Russia "Cleaned Up" Saddam's WMD

Former Deputy Undersecretary of Defense John A. Shaw, a "top Pentagon official who was responsible for tracking Saddam Hussein's weapons programs before and after the 2003 liberation of Iraq," stated in October 2004, March 2005, and again in February 2006 that it was the Russians who helped Saddam Hussein to "clean up" his weapons of mass destruction stockpiles "to prevent the United States from discovering them." 

In late October 2004, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nations' "nuclear watchdog", told the UN Security Council that the Iraqi Interim Government "reported to the agency" that approximately 380 tons of "conventional explosives" were "missing" from the "vast" Al Qa Qaa complex of "1,100 buildings" about 30 miles south of Baghdad "after last year's invasion." 

IAEA Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei "passed on the letter from Iraqi authorities informing the agency of the theft." The IAEA said that "the material, sealed and monitored by its inspectors until the US-led invasion, had gone missing some time after" April 9, 2003, "during 'the theft and looting of governmental installations'." The IAEA "last inspected the munitions at al-Qaqaa in January 2003 but [had] not been allowed back into Iraq" following the invasion. 

The Associated Press reported October 25, 2004, that, "At the Pentagon, an official who monitors developments in Iraq said U.S.-led coalition troops had searched Al-Qaqaa in the immediate aftermath of the March 2003 invasion and confirmed that the explosives, under IAEA seal since 1991, were intact. Thereafter, the site was not secured by U.S. forces, the official said, also speaking on condition of anonymity."

The Pentagon was "unclear" as to whether or not the explosives had "disappeared" after the site in Iraq "fell under US control."

On February 18, 2006, Shaw "told an audience" at "a privately sponsored 'Intelligence Summit'" in Alexandria, Virginia, that "The short answer to the question of where the WMD Saddam bought from the Russians went was that they went" to Syria and the Bekka valley in Lebanon, Kenneth R. Timmerman reported February 19, 2006, in NewsMax. "They were moved by Russian Spetsnaz (special forces) units out of uniform, that were specifically sent to Iraq to move the weaponry and eradicate any evidence of its existence," Shaw said.

However, the Financial Times (UK) reported October 28, 2004, that Shaw had "not provided evidence for his claims and the Pentagon [had] distanced itself from his remarks."

On December 10, 2004, Bill Gertz reported in The Washington Times that Shaw, who was a former aide to Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, "was forced to leave his position ... as the result of a 'reorganization' that eliminated his job, defense officials said. ... Shaw said he had been asked to resign for 'exceeding his authority' in disclosing the information, a charge he called 'specious'."

Overview

 * "Al Qa Qaa" and the "Al Qa'qaa high explosives controversy" in the Wikipedia.
 * "Al Qaqaa Weapons Cache" in the dKosopedia.

2003

 * "U.S. Searches 'Suspicious' Iraqi Site," CBS News, April 4, 2003.
 * "U.S. troops find signs of chemical readiness," Associated Press (Global Security), April 5, 2003.
 * Barton Gellman, "Banned Iraqi Weapons Might Be Hard to Find. Suspicious Sites Provide No Proof Yet," Washington Post, April 5, 2003.
 * Ion Mihai Pacepa, Op-Ed: "Ex-spy fingers Russians on WMD," The Washington Times, August 20, 2003.

