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

Some 90 sites in Iraq that the United Nations had monitored for unconventional arms materials have been razed or looted since the U.S. intervention, according to a new U.N. inspection report.

The U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC), created to track Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction, based its conclusion in a Friday report on satellite imagery from sites with material that had weapons potential.

Repairs and new construction have begun at 10 of the 90 sites, said the report to the U.N. Security Council from Demetrius Perricos, the chief weapons inspector.

UNMOVIC, using photographs and serial numbers, previously reported that the looting of unguarded sites resulted in missile engines turning up among scrap in the Dutch port Rotterdam as well as in Jordan.

But the new report gave more comprehensive figures on how many of the unguarded sites were looted or destroyed in bombing during the U.S. invasion of Iraq two years ago.

Important materials 'stripped and/or razed'
Before they left Iraq, U.N. inspectors had examined 411 sites, the report said. After the war, they examined 353 sites and determined that 70 of them were “subjected to varying degrees of bomb damage.”

“The continuing examination of the imagery has revealed that approximately 90 of the total 353 sites analyzed containing material of relevance have been stripped and/or razed,” Perricos said in the report.

U.N. inspectors were in Iraq between 1991 and 1998 searching for and destroying nuclear, biological and chemical arms and materials as well as long-range missiles after first U.S.-led Gulf war that drove Baghdad’s troops from Kuwait.

Saddam Hussein’s government let the U.N. inspectors back in late 2002 after a U.S. war threat. But the United States refused to allow them to return after the March 2003 invasion.

Agency's future uncertain
The Security Council will discuss the report on Tuesday amid continuing questions over the future of the agency.

For Subscribers

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAbdul El-Sayed tries to woo MAHA voters as Democrats seek inroads with RFK’s supporters

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKratom-like substances are popping up in a typically benign supplement

FOR SUBSCRIBERSGOP super PAC increases its spending for Sen. Jon Husted in tough Ohio race

FOR SUBSCRIBERSRecords reveal tumultuous marriage between slain New York Times executive and wife

FOR SUBSCRIBERSFrom clean energy warrior to ‘wall of shame,’ James Talarico reverses on a fossil fuel money pledge

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCongressional staff planned official trip with luxury stops in Italy and France weeks before election

FOR SUBSCRIBERSA harrowing ordeal aboard an Israel-bound plane

FOR SUBSCRIBERSOpenAI CEO Sam Altman to skip congressional hearing on rogue AI agents

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKey DOJ lawyers departed Trump ‘grand conspiracy’ probe amid pressure to produce, source says

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump’s new AI chatbot often links to a site launched under Clinton 26 years ago

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAt MAHA summit, industry CEOs the movement once vilified take the stage

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThis Paralympian has two goals: Win medals and give away $500,000 to her teammates

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCornell rape allegation spotlights stringent New York state laws that have long drawn criticism

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThe debate over AI’s future rages on both coasts

FOR SUBSCRIBERSDecades-old march dispute reignites in Northern Ireland, threatening political crisis

For Subscribers

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAbdul El-Sayed tries to woo MAHA voters as Democrats seek inroads with RFK’s supporters

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKratom-like substances are popping up in a typically benign supplement

FOR SUBSCRIBERSGOP super PAC increases its spending for Sen. Jon Husted in tough Ohio race

FOR SUBSCRIBERSRecords reveal tumultuous marriage between slain New York Times executive and wife

FOR SUBSCRIBERSFrom clean energy warrior to ‘wall of shame,’ James Talarico reverses on a fossil fuel money pledge

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCongressional staff planned official trip with luxury stops in Italy and France weeks before election

FOR SUBSCRIBERSA harrowing ordeal aboard an Israel-bound plane

FOR SUBSCRIBERSOpenAI CEO Sam Altman to skip congressional hearing on rogue AI agents

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKey DOJ lawyers departed Trump ‘grand conspiracy’ probe amid pressure to produce, source says

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump’s new AI chatbot often links to a site launched under Clinton 26 years ago

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAt MAHA summit, industry CEOs the movement once vilified take the stage

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThis Paralympian has two goals: Win medals and give away $500,000 to her teammates

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCornell rape allegation spotlights stringent New York state laws that have long drawn criticism

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThe debate over AI’s future rages on both coasts

FOR SUBSCRIBERSDecades-old march dispute reignites in Northern Ireland, threatening political crisis

Council members since the end of the war have pressed American and British officials to utilize UNMOVIC’s vast research and allow the inspectors to complete monitoring work.

The United States said it did not want to take up the issue until its own searches ended, first led by David Kaye, a former International Atomic Energy Agency official, and then Charles Duelfer, also a former U.N. inspector. But there are indications Washington now wants to discuss closing down UNMOVIC.

Friday’s report also said the U.N. inspectors agreed with Duelfer, whose CIA-organized Iraq Survey group had expressed concern about biological materials that were unaccounted for since 1991.

Duelfer’s report in October said his inspection group found no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, President George W. Bush’s main reason for the invasion.

Whereabouts of 'seed stock' unknown
The new U.N. report noted that the Iraqis had handed over 90 unopened vials of biological agents to weapons inspectors. But it declared that 13 vials of “seed stock” or strains of microorganisms had been used, some in biological arms programs.

“The issue remains as part of the residue of uncertainty with respect to the continued existence in Iraq of seed stocks that could possibly be used in the future for the production of biological weapons agents,” Perricos said in the report.

“Given its unresolvable nature, the issue could best be dealt with through monitoring to detect (among other things) any possible future activity associated with biological weapon agent production or significant laboratory research work,” he said.