From Stratfor.com
...
Normally, this is the sort of thing that makes a Stratfor analyst’s hair stand on end. HMX? Tons of it? Missing? In Iraq? This is where we usually hit the panic button.

That was until, after a little bit of poking around, we discovered that the explosives in question did not disappear just this week, but last year. Their absence was not confirmed until several weeks after the fall of Baghdad.
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The key issue for us—and we are stunned that this information has not made it into the general discussion of this issue—is that it is quite possible these explosives were either destroyed or removed before the 2003 Iraq war even began.

The IAEA last visually inspected the materials in January 2003, and although the agency states that it checked the buildings in March 2003 to ensure its seals were still on the buildings, it fully admits to not directly inspecting the explosives at that time.

It is also possible that the U.S. military destroyed the explosives. On April 4, 2003—a week before the fall of Baghdad—U.S. forces reported finding a large quantity of white powder—initially suspected to be WMD —  at an industrial complex in Latifiyah. When it turned out to be “only” high grade explosives, U.S. forces did what they did with every other arms depot they found: They blew it up. By the way, the Al Qaqaa facility is in—you guessed it—Latifiyah. Both RDX and PETN are often stored as white powder.
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Hmmm….

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