The New York Times is reporting that 380 tons of powerful explosives were looted from a former military installation in Iraq shortly after the U.S. invasion. The explosives vanished at a time that the site was supposed to have been secured by U.S. forces. The missing explosives, HMX and RDX, are strong enough to shatter airplanes and tear apart buildings. The Nelson Report quotes unnamed U.S. officials who say the explosives have since been used to attack U.S. forces. One official said “this is the stuff the bad guys have been using to kill our troops.” The explosives could also be used to trigger a nuclear weapon. Bush administration officials have not been able to explain why the explosives were not safeguarded. According to the Times, the International Atomic Energy Agency publicly warned about the danger of the explosives before the war, and had specifically told U.S. officials about the need to keep the explosives secured. Two months after the U.S. invasion, an internal I.A.E.A. memorandum warned that whoever seized the material might be helping “themselves to the greatest explosives bonanza in history.” The U.S. has never publicly admittedly the explosives had gone missing but officials admitted it happened when questioned by the Times. The Nelson Report newsletter is also reporting the U.S. pressured Iraqis not to report the missing explosives to the United Nations.

48 Iraqi Army Recruits Massacred
In other Iraq news, nearly 50 Iraqi army recruits were massacred this weekend near the Iranian border Many of the recruits had been shot in the head in the deadliest ambush to date by Iraqi resistance fighters. The recruits had been killed shortly after completing three weeks of basic training. They were unarmed at the time. They were traveling on three buses in a remote area when they were ambushed at a fake checkpoint. The recruits were ordered out of the busses and then executed. Iraqi security officials are now saying inside information about the recruits’ travel plans was likely supplied to the attackers by someone inside the Iraqi forces.