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US soldiers are silhouetted
against the night sky and the moon as they pause in a field during night
operations in Iraq. The US Defense Department failed to secure sources
of radiological material in Iraq for six months after the US invasion
in 2003, during which period some were looted or scattered, a congressional
watchdog said.( |
The US Defense Department failed to secure sources of radiological material in
Iraq for six months after the US invasion in 2003, during which period some were
looted or scattered, a congressional watchdog said.
In a report, the Government Accountability Office said US forces ultimately
collected some 1,400 radiological sources used in medicine, industry and research,
and removed 1,000 of them.
"According to DoD (Department of Defense) and State officials, however,
the total number of unsecured radiological sources in Iraq remains unknown,"
the report said.
"For instance, even after DTRA (Defense Threat Reduction Agency) completed
collecting and securing sources, according to Department of State officials,
a neighboring country twice detected trucks leaving the country with unsecured
radiological sources," the report said.
The fate of the radiological materials is a matter of concern because of the
threat to civilians of radiation exposure and their possible use by terrorist
to make "dirty bombs," the report said.
Radiological materials were found at many sites across Iraq by US forces, prompting
security concerns by the International Atomic Energy Agency and some members
of the US Congress.
But Defense Threat Reduction Agency officials said that attention did not shift
to the collection of radiological materials until after it became clear that
the broader hunt for weapons of mass destruction was unsuccessful.
"DoD was not ready to collect and secure radiological sources before the
war began in March 2003 and about six months thearafter," the report said.
The department did not issue guidelines on how to collect and secure the materials
until July 2003 and did not finalize a contract to do the work until September
of that year, it said.
"Until radiological sources could be collected, some sources were looted
and scattered, and some troops were diverted from combat duties to guard sources
in diverse places," the report said.
Military commanders had no guidance or equipment for handling radiological
materials in the early months of the war. So they took ad hoc measures to secure
known sites at former Iraqi nuclear facilities, the report said.
In one instance, the military transported radiological material to the Tuwaitha
Nuclear Research Center using an ice chest lined with lead bricks and a metal
sheet to shield the driver of the vehicle from radiation.
After that, the military's nuclear disablement teams decided it was too risky
to move radiological materials. Instead, coalition soldiers were detailed to
guard sites, putting them at greater risk of attack.
