[news] Million tons of weapons lie loose in Iraq

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-----Forwarded Message-----
From: shniad at sfu.ca
To: shniad at sfu.ca
Subject: [pr-x] Million tons of weapons lie loose in Iraq
Date: Wed, 15 Oct 2003 16:36:14 -0700

The Herald    October 15, 2003 

Million tons of weapons lie loose in Iraq 

Ian Bruce, Defence Correspondent 

UP to one million tons of weapons and explosives are lying virtually
unguarded in Saddam Hussein's abandoned military depots across Iraq and are
being looted and used against American troops, the Pentagon admitted
yesterday. 

More alarmingly, the coalition can account for only 1500 of the 5000
shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles known to have been stockpiled for use
against allied jets, despite the offer of a £350 bounty for any of the
Russian-made launchers handed in to the authorities. 

There are fears that some of the Russian-made Sam-7 missiles may have been
smuggled out of the country and sold to terrorist groups such as al Qaeda.
The going rate on the black market is £3500 per missile. 

Shortage of manpower means that many of the major arms dumps, some covering
up to 10 square miles, are protected by a handful of local security
personnel and only occasionally visited by American patrols. 

Forensic examination of the weaponry that has been used to kill 95 US
soldiers since the end of major military operations on May 1 proves that the
high explosives used in roadside bombs and suicide attacks have been drawn
from looted stocks. 

Huge quantities of automatic rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, ammunition
and military plastic explosive disappeared in the first chaotic days after
the collapse of the ruling Ba'athist regime in April before even basic
security could be established on the 50 largest depots. 

The truck used in the devastating suicide attack on the UN headquarters on
August 19 contained a 500lb Iraqi air force bomb, hand grenades and mortar
shells whose remains prove they were pilfered ex-military stock. 

When US patrols visited two storage sites north and south-west of Baghdad in
the last month, they found no signs of visible security and chased off local
villagers rooting around in bunkers containing TNT, bombs, shells and land
mines. 

Raytheon, the giant US defence contractor, has been awarded a contract to
collect and destroy Iraqi munitions, but is not due to begin the task until
December. Until then, there are too few US army engineers to carry out more
than occasional demolition and not enough infantry to guard the sites
effectively. 

A coalition spokesman said yesterday: "There are more sites than troops to
guard them. We are destroying munitions as fast as we can, but it is a
massive undertaking. We keep finding more every day. 

"One site alone, at Al Musaiyib, 20 miles from Baghdad, covers more than 10
square miles. It would take half the army to provide round-the-clock
perimeter defence. We just don't have the resources. This a country awash
with weapons. 

"Even where local guards can be recruited, they are often poor and open to
bribery. Their presence is no guarantee of security." 

Meanwhile, almost one in four of the 130,000 US soldiers in the coalition
garrison will have to wait until December to be issued with body-armour
which will offer life-saving protection against high-velocity rifle bullets.


The US Congress authorised £260m in April to buy 300,000 of the new, ceramic
plate flak jackets, but delays in organising production and shipping mean
that the 30,000 needed immediately in Iraq are not yet available. 

The Interceptor combat vests will stop a Kalashnikov bullet travelling at
3000ft per second. The older flak vests offer defence against pistol rounds
and shrapnel, but will not block or deflect high-velocity projectiles from
rifles or machine-guns. 

British troops taking part in the invasion of Iraq complained at the time of
a shortage of vital ceramic plates for their own body-armour. All 11,000 UK
soldiers in the garrison around Basra have now been fully equipped, largely
by stripping the best flak vests from units rotating home. 




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