to comment on the matter until the facts were known. The Bush administration asserted that an investigation had begun into how, where, and when the explosives went missing; no such investigation has been reported on since the 2004 election. In May 2005, Iraqi official Sami al-Araji reported on the Iraqi government's investigation into the theft, indicating that the looters "came in with the cranes and the lorries, and they depleted the whole sites. They knew what they were doing; they knew what they want. This was sophisticated looting." (The New York Times, March 13, 2005). References "How the US Let Al Qaida Get its Hands on an Iraqi Weapons Factory" https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/jan/07/iraq-weapons-factory-al-qaida-us-failure "4 Iraqis Tell of Looting at Munitions Site in '03", The New York Times, October 28, 2004 "Russians 'may have taken Iraq explosives'", Financial Times, October 28, 2004 "Russian tied to Iraq's missing arms", The Washington Times, October 28, 2004 "U.S. Team Took 250 Tons of Iraqi Munitions" https://web.archive.org/web/20130126074114/http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,137017,00.html External links Global Security page on Al Qa'qaa UNMOVIC chronology Iraq–United States relations George W. Bush administration controversies