Iraqi witnesses; Al QaQaa looted AFTER troops swept through, April 2003

[LynnTheDem]

AFTER the FIRST unit of troops, the 3rd ID, swept through Al QaQaa on April 4, 2003.

AFTER the SECOND unit of troops, the 101st AB, swept through Al QaQaa on April 10, 2003.

AFTER the start of bush's invasion.

4 Iraqis Tell of Looting at Munitions Site in '03

Looters stormed the weapons site at Al Qaqaa in the days after American troops swept through the area in early April 2003 on their way to Baghdad, gutting office buildings, carrying off munitions and even dismantling heavy machinery, three Iraqi witnesses and a regional security chief said Wednesday.

The Iraqis described an orgy of theft so extensive that enterprising residents rented their trucks to looters. But some looting was clearly indiscriminate, with people grabbing anything they could find and later heaving unwanted items off the trucks.

Two witnesses were employees of Al Qaqaa - one a chemical engineer and the other a mechanic - and the third was a former employee, a chemist, who had come back to retrieve his records, determined to keep them out of American hands. The mechanic, Ahmed Saleh Mezher, said employees asked the Americans to protect the site but were told this was not the soldiers' responsibility.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/28/international/middleeast/28bomb.html?oref=login&oref=login

[kokomo]

1. This weakens the Bushie excuses but watch for more NYT bashing!

[harpo]

2. don't protect the weapons...just the OIL...my precious

[Lone_Star_Dem]

3. I expect to see them discredit the Iraqi's

Since they said Ayad Allawi was mistaken about the explosives already. Besides, they are in Russia! I love our foreign relations.

[Cronus Protagonist]

4. I remember it was reported at the time

People were carting off barrels that were radioactive and using them for storing drinking water. The whole local region was contaminated.


We ship same or next day by first class mail - there's still time to get some of these beauties!
http://brainbuttons.com/home.asp?stashid=13

[thecrow]

6. That was at Tuwaitha

the nuclear facility.... another MAJOR one that we were warned to guard but.... didn't.

Stupid stupid Chimp. Bad.

[Cronus Protagonist]

8. I suppose there were so many it all melds together

The bottom line is that, for an operation that was about capturing WMD, they didn't even bother to try.

My old friend used to say, "PPPPPP" - he was an old army guy. It stood for "Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance" - he was right.

[girl gone mad]

5. Off topic, but..

rented their trucks to looters? Those are some trusting people.

[caledesi]

7. "It's untidy." Rumfeld