From the deserts of the south and west to the
outskirts of Baghdad, Iraq is awash in weapons sites - some large,
others small; some guarded, others not. Even after the U.S. military
secured some 400,000 tons of munitions, as many as 250,000 tons remain
unaccounted for. Attention has focused on the al-Qaqaa site south of
Baghdad, where 377 tons of explosives are believed to have gone missing
- becoming a heated issue in the final days of the U.S. presidential
campaign. But with the names of other sites popping up everywhere -
al-Mahaweel, Baqouba, Ukhaider, Qaim - experts say the al-Qaqaa stash
is only a tiny fraction of what's buried in the sands of Iraq."There is
something truly absurd about focusing on 377 tons,'' said Anthony
Cordesman, a defense analyst and Iraq expert with the Washington-based
Center for Strategic and International Studies. He contends Iraq's
prewar stockpiles ``were probably in excess of 650,000 tons.''
Underscoring the depth of Iraq's militarization before the March 2003
invasion, the Pentagon says U.S.-led forces have destroyed 240,000 tons
of munitions and have secured another 160,000 tons that is awaiting
destruction. Through mid-September, coalition forces inspected and
cleared more than 10,000 caches of weapons, U.S. arms hunter Charles
Duelfer said in a recent report. But up to 250,000 tons remains
unaccounted for, according to military estimates, much of it in small
stashes scattered around the country. [more]