Another thing too that needs to be factored intothe wquasion now is what rold did the U.N. inspectors play in helping the WMD's and their manufacturing capabilities disappear before our arrival?
We know Saddam was taking bribes from certain countries and from the U.N. itself in the Oil For Food program.
Could there have been some back scratching then on the part of the countries that sent U.N. inspectors to Baghdad to have them turn a blind eye to what was really going on and report that "all's well"?
Another snippet from he story:
"The disclosures by the Iraqi ministry, however, added new information about the thefts, detailing the timing, the material taken and the apparent skill shown by the thieves.
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.
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.
"Targeted looting of this kind of equipment has to be seen as a proliferation threat," said Gary Milhollin, director of the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control, a private nonprofit organization in Washington that tracks the spread of unconventional weapons.
Dr. Araji said he believed that the looters themselves were more interested in making money than making weapons.
The United Nations, worried that the material could be used in clandestine bomb production, has been hunting for it, largely unsuccessfully, across the Middle East. In one case, investigators searching through scrap yards in Jordan last June found specialized vats for highly corrosive chemicals that had been tagged and monitored as part of the international effort to keep watch on the Iraqi arms program. The vessels could be used for harmless industrial processes or for making chemical weapons."
Two part Question.
First, the UNSCOM and IAEA abetted Sadam by wasting time. Too little too late, wandering around a sand pit, who may or may not have had access to a suspected site. Asking Saddam for his word (and trusting it) was foolish policy.
Second, I don't think the UN helped smuggle machines out of the country. They weren't even there for the most part. I don't think they had the capability to organize it. The UN was not in control. IMO the profiteering underworld snagged the known wealth of Iraq and sold it to the highest bidder.