I am too tired to research all of the ins and outs of this story, so approach it with the usual skepticism that is due, but this certainly seems troubling:
Equipment and material that could be used to make biological or chemical weapons have been removed from 109 Iraqi sites, UN weapons inspectors say.
In a new report to the UN Security Council, satellite imagery experts said biological sites were less affected.The report said the dual-use equipment could be used for legitimate but also “for prohibited purposes”.
However, it warned that experts had been unable to determine the destination of all the items removed.
The UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (Unmovic) has not returned to Iraq since the US-led invasion in 2003.
But it has continued to monitor the sites in Iraq that had been subject to inspection until then.
Again, read the whole thing, but buyer beware.
Anderson
This could be due simply to general non-insurgent looting. We had a little trouble remembering we were supposed to occupy the country after we won the war, IIRC.
Tim F
Before folks start up with the whole and I thought there were no WMDs in Iraq! line of argument, this is the stuff that was already tagged and monitored by the UN. Nothing new, except that it’s missing and potentially valuable to terrorists.
The Lonewacko Blog
I’m not going to bother providing links, but stories like this have been occuring *since the invasion*, starting with al Tuwaitha’s missing nuke material and going forward to the BushBot discrediting al Qaqaa story. Search at command-post.org for my posts about this.
p.lukasiak
I’m with Anderson on this. Its “troubling” only because it confirms what we already knew about the failure of the coalition forces to properly secure weapons sites. I don’t think it represents an enhanced threat of biological or chemical weapons by the insurgency…. if ad hoc production of WMDs was on the Baathist agenda in their planning for guerilla war after the fall of Saddam, they’d have been produced and used on the Green Zone by now.
Don
I second the “how is this new” question. The nation heard (and apparently, didn’t care) that lots of things that go boom and fizz were being left unguarded and lifted in the time after the invasion.
KC
Frankly, I find Don’s point disturbing, considering what just happened in London.
Tim F
Lonewacko piqued my interest. How and when did BushBot ‘discredit’ the al Qaqaa story? What is BushBot? It sounds like an animatronic President standing by in case our current President malfunctions, and judging by Lonewacko’s reference this one is able to communicate in paragraphs. We’d likely be better off with BushBot now, as long as he remains loyal to humans and not machines. Maybe even then.
Doug
So, if the present Iraqi government was given an ultimatum to account for all of its WMDs and all of its materials which could be used to produce WMDs similar to the ultimatum given to Hussein prior to the war, could it pass? Or would we have to reinvade?
Mr Furious
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
Robin Roberts
Come on, grow up people. This is all dual purpose stuff that was only tagged because it was in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. The kind of equipment that can be found in every American city.
It is not a concern today because Iraq is not going to restart its nuclear weapons programs.
The Disenfranchised Voter
John your title is misleading. There was no WMD’s in Iraq, the article is talking about WMD materials.
Randolph Fritz
Old news, guy–about a year old, I think. Some of the missing stuff is probably going into the bombs the resistance movement is using.
Chris
This was reported a while ago, and the majority of the missing equipment wasn’t weapons; mostly industrial stuff that could be used to make WMDs on a large. This includes things like piping, valves, tanks, etc. As other posters have indicated, this shouldn’t be a concern.