Iraqi Calls Arms Looting a Tightly Run Operation

[Rose Siding]

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 looking for valuable equipment, some of which could be used for both military and civilian applications, and carted the machinery away.
...
"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."

Dr. Araji's statements came just a week after a United Nations agency revealed that approximately 90 key sites in Iraq had been looted or razed after the American-led invasion. Satellite imagery analyzed by two United Nations groups - the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, or Unmovic - confirm that some of the sites identified by Dr. Araji appear to be totally or partly stripped, according to senior officials at those agencies. Those officials said that they could not comment on all of Dr. Araji's assertions, because they had been barred from Iraq since the invasion.

http://nytimes.com/2005/03/13/international/middleeast/13loot.html?hp&ex=1110690000&en=18e0f2e2d3ce7f37&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[Moderator]

1. kick to combine

[truthpusher]

2. NYT: Looting at Weapons Plants Was Systematic, Iraqi Says

Looting at Weapons Plants Was Systematic, Iraqi Says
---------------------------
By JAMES GLANZ
and WILLIAM J. BROAD
Published: March 13, 2005
---------------------------
BAGHDAD, Iraq, March 12 - 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.


A military production plant,
as photographed in May 2003 for
the American investigation into
Iraq's unconventional weapons
programs

The Iraqi official, Sami al-Araji, the deputy minister of industry, said it appeared that a highly organized operation had pinpointed specific plants looking for valuable equipment, some of which could be used for both military and civilian applications, and carted the machinery away.

~snip~

"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."

These types of facilities were cited by the Bush administration as a reason for invading Iraq, but they were left largely unguarded by allied forces in the chaotic months during the period.

complete story: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/13/international/middleeast/13loot.html?hp&ex=1110690000&en=18e0f2e2d3ce7f37&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[Gyre]

3. Watch out Syria.

INCOMING!!!!

[rodeodance]

4. I recall kerry on the trail talking of these weapons and very few listened

[The_Casual_Observer]

5. "but they were left largely unguarded"

How about a god damned war crimes investigation already? The facts surrounding that illegal war and occupation should be plain enough for anybody by now!

[seemslikeadream]

6. Iraq weapons plants looted after invasion

Sun Mar 13, 2005 2:50 AM GMT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Looters systematically removed tons of equipment from Iraqi weapons facilities, including some with components capable of making parts of nuclear arms, in the weeks after Baghdad fell in 2003, The New York Times has reported.

Citing Iraq's deputy minister of industry, Sami al-Araji, the Sunday paper reported a highly organised operation apparently pinpointed specific plants in a quest for valuable equipment, some of which had both civilian and military applications.

"They came in with the cranes and the lorries, and they depleted the whole sites," the Times quoted Araji as saying. "They knew what they were doing; they knew what they want; this was sophisticated looting."

...

The facilities, cited by the Bush administration as a reason for invading Iraq, were left largely unguarded by troops in the months after Baghdad fell. Senior U.N. agency officials confirmed that satellite images confirmed that some of the sites said to have been looted did appear to be totally or partially stripped, the Times report said.

more
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2005-03-13T024937Z_01_HOL309909_RTRUKOC_0_IRAQ-LOOTING-REPORT.xml

[merwin]

7. 'were left largely unguarded by troops in the months after Baghdad fell'

They must not have had much in them if we didn't care about them at all.

[GAspnes]

8. okay George

That just lowered your invasion grade from a C to a D.

[punpirate]

9. Don't exactly know why...

... this is LBN. It was reported weeks to months ago. Tuwaitha was pretty well stripped of everything--even some buildings were dismantled and removed. Much of the machine tooling was sold on the black market and most of the European intelligence agencies think the equipment went north and west, some of it going through the hands of scrap dealers in Hamburg. Pakistan probably got its hands on some of it, too.

In truth, this is likely just expensive machine tools--3-, 4- and 5-axis milling machines, large precision lathes, machining centers, large metalworking equipment, in general. Doesn't mean it would immediately be used to produce weapons. But, getting it on the black market would make the purchases harder to trace.

Edit for syntax.

[wellst0nev0ter]

10. Good Thing This Was Covered BEFORE The Election

What? You say the only thing the kneepad media covered that time was Bush's ass?

Never mind then.

[Moderator]

11. kick to combine

[Gold Metal Flake]

12. Looting at Iraqi Weapons Plants Was Systematic, Official Says (NYT)

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/13/international/middleeast/13loot.html?ex=1268456400&en=eef1e012400b60e1&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&

By JAMES GLANZ and WILLIAM J. BROAD

Published: March 13, 2005


BAGHDAD, Iraq, March 12 - 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.

"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."

[Eagle_Eye]

13. The article points to someone with detailed intelligence about

the Iraqi production capabilities and the location of those capabilities.

From the article:
Dr. Araji said he had no evidence regarding where the equipment had gone. But his account raises the possibility that the specialized machinery from the arms establishment that the war was aimed at neutralizing had made its way to the black market or was in the hands of foreign governments.
"Targeted looting of this kind of equipment has to be seen as a proliferation threat," said Gary Milhollin

The question is who had knowledge of the equipment location(s) and who stands to benefit from it being on the black market? It occurs to me that the bush administration requires a continuing terrorist threat to maintain its illegal control over the American people, ie: the Patriot Act.
I think the equipment has gone to some puppet government to supply material for continued 'incidents' that the bush administration will hold up as evidence of terrorist attacks. These attacks will support the further strengthening of laws like the Patriot Act.

[0007]

14. ....with an eye on the museums and gold and the pentagon drunk

with power and junior in a state of emotion so intense that he is carried beyond rational thought and self-control, what could one expect from these morans?

[leftchick]

15. Key Iraq weapons plants looted (More invasion screw-ups)

http://www.capecodonline.com/cctimes/keyiraq13.htm

BAGHDAD, Iraq - 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 last week in the government's first extensive comments on the looting.

The Iraqi official, Dr. Sami al-Araji, the deputy minister of industry, said it appeared that a highly organized operation had pinpointed specific plants looking for valuable equipment, some of which could be used for both military and civilian applications, and carted the machinery away.

<snip>
"They came in with the cranes and the lorries, and they depleted the whole sites," al-Araji said. "They knew what they were doing; they knew what they want. This was sophisticated looting."

These types of facilities were cited by the Bush administration as a reason for invading Iraq, but they were left largely unguarded by coalition forces in the chaotic months after the invasion.

[soup]

16. 'no warplans on my desk'

other than the rush to protect oil facilities no matter the cost.

[leftchick]

17. let's see... military applications...

now we know why the Resistance is so well equipped. Between this and all of those ammo depots looted. It is almost like the US let them do it on purpose. Hmmmmm..

[DoYouEverWonder]

18. Now that would have been a crime

if the Iraqis had done anything to damage the oil refineries. At least, that's what Rummie said.

[soup]

19. That's right!

Can't believe how much I've forgotten. : weneedabraindeadsmilie :

Thanks for the reminder.

on edit: make that : Ineedabraindeadsmilie : the rest of you seem to be holding up much better than I am.

[DoYouEverWonder]

20. The only reason why I remember that statement

is that I almost crashed my car, that morning when NPR played that clip from a speech Rummie had given the day before.

[dArKeR]

21. Looting at Iraq Weapons Plants After Invasion: NYT - Yahoo

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=574&e=5&u=/nm/20050313/wl_nm/iraq_looting_report_dc

[struggle4progress]

22. And as soon as the looting was complete, the Administration ...

... went to the UN, got the sanctions lifted, and got Iraq's borders wide open ...