Alert CIA officers have discovered the missing Iraqi missiles being advertised for sale on the internet marketplace eBay. The existence of the missiles was hotly disputed before and after the invasion of Iraq in March 2003 by a coalition of forces including the USA and United Kingdom.
"The missiles were openly advertised" said a US Pentagon spokesman. It seems Pentagon officials were notified that a series of adverts had appeared in the last week of April. "The missiles were priced at 99 cents each 'Buy it Now', with $249,999.99 shipping charge, which instantly alerted security staff" said the spokesman.
He admitted that the Pentagon was rather embarrassed as it turned out that the missiles were being stored in a UN food aid warehouse near Baghdad airport, guarded by US troops. "At least, they were safe there" he said.
The Spoof was able to contact a senior US Army officer, recently returned from service in Iraq. He told us that UN officials had not visited the warehouse since the end of full-scale hostilities in 2003, "But we saw nothing unusual in that, and guards weren't suspicious that they could see 30-foot (10m) long wooden crates in there. It's a cock-up, no other word for it. We spent years looking for them, and not only were they right under out noses, we were guarding the damn things!"
The Spoof expects to see a campaign launched to vindicate ex-president George Bush and ex-PM Tony Blair over their decision to invade Iraq. "Better late than never" as an anonymous supporter of Mr. Bush told us in a phone-call today.
