WMD in Iraq

NBC news is reporting:

• "Democrat John Kerry says the missing explosives — powerful enough to demolish a building, bring down a jetliner or set off a nuclear weapon — are another example of the Bush administration’s poor planning and incompetence in handling the war in Iraq."

From Kerry's own website, here is the original statement:

• 380 Tons of Explosives Missing from Sensitive Former Iraqi Military Installation. “The Iraqi interim government has warned the United States and international nuclear inspectors that nearly 380 tons of powerful conventional explosives - used to demolish buildings, make missile warheads and detonate nuclear weapons - are missing from one of Iraq's most sensitive former military installations.” [New York Times, 10/25/04]

From John Kerry's speech on 26 October:

• Before the war, the explosives were monitored by the International Atomic Energy Agency, which warned the Bush Administration that they could fall into the wrong hands. And it urged the Bush Administration to secure them.

Senator Kerry failed to mention that Charles Doelfer warned President Clinton and the IAEA about this weapons depot 9 years ago.

The IAEA mission in its own words:

• The IAEA is the world's center of cooperation in the nuclear field. It was set up as the world's "Atoms for Peace" organization in 1957 within the United Nations family. The Agency works with its Member States and multiple partners worldwide to promote safe, secure and peaceful nuclear technologies.

Why is the IAEA interested in this stuff anyway?