>Yeah, I read it and noted that they had only searched a fraction of a fraction of the weapons repositories.
>from page 40 of volume 3:
>
>"Investigating Captured Enemy Ammunition Points
>(CEA Consolidation Points)
>ISG capitalized on efforts by Coalition Forces in
>December 2003 to begin a program to consolidate
>captured Iraqi weapons into seven pre-identifi ed
>Captured Enemy Ammunition (CEA) Depots (see
>Figure 7). As of mid-September 2004, Coalition
>Forces have reviewed and cleared a total of 10,033
>weapons caches dispersed throughout the country,
>destroying a total of 243,045 tons of munitions. This
>represents only part of Iraq’s pre-OIF munitions
>inventory, and only a fraction of these were checked
>by ISG technical experts for signs of chemical agent
>fi ll. (See Annex H.) "

I am unable to bring up volume 3 of the report. Let me see if I am understanding you correctly. Despite the fact that the report concludes this:

Saddam wanted to recreate Iraq’s WMD capability—which was essentially destroyed in 1991—after sanctions
were removed and Iraq’s economy stabilized, but probably with a different mix of capabilities to that
which previously existed. Saddam aspired to develop a nuclear capability—in an incremental fashion,
irrespective of international pressure and the resulting economic risks—but he intended to focus on ballistic missile and tactical chemical warfare (CW) capabilities.

and the fact that no stockpiles whatsoever have been found in Iraq 18 months later, you are contending that they were there and moved to Syria and/or Iran? Is that correct?

>That's not what's being reported by the Washington Times -
>http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20041028-122637-6257r.htm
>
>"Russian special forces troops moved many of Saddam Hussein's weapons and related goods out of Iraq and into Syria in the weeks before the March 2003 U.S. military operation, The Washington Times has learned. "

Yes, I read that earlier. It's amusing to say the least.

First, John A. Shaw, the deputy undersecretary of defense for international technology security. On a story this important, it would be coming from Rumsfled, Wolfowitz, or a Pentagon spokesperson.

Second, his source:

Mr. Shaw, who was in charge of cataloging the tons of conventional arms provided to Iraq by foreign suppliers, said he recently obtained reliable information on the arms-dispersal program from two European intelligence services that have detailed knowledge of the Russian-Iraqi weapons collaboration.

Two European intelligence services recently told him. Talk about not only convienient, but unprovable. He is going to claim he can't reveal who the agencies are, and I'll bet the agencies aren't going to step forward. This is a script out of Conspiracy 101.

Third:

"The Russians brought in, just before the war got started, a whole series of military units," Mr. Shaw said. "Their main job was to shred all evidence of any of the contractual arrangements they had with the Iraqis. The others were transportation units."

This is highly unbelievable. Whole series of Russian military units just happened to slip into the country, while we had both no-fly zones in full effect, predator drones flying round the clock, covert ops going on inside the country, etc? Let me guess, the Russians now have a cloaking device.

Fourth, the Iraqi troops were guarding the Qaqaa facility. So either they just let the Russians come in and take the weapons, which when you consider the fact that they were preparing for a US attack is difficult to believe, or the Russians with their cloaking device were able to slip in and out unnoticed.

To summarize, this story is beyond ridiculous.