Checkpoint Baghdad : There's More than Oil Under Iraqi Soil

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Checkpoint Baghdad

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Babak Dehghanpisheh

Larry Kaplow

Rod Nordland

Lennox Samuels

Silvia Spring

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There's More than Oil Under Iraqi Soil

Larry Kaplow

Several times a month, the U.S. military sends out press releases announcing the discovery of hidden weapons caches. Those can be newly smuggled mortars held by insurgents for use against American bases or, usually, old rifles and ammo left behind by Saddam Hussein's armies. They often are a combination of both–weapons looted from old army bases and secreted away by people hoping to use or sell them.

The finds are sometimes touted by commanders to show the progress they are making against the insurgency. When large numbers of caches are reported by Iraqi citizens or troops, it can be an indication of increased cooperation but even that is thin evidence. Candid officers note that the figures include everything from stockpiles of rocket-propelled grenades to just a couple old rifles. Early this year, military statistics showed that there had been 14,193 such finds from the start of 2004 through 2007.

In a briefing today, Maj. Gen. Michael Oates, who commands Multi-National Division – Center, which runs from southern Baghdad to Basra, raised laughs from the media with the wisdom he's learned about weapons caches from multiple tours in Iraq. "In 2005, I thought, well we'll have all the caches cleaned up by the end of this year, there can't possibly be that much. I said the same thing in 2006 and 2007 and 2008," he said before pausing to consider the incalculable volumes. "I've got to be honest with you. I think you could stick a stick in the ground anywhere in Iraq and find a bomb."

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