The NYT/Drudge Bombshell: Huge Cache of Explosives Vanished From Site in Iraq

NY Times ^ | JAMES GLANZ, WILLIAM J. BROAD and DAVID E. SANGER

[icecold]

Huge Cache of Explosives Vanished From Site in Iraq By JAMES GLANZ, WILLIAM J. BROAD and DAVID E. SANGER

Published: October 25, 2004

This article was reported and written by James Glanz, William J. Broad and David E. Sanger.

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Oct. 24 - The Iraqi interim government has warned the United States and international nuclear inspectors that nearly 380 tons of powerful conventional explosives - used to demolish buildings, produce missile warheads and detonate nuclear weapons - are missing from one of Iraq's most sensitive former military installations.

The huge facility, called Al Qaqaa, was supposed to be under American military control but is now a no man's land, still picked over by looters as recently as Sunday. United Nations weapons inspectors had monitored the explosives for many years, but White House and Pentagon officials acknowledge that the explosives vanished sometime after the American-led invasion last year.

The White House said President Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, was informed within the past month that the explosives were missing. It is unclear whether President Bush was informed. American officials have never publicly announced the disappearance, but beginning last week they answered questions about it posed by The New York Times and the CBS News program "60 Minutes......"

[blakep]

EVERYONE EVERYONE!!

It's time for Kerry to start his monday night quarterbacking tomorrow!!

In Scary Kerry's voice:

If I were the president, the weapons wouldn't have gone missing under my watch. The president made a grave mistake not guarding these weapons to make sure they are not used against us. The buck stops at the President's desk. It's time for new leadership, leadership that can get the job done. President Bush, You're fired!

Thunderous applause coming from the sheep in the audience.

[jennyjenny]

I could almost swear I had heard this earlier. I really don't see a major problem for Bush on this. My guess is the campaign has known about this and is prepared to respond, if necessary.

[cookcounty]

760,000 lbs of high explosives disappeared, but 40,000 lbs of anthrax missing means it didn't exist. Go figure

[KMC1]

Kerry doesn't truly care if there were WMD's or not...

[Log]

A European diplomat reported that Jacques Baute, head of the I.A.E.A.'s Iraq nuclear inspection team, warned officials at the United States mission in Vienna about the danger of the nuclear sites and materials once under I.A.E.A. supervision, including Al Qaqaa.

So if the French and other Eurocrats were so darned worried, then why didn't they volunteer troops to help guard the facilities after the invasion? Two-faced wienies....

[ShandaLear]

That's it? This is the article that's going to get Kerry elected?

[hansel]

I don't think you've actually followed my posts. The explosives missing is old news. What I was concerned about was what oceanview mentioned about it being the start of a larger story and I connected the dots with what a newbie had mentioned earlier.

Go read my posts. The thought of the remote possibility that Kerry and the Dems could have foreknowledge of a catastrophic attack on our soldiers and are getting this info from the terrorists through Zarqawi without Kerry doing anything to stop it was what was making me feel ill.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

[rwfromkansas]

bad

[liberallarry]

IAEA=UN=Oil for Food

You think so? I thought they were pretty good. I haven't heard that they were involved in any scandals. They identified the Niger documents as forgeries within a couple of days. They've kept pretty good records of uranium transfers and production. Why don't you like them.

[Right_in_Virginia]

Karl Rove planted the story. This is great. He's playing chess

Explain, please.

[Petronski]

Ever think this is the way the Whitehouse shows there are WMDs?

That's a delightful speculation, but this story doesn't establishment, so more will have to be forth coming toute de suite.

[Wormwood]

After 5 minutes on Google, it would seem you were correct. Good instincts.

[Mountain Dewd]

Agreed. Since I'm new here, I thought I'd let someone else question his troll-like behavior (something I learned while lurking).

[cookcounty]

" Did anyone hear Tommy Franks describe the amount of explosives and ammo found in Iraq? He said he had never seen anything like it, never imagined any country would store that must explosives. So how is this news?"

I remember estimates before the war that 30% of the conventional explosives in the entire world were in Iraq, in "too many" locations to keep track of.

[zeebee]

That's what I can't figure out. If it's missing, how does one know it ever existed?

The WMD's are missing also.

[FairOpinion]

This is no bombshell.

It's a dud.

[rwfromkansas]

It is not near as severe as the talking points memo made it sound.

[West Coast Conservative]

Drudge said on his radio show that he thinks the White House leaked this report to get the focus back on the war on terror.

[Freepdonia]

Mommy, I'm bored. Can we go home now?

[stylin19a]

swifties have it. It's suppose to be in the Wash. Times tomorrow. If it's what they say it is, it wont be that effective unless someone can spin it to make it effective.

Kerry Says He Met With UN Security Council

In the same speech to a Unity Conference of minority journalists where John Kerry criticized President Bush for his immediate reaction to the 9-11 attacks, he again raised the assertion that he had met with foreign leaders prior to the vote on the war in Iraq on March 11. His latest comments shed some light on exactly who those foreign leaders were.

ATLANTA, GA (PRWEB) August 11, 2004 -- (GoodNewsAmerica.us)- In the same speech to a Unity Conference of minority journalists where John Kerry criticized President Bush for his immediate reaction to the 9-11 attacks, he again raised the assertion that he had met with foreign leaders prior to the vote on the war in Iraq on March 11. His latest comments shed some light on exactly who those foreign leaders were.

" I believe in my heart of hearts and in my gut that this president fails that test in Iraq. And I know this because I, personally, and others were deeply involved in the effort with other countries to bring them to the table. I met with the Security Council of the United Nations in the week preceding the vote in the Senate."

It still remains to be known with whom he met on the Security Council, unless it was the entire Security Council. If so, there is no official record of Kerry formally meeting with the full Security Council.

Further, if he did, nothing has been found documenting permission given by the State Department to do so.

The History
At a Hollywood, FL fundraising event on March 8, Senator John Kerry announced he had received word from unnamed foreign leaders who wanted to see him defeat President Bush in the November elections.

"I've met foreign leaders who can't go out and say this publicly, but boy they look at you and say, 'You've got to win this, you've got to beat this guy, we need a new policy,' things like that," he said.

Although Boston Globe reporter Patrick Healy revised the original quote from a pool report to "more leaders", Mr. Kerry did not back down from his assertions. Again on March 14 Mr. Kerry made his claim, but continued to resist naming names while under pressure after remarks by Secretary of State Colin Powell.

"I'm not going to betray a private conversation with anybody," he said. "I have heard from people, foreign leaders elsewhere in the world who don't appreciate the Bush administration and would love to see a change in the leadership of the United States."

The Washington Times conducted interviews with embassies of countries opposing the war in Iraq and concluded that there had been no meetings between Mr. Kerry and foreign heads of state since the beginning of 2003. After a review of Mr. Kerry's schedule, it was shown he had no opportunities for personal meetings with foreign heads of state, save one on September 24 when the New Zealand Foreign Minister was in Washington. Several foreign leaders including Germany's Schroeder and the Australian Foreign Minister deny any contact with Kerry.