Timeline of Looting and Incompetency

Here is a rough timeline of nuclear facilities, notably April 12, 2003, when the discovery of looting first occured. I will continue to update this link as developments unfold. It stands to reason that once the discovery was made, that the IAEA would have been consulted and other places of concern to them would have been secured, or, of course, should have been. That 377 tons of explosives are missing from an unsecured military facility absolutely blows my mind! Incompetence is a nice word for it.

Recall the first presidential debate when John Kerry said, ""When you guard the oil ministry, but you don't guard the nuclear facilities, the message to a lot of people is maybe, "Wow, maybe they're interested in our oil."

I'd personally go a bit further and say, "Wow, maybe they aren't even
looking for nuclear capabilities, or weapons of any type."

UPDATE:
May I just remind anyone who comes to argue here about anything prior to April 12, 2003; no one knows.

The Iraqi interim government says the explosives were missing AFTER April 9.

The IAEA saw the seals in place in March.

A Pentagon "official who monitors developments in Iraq" told the Associated Press today that "US-led coalition troops had searched Al-Qaqaa in the immediate aftermath of the March 2003 invasion and confirmed that the explosives, which had been under IAEA seal since 1991, were intact."


Go read.

UPDATE 2

April 5, 2003

• U.S. troops find signs of chemical readiness

April 6, 2003

• Tests indicate Iraq powder not chemical weapon

The site seemed to be part of the al Qaa'qaa state establishment, a large industrial complex in Iraq which makes powder, explosives and propellants for all military industries.
It turns out what they thought might be chemicals were the explosives that later are found to be missing.
The Timeline We DO Know:

Rumsfeld on Looting April 11, 2003 before looting of nuclear materials was reported.
"Freedom's untidy, and free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes and do bad things,"

April 12, 2003 First reports of Tuwaitha Nuclear Facilities being Looted (most links dead)

• Iraqi nuclear site lay at the mercy of looters
• Team Inspects Suspected Plutonium Site

April 14, 2003

• U.S. says all of Iraq's oil fields secured

April 16, 2003

• Nuclear facilities in Iraq left unguarded


• Eyewitness to a failure in Iraq

April 18, 2003

• Video filmed April 18, 2003 may be linked to missing explosives in Iraq

April 27, 2003

• U.S. Has Not Inspected Iraqi Nuclear Facility

May 4, 2003

• Atrios, The Oil was Secured
• Iraqi Nuclear Site Is Found Looted

May 6, 2003

• Fate of Al-Tuwaitha nuclear material unclear

May 10, 2003

• Seven Nuclear Sites Looted

May 16, 2003

• Iraqis complain of illness near nuclear facility

June 6, 2003

• U.N. agency returns to Iraq

Then there is a time gap where no news is reported until:
October 12, 2004

• Nuclear items missing in Iraq

and of course the most disturbing development
the
377 tons of explosives which TPM is covering indepth.
What the heck, just go to the top of his page and start reading. He's still going strong.
Also see
Progress Report
And you'll also find
The American Street has Deathgate parts 1, 2 and 3

UPDATE 3

October 25,2004
"At the end of Operation Iraqi Freedom there were a number of priorities. It was a priority to make sure that the oil fields were secure, so that there wasn't massive destruction of the oil fields, which we thought would occur." [Scott McClellan]

October 28, 2004

• Militant Claim: We Have Explosives


• Video may be linked to missing explosives in Iraq


• View video here

Initial Reactions from assorted Weblogs:

Hullabaloo who first called my attention to it
Total Information Awareness add him to your blogroll!
seeing the forest
Thudfactor
ISOU
Majikthise
at ease
Gentle Breezes
say anything
et alia
Rook's Rant
ratboy's anvil
LEFT is RIGHT
Loaded Mouth
The Left End of The Dial
Town and Planet another "new to me" weblog that's very good!
Why are We Back in Iraq? appropriately titled "TNT Done Dirt Cheap"
Rooftop Report
By Beauty Damned
Streak's Blog
Peace Garden
Last Day of My Life with indepth comments about the planning, or not planning
halfgeek.net
iddybud
Frogsdong also known as Blanton's and Ashton's but 'Frogsdong' makes me laugh!
SoapBoxBlog
Motor City Bad Kitty's LitterBox another 'new to me' blog grabbing my attention

Whew! Most of the above blogs were from the PBA. There are a lot of good blogs out there. Check em' out. Now I'll go read my regular blogroll, though I doubt I'll be linking much to this issue anymore today. I'm burnt and surely not feeling any safer.
posted by Cyndy | link | | |
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