Iraqi insurgent explosives

Talking Points Memo has a major revelation (from Atrios).

Some 350 tons of high explosives (RDX and HMX), which were under IAEA seal while Saddam was in power, were looted during the early days of the US occupation. Like so much else, it was just left unguarded.

Not only are these super-high-yield explosives probably being used in many, if not most, of the various suicide and car bombings in Iraq, but these particular explosives are ones used in the triggering process for nuclear weapons.

In other words, it's bad stuff.

What also emerges in the Nelson Report is that the Defense Department has been trying to keep this secret for some time. The DOD even went so far as to order the Iraqis not to inform the IAEA that the materials had gone missing. Informing the IAEA, of course, would lead to it becoming public knowledge in the United States.

The complete incompetence of the postwar planning by the Bush administration, who were well aware of the explosive stockpile, is once again on display. And significant numbers of Americans and Iraqis have perished as a result. Plus, there's the cover-up, which backfired in an October surprise that can only hurt Bush's chances.

Let's just hope that people hear about it. The New York Times has one story, which doesn't discuss the car-bomb connections. Joshua Marshal says that 60 Minutes may cover it, which would receive a lot more attention.