WAR: U.N. agency: 90 dangerous sites looted in Iraq

The U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) has reported that 90 sites in Iraq have been razed or looted since the U.S. invasion. The sites had been monitored for unconventional arms materials. Some of the looted material such as rocket engines have turned up in scrap yards in Rotterdam as well as in Jordan.



The report also noted that the Iraqi's have turned over 90 vials of biological agents, but that 13 vials of "seed stock" or strains of biological agents may have been used, but thier whereabouts were unknown. The real question is what was in those lotted site and is it relevant? The sites had not been inspected for at least a few years so its possible that there may have been nothing there.

Originally posted by FredTThe sites had not been inspected for at least a few years so its possible that there may have been nothing there.

According to the UNMOVIC report, they were inspected in 2002 and 2003:

UNMOVIC 28 February 2005

UNMOVIC imagery analysts have continued the ongoing review of the status of sites subject to inspection and monitoring in Iraq. Of the 411 sites inspected in the period from November 2002 until March 2003, Commission experts have acquired and examined post-war high-resolution imagery covering 353 sites, including those considered the most important. As part of the examination and analysis, experts have determined that approximately 70 of the sites were subjected to varying degrees of bomb damage.

In previous quarterly reports, UNMOVIC noted the reported looting and razing of sites that contained dual-use equipment and materials subject to monitoring, some of which have been discovered outside Iraq. The continuing examination of site imagery has revealed that approximately 90 of the total 353 sites analysed containing equipment and materials of relevance have been stripped and/or razed. Commission experts have also noted that repairs and new construction have begun at 10 sites.