Al-Qaqaa

High explosives 'missing in Iraq'
US plays down loss of explosives

In spring, 2003, almost 350 tons of "key components in plastic explosives", went missing from the al-Qaqaa facility south of Bagdad, Iraq.

"Army experts say the missing explosives -- monitored by UN nuclear watchdog [IAEA] until the March 2003 invasion - could potentially be used to make a detonator for a nuclear bomb or other explosive device."

A metric ton is 1000 kg, and a kilogram is 2.2 pounds. For ease, let's just say 2000 lb. 350 of them. That's 700,000 lb.

"White House spokesman Scott McClellan said there was no risk of nuclear proliferation because of the theft."

Well, la-di-dah. That doesn't really set my mind at ease or anything, because that's still 700,000 pounds of high-explosive-key-components out there. And you know what? It's not nuclear weapons that "insurgents" are using to kill people in Iraq today, or yesterday, or all the days before that we've been doing this, it's just plain ol' bombs. So, excuse me for not feeling relieved.