From today's New York Times:
"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.
Dr. Araji's statements came just a week after a United Nations agency disclosed that approximately 90 important sites in Iraq had been looted or razed in that period.
Satellite imagery analyzed by two United Nations groups - the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, or Unmovic - confirms that some of the sites identified by Dr. Araji appear to be totally or partly stripped, senior officials at those agencies said. Those officials said they could not comment on all of Dr. Araji's assertions, because the groups had been barred from Iraq since the invasion..."
The argument for incompetence by the Bush Administration and the Pentagon has worn itself thin to the point of transparency. If this country was supposed to be terrified about Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction and the potential for them to be either stolen or used against our troops and bordering countries by insurgents, the fear did not translate into expected action.
In other words: the Bush Administration willingly allowed the "theft" of weaponry and precursors, either as part of an agreement with another party, or to further the neo-conservative agenda.
What will it take for a critical mass of the United States to wake up from their indifference and/or support for this kind of behavior?
10:17:19 AM 
