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Lost: 380 tons of high explosives - Last seen in Iraq
Crazy Cooter:
Too bad we didn't have anyone guarding it. :-\
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6323933/
"At the Pentagon, an official who monitors developments in Iraq said U.S.-led coalition troops had searched Al-Qaqaa in the immediate aftermath of the March 2003 invasion and confirmed that the explosives, which had been under IAEA seal since 1991, were intact. The site was not secured by U.S. forces, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity."
"White House press secretary Scott McClellan said the administration
DrewKaree:
ya know, it's funny....this story was reported on over a year ago. I wonder why the "unbiased media" ::) is re-reporting this story now.
Also, I don't see what the big deal is. These are just explosives, after all. Nothing Iraq couldn't get by trading some Oil For Food....unless NOW this stuff is relevant. ::)
Maybe France just came and picked up the stuff they hadn't received payment on yet.
Mameotron:
Here, Cooter, you forgot to blame this one on Bush, too.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6325688/
patrickl:
--- Quote from: DrewKaree on October 26, 2004, 01:43:50 am ---ya know, it's funny....this story was reported on over a year ago. I wonder why the "unbiased media" ::) is re-reporting this story now.
--- End quote ---
They are not re-reporting he story. The date they mention is the date the UN took inventory before and between that date and now the stuff is gone. So they would report on the end of the period which is ... now.
--- Quote ---Also, I don't see what the big deal is. These are just explosives, after all. Nothing Iraq couldn't get by trading some Oil For Food....unless NOW this stuff is relevant. ::)
--- End quote ---
Oh so now it isn't a problem? You were the one going bananas over the conventional arms bought by Iraq. But indeed I'd say this is much worse. The US is supposed to be there to put and end to terrorism. How do you figure people stealing high explosives is gonna help in that area? Now we don't have a government owning the stuff (a government that could/would not threaten the US BTW), but we have terrorists roaming the place with these high explosives. You don't see how that is worse than Saddam buying a few anti aircraft missiles?
--- Quote ---Maybe France just came and picked up the stuff they hadn't received payment on yet.
--- End quote ---
Who knows. They did sell them plenty of stuff before the sanctions, but they would have told the UN about it.
fredster:
Patrickl,
What's your source for that?
Here's the report I got for it:
--- Quote ---60 MINS PLANNED BUSH MISSING EXPLOSIVES STORY FOR ELECTION EVE
News of missing explosives in Iraq -- first reported in April 2003 -- was being resurrected for a 60 MINUTES election eve broadcast designed to knock the Bush administration into a crisis mode.
Jeff Fager, executive producer of the Sunday edition of 60 MINUTES, said in a statement that "our plan was to run the story on October 31, but it became clear that it wouldn't hold..."
Elizabeth Jensen at the LOS ANGELES TIMES details on Tuesday how CBS NEWS and 60 MINUTES lost the story [which repackaged previously reported information on a large cache of explosives missing in Iraq, first published and broadcast in 2003].
The story instead debuted in the NYT. The paper slugged the story about missing explosives from April 2003 as "exclusive."
An NBCNEWS crew embedded with troops moved in to secure the Al-Qaqaa weapons facility on April 10, 2003, one day after the liberation of Iraq.
According to NBCNEWS, the explosives were already missing when the American troops arrived. [VIDEO CLIP]
It is not clear who exactly shopped an election eve repackaging of the missing explosives story.
The LA TIMES claims: The source on the story first went to 60 MINUTES but also expressed interest in working with the NY TIMES... "The tip was received last Wednesday."
CBSNEWS' plan to unleash the story just 24 hours before election day had one senior Bush official outraged.
"Darn, I wanted to see the forged documents to show how this was somehow covered up," the Bush source, who asked not to be named, mocked, recalling last months CBS airing of fraudulent Bush national guard letters.
--- End quote ---