I am still delaying judgement. bobsprit, i'm not sure that
there's anybody on this group who knows quite how easy it would
be to "lose" a heap of things in a decent-sized deserts. Deserts
are big, and especially where there are mobile sandmasses: the
orbiting observations are just too limited (TMI, and weather
mucks things up). And the better the resolution, the more the
information overload and the easier to miss things. To give an
indication: in some desert landscapes, when it's done right, an
entire seismic convoy, thumping and banging away, can lay in a
seismic grid which is almost invisible to satellite, despite the
number of vehicles involved, without the benefit of useful
sandstorms.

So in a dust/sandstormy desert, it would be quite easy to move a
few shipping containers secretly and without trace. Whether it
was done or not is another matter, but it is entirely possible.
So I'm waiting.

(And if there's another desert ecologist in the group, feel
welcome to shoot, otherwise shut up.)

Flying Tadpole

Bobsprit wrote:

Boob**** get off the subject. Like a guy said on the radio today it's like
looking for 4 suitcases in the state of California.

It's NOTHING like 4 suitcases. The size, weight and dangerous factors of the
material would make it impossible to move "secretly" in 6 weeks without a
trace.

RB