2004

 * Bill Gertz and Rowan Scarborough, "Early warning," Inside the Ring, May 1, 2004.
 * James Glanz, William J. Broad and David E. Sanger, "Huge Cache of Explosives Vanished From Site in Iraq," New York Times, October 25, 2004.
 * "About 380 tons of explosives missing from looted site in Iraq," Associated Press (chron.com), October 25, 2004.
 * Matt Drudge, "NBCNews: Cache of Explosives Vanished from Site in Iraq Before Troops Arrived...," Drudge Report, October 25, 2004.
 * "Tons of Iraq explosives missing. 'Massive' facility also held large caches of artillery," CNN, October 25, 2004.
 * Transcript: "380 Tons of Explosives Disappear From Iraq," CNN Newsnight with Aaron Brown, October 25, 2004.
 * "Pentagon says its unclear if explosives disappeared after Iraq site fell under US control," Agence France Presse (Turkish Press), October 25, 2004.
 * Jim Geraghty, "Miklaszewski's new report," National Review Online, October 26, 2004. re Joshua Micah Marshall, Talking Points Memo, October 26, 2004.
 * "High explosives 'missing in Iraq'," BBC, October 26, 2004.
 * David E. Sanger, "Iraq Explosives Become Issue in Campaign," New York Times, October 26, 2004.
 * Rowan Scarborough, "Pentagon responds to missing-explosives report," The Washington Times, October 26, 2004.
 * Joshua Micah Marshall, Talking Points Memo, October 26, 2004.
 * "Discrepancy Found in Explosives Amounts. Documents Show Iraqis May Be Overstating Amount of Missing Material," ABC News, October 27, 2004.
 * "Disappearance of explosives in question. Russia calls for investigation into missing stockpile in Iraq," CNN, October 27, 2004.
 * "Search Showed No Explosives at Iraqi Base Before War's End," Fox News, October 27, 2004.
 * "All the President's Excuses," American Progress Action Fund, October 27, 2004. APAF compares "rhetoric" to "reality".
 * Joshua Micah Marshall, Talking Points Memo, October 27, 2004.
 * Michelle Malkin, "Moscow and the Missing Cache," michellemalkin.com, October 27, 2004.
 * Bill Gertz, "Russia tied to Iraq's missing arms," The Washington Times, October 28, 2004.
 * "Russian Defense, Foreign Ministry Refute Reports on Smuggling Iraqi Arms," MosNews, October 28, 2004.
 * "Video Suggests Explosives Disappeared After U.S. Took Control. Evidence Indicates U.S. Military Opened Al-Qaaqa Bunkers, Left Them Unguarded," ABC News, October 28, 2004.
 * James Glanz and Jim Dwyer, "4 Iraqis Tell of Looting at Munitions Site in '03," New York Times, October 28, 2004.
 * Transcript: "Controversy Over Missing Explosives Intensifies," CNN Newsnight with Aaron Brown, October 28, 2004.
 * Mark Follman, "Al Qaqaa story continues to explode," Salon "War Room", October 28, 2004. Subscription or preview required.
 * Demetri Sevastopulo, Guy Dinmore, and James Harding, "Russians 'may have taken Iraq explosives'," Financial Times (UK), October 28, 2004. Registration required.
 * Luis, "Top Iraqi Official: Explosives 'Could Not Have Been Taken' Before US Invasion," The Blog From Another Dimension, October 28, 2004.
 * "Russia accused of removing WMDs from Iraq," SiberianLight, October 28, 2004.
 * "Russians didn't remove weapons from Iraq," SiberianLight, October 29, 2004.
 * "Photo, video show Iraqi complex before, after invasion," CNN, October 29, 2004.
 * "New twist in Iraq explosives row," BBC, October 29, 2004.
 * Bradley Graham and Thomas E. Ricks, "Munitions Issue Dwarfs the Big Picture," Washington Post, October 29, 2004.
 * "Pentagon: Some explosives possibly destroyed," Associated Press (MSNBC.MSN.com), October 29, 2006.
 * Gordon Prather, "October Surprise and the 'Axis of Evil'," Lew Rockwell.com, November 1, 2004.
 * Bill Gertz, "Pentagon ousts official who tied Russia, Iraq arms," The Washington Times, December 30, 2004.
 * "Pentagon Dismisses Official Who Accused Russia of Involvement in Iraq Weapons Scam," MosNews, December 30, 2004.

2005

 * "Pentagon Document: U.S. Paid Pro-Saddam Figures, Chinese and French," NewsMax, February 28, 2005.
 * Charles R. Smith, "Russia Moved Iraqi WMD. Moscow Moved Weapons to Syria and Lebanon," NewsMax, March 3, 2005.

2006

 * Kenneth R. Timmerman, "Ex-Official: Russia Moved Saddam's WMD," NewsMax, February 19, 2006.
 * Sunnye T, "Speech ceases to be free when it becomes a lie. The American media has lied to us again," GOP Insight, February 21, 2006.
 * Mike Minton, "The Case For War In Iraq-The Evidence And The Moscow Connection," American Daily, February 22, 2006.
 * Ben Johnson, "Saddam's WMDs: The Russian-Syrian Connection," FrontPageMag.com, March 20, 2006.
 * "The Bear Is Back," Investors Business Daily, March 24, 2006.

Related SourceWatch Resources

 * post-war Iraq
 * weapons of mass destruction investigation