Meanwhile, for the first time U.S. soldiers have admitted that they witnessed Iraqi looters taking deadly explosives from the Al Qaqaa ammunition site 18 months ago. The Los Angeles Times reports that a dozen US troops were guarding the sprawling facility and could not stop the looting because they were outnumbered by the thieves. When the soldiers sent a message to Baghdad for assistance, they got no reply. Last month the International Atomic Energy Agency reported that about 380 tons of deadly explosives were taken from the site. The explosives are powerful enough to detonate a nuclear weapon.