How the US let al qaeda get its hands on an Iraqi weapons factory

Extract from a book by Dominic Streatfield "A History of the World since 9/11". The lesson appears to be that once central authority collapses, people will steal and sell everything available. How does the mechanism work? Is it an example of crowd rational economic behaviour a la Steve Reicher, or is there an organised crime network in embryo just waiting for the opportunity? Another possible PhD topic for somebody.