WAR: U.S. Expands List of Lost Missiles, page 1

American intelligence are not sure of the whereabouts of up to 6,000 surface to air missiles. There is the possibility of these weapons being in the possession on Iraqi insurgents, as it is unclear whether Iraqi military or intelligence personnel removed the weapons from warehouses before the invasion or if they were taken afterwards.

nytimes.com
U.S. Expands List of Lost Iraq Missiles
By DOUGLAS JEHL and DAVID E. SANGER

Published: November 6, 2004

Excerpt: New York Times

American intelligence has tripled their estimate of shoulder-fired surface to air missile systems believed to missing worldwide, determining that at least 4,000 of the weapons in Iraq�s prewar arsenals cannot be accounted for, government officials told the New York Times

A new government estimate says a total of 6,000 of the weapons may be outside the control of any government, up from the previous estimate of 2,000 American officials said.
The new estimate by American intelligence agencies was described by government officials who had access to the classified intelligence report. They said the tripling of the number represented the first formal effort to determine how unaccounted Iraqi stockpiles may have compounded the surface-to-air missile threat. Only several hundred shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles from the Iraqi arsenals have been turned in to American forces in a buyout program, the government officials said.

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Do they really exist? If so why have they not been used or is it like the Americans state that they are not giving the opportunity to use them.

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[edit on 7-11-2004 by Banshee]