Top officials at Defense and State learned today that Mohammed Abbas, the Iraqi Ministry of Science and Technology official who wrote to the IAEA claiming that the high explosives at al Qaqaa had been looted after April 9, 2003, sent the message on his own authority, and did not clear it with Iraqi officials in a position to know whether the letter was accurate, whether there was a real possibility that al Qaqaa was or was not “looted” after April 9.
Iraqi officials are conducting an internal investigation of this matter. (Think Abbas might be interested in a job with the UN?)