One of the key weapons used by the United States in the Persian Gulf war - a Tomahawk cruise missile - is in the hands of the Iraqis, a Pentagon source says.
The Iraqis appear to have obtained an intact missile that survived being fired at a target but failed to detonate."They must have dug it up, or found it somewhere in the desert," said the official, who spoke Monday on condition of anonymity.
In the opening weeks of the war against Iraq, 280 of the highly accurate missiles rained destruction on Baghdad and other key strategic targets.
Although the long-range missile is crammed with high-tech guidance systems that send it on a certain path in order to hit a specific target, the official said the missile found by the Iraqis is no longer operable.
"It's kaput," he said. "They can't shoot it either."
The source declined to describe how the United States knew of the Iraqi find, saying that information was too sensitive to discuss.
The official brushed off concern that the missile might be an intelligence coup for the Iraqis.
But another official expressed some concern about the discovery.
"That's the big worry - that such a sophisticated weapon doesn't go off but falls into the hands of the enemy," he said. The second official also spoke privately.
The Tomahawks were launched from ships and submarines during the effort to oust Iraq from Kuwait, the first time the weapons were used in combat.
After the war, Pentagon officials said a total of 284 Tomahawk missiles were used against Iraq. Although only conventional warheads were used during the war, the weapon can carry a nuclear weapon.