in Baghdad, the capital city, which lacks a central governing authority. The looting, he suggested, was "part of the price" for what the United States and Britain have called the liberation of Iraq.
THE SOURCE
MAJOR INCOPETENCE!
After categorically dismissing the looting as "Stuff Happens"
Today our troops are in MORE danger because of it:
IAEA: Tons of Iraq explosives missing
10/25/04
VIENNA, Austria (CNN) -- Some 380 tons of explosives, powerful enough to be used to detonate nuclear warheads, are missing from a former Iraqi military facility that was supposed to be under American control, the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog says.
Melissa Fleming, spokeswoman for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told CNN the Iraqi interim government reported several days ago that the explosives were missing from the Al Qaqaa complex, south of Baghdad.
The explosives -- considered powerful enough to demolish buildings or detonate nuclear warheads -- were under IAEA control until the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003. IAEA workers left the country before the fighting began.
"Our immediate concern is that if the explosives did fall into the wrong hands they could be used to commit terrorist acts and some of the bombings that we've seen," Fleming said.
She described Al Qaqaa as "massive," and said it is one of the most well-known storage sites. Besides the 380 tons, there were large caches of artillery there.
Fleming said the IAEA does not know whether some of the explosives may already have been used.
A senior administration official told CNN that National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice was notified about the missing stash about a month ago. Iraq Survey Group inspectors are investigating, the official said.
The discovery was not made public sooner because standard intelligence practice is not to let the enemy know such information, the official said.
There are hundreds of tons of other weapons and munitions missing around the country, and it is impossible for the United States to track down all of them, the official said.
Even so, he conceded, Monday's story is not a good one for the White House, just over a week from election day.
A European diplomat told The New York Times that Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the IAEA, is "extremely concerned" about the potentially "devastating consequences" of the vanished stockpile.
"The immediate danger" of the lost stockpiles is its potential use by insurgents to make small, but powerful, explosive devices, an expert told the Times. The expert said the explosives could be transported easily across the Middle East.
According to the Times, the stockpiles missing from Al Qaqaa are the strongest and fastest in common use by militaries around the globe.
The Iraqi letter to IAEA identified the vanished explosives as containing 194.7 metric tons of HMX, or "high melting point explosive," 141.2 metric tons of RDX, or "rapid detonation explosive," among other designations, and 5.8 metric tons of PETN, or "pentaerythritol tetranitrate."
Fleming said the IAEA, whose mission is to keep track of everything with potential nuclear weapons applications, had been monitoring about 100 sites in Iraq, but there were only a few of special concern, including Al Qaqaa.
"The concern is that other sites that have items that are potentially dangerous have gone missing," Fleming added.
Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry's campaign decried the missing explosives.
In a statement, Kerry senior adviser Joe Lockhart said, "the Bush administration must answer for what may be the most grave and catastrophic mistake in a tragic series of blunders in Iraq.
"How did they fail to secure nearly 380 tons of known, deadly explosives despite clear warnings from the International Atomic Energy Agency to do so? And why was this information unearthed by reporters -- and was it covered up by our national security officials?"
"These explosives can be used to blow up airplanes, level buildings, attack our troops and detonate nuclear weapons. The Bush administration knew where this stockpile was, but took no action to secure the site."
Lockhart criticized Bush for his "stunning incompetence."
The SOURCE - CNN
This is a terrible miscalculation!
