By Matt for the TIB Network:
I'm not real sure what to make of this New York Times piece (registration required):In the weeks after Baghdad fell in April 2003, looters systematically dismantled and removed tons of machinery from Saddam Hussein's most important weapons installations, including some with high-precision equipment capable of making parts for nuclear arms, a senior Iraqi official said this week in the government's first extensive comments on the looting.Emphasis added.
I thought the current liberal line was that Saddam was a wholesome guy who had no WMD nor any desire to make any...did I miss something?
Here's some more:
Dr. Araji said equipment capable of making parts for missiles as well as chemical, biological and nuclear arms was missing from 8 or 10 sites that were the heart of Iraq's dormant program on unconventional weapons. After the invasion, occupation forces found no unconventional arms, and C.I.A. inspectors concluded that the effort had been largely abandoned after the Persian Gulf war in 1991.So not only did Saddam have the ability to make some parts for nukes, but biological and chemical weapons as well. Color me shocked and appalled! This is the NEW YORK TIMES, folks, not Fox News...
Dr. Araji said he had no evidence regarding where the equipment had gone. But his account raises the possibility that the specialized machinery from the arms establishment that the war was aimed at neutralizing had made its way to the black market or was in the hands of foreign governments.
