Posted on 10/24/2004 7:21:04 PM PDT by icecold
Edited on 10/25/2004 6:42:02 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
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......"
Sure! You make this way to easy. Just gotta read the following 3 paragraphs from the article.
In New York on Feb. 14, nine days after Secretary of State Colin L. Powell presented his arms case to the Security Council, Dr. ElBaradei reported that the I.A.E.A. had found no sign of new atom endeavors but "has continued to investigate the relocation and consumption of the high explosive HMX."
A senior Bush administration official said that during the initial race to Baghdad, American forces "went through the bunkers, but saw no materials bearing the I.A.E.A. seal."
The agency, Dr. ElBaradei added pointedly, "has received no such notifications or declarations from any state since the agency's inspectors were withdrawn from Iraq in March 2003."
They were missing in February, IAEA left BEFORE the invasion. We get there, place is empty.
The rest of the article is bunch of jibberish designed to hide the above facts from the weak minded DU'er and Sheeple crowd.
plus....the swifties supposedly have something coming out pretty soon....suppose to be a couple of doozys.
There's nothing to worry about, Saddaam had no WMD's heck he was too weak from 12 years of sanctions. Even the NYT came to that conclusion. Now they are flip-flopping on this?
LOL
Good questions.
amen!
ping
How can 380 tons of anything go missing without somebody noticing something? OK maybe gold and uranium, but that's about it.
The Fox reporter also said something like the "looting" could have happened as late as LAST SATURDAY !!????????
maybe i am dumb but this doesn't sound bad for Bush at all unless I am missing a key piece. It talks about how in 1998 this site wasn't watched who was president. it shows there was wmd and large amounts, it shows that if this was a confidential issue kerry knew and was eluding to it which shows he cares more about winning that the truth, it shows that there was an order to make it public i dont see this hurting my Great President G.W. Bush
The NY Times story points out that the missing explosives were either blown up during the war last year or moved by the Iraqi govt. prior to the invasion. There is no evidence in the story that the munitions were still in the bunkers when the invasion occurred:
By late 2003, diplomats said, I.A.E.A. experts had obtained commercial satellite photos of Al Qaqaa showing that two of roughly 10 bunkers that contained HMX appeared to have been leveled by titanic blasts, apparently during the war. They presumed some of the HMX had exploded, but that is unclear.
Other HMX bunkers were untouched. Some were damaged but not devastated. I.A.E.A. experts say they assume that just before the invasion the Iraqis followed their standard practice of moving crucial explosives out of buildings, so they would not be tempting targets. If so, the experts say, the Iraqi must have broken I.A.E.A. seals on bunker doors and moved most of the HMX to nearby fields, where it would have been lightly camouflaged - and ripe for looting.
This is merely a NON-story, pimped up to sound as if there is something there.
_______
White House and Pentagon officials acknowledge that the explosives vanished after the American invasion last year.
There is no reason given to imagine that the explosives were removed "after" the invasion. This should read "probably before or during the invasion."
____________
The White House said President Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, was informed within the past month that the explosives were missingg. It is unclear whether President Bush was informed
OK Rice was informed within the past month. Therefore, this was NOT any kind of administration cover-up. Just an ordinary story.
__________
"We don't know what happened." The I.A.E.A. says it also does not know, and has reported that machines tools that can be used for either nuclear or non-nuclear purposes have also been looted.
Let's see... "looters" in what was by then essentially a stone age country carried off CNC milling machines, and the like? Could these be sold on the street for food and water? The most rational explanation is not stray "looters," rather it looks like the Hussein government removed these, before the war.
_______
A senior Bush administration official said that during the initial race to Baghdad, American forces "went through the bunkers, but saw no materials bearing the I.A.E.A. seal."
This means that NONE of the explosives were there, when the first troops got there. Clearly, the explosives had ALREADY been removed -- necessarily by Saddam's minions.
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I.A.E.A. experts say they assume that just before the invasion the Iraqis followed their standard practice of moving crucial explosives out of buildings, so they would not be tempting targets. If so, the experts say, the Iraqi must have broken I.A.E.A. seals on bunker doors and moved most of the HMX to nearby fields[?], where it would have been lightly camouflaged - and ripe for looting.
Just like the rest of their WMD materials, rockets, etc. these machine tools and explosives were "moved" following "their standard practice." But, there is no evidence cited that the explosives were ONLY moved into nearby fields. They were removed by people with the intel, planning, equipment, and motivation, either before, or during, the Iraq war.
Whatever happened, this is only a drop in the bucket in Iraq:
_____
Administration officials say Iraq was awash in munitions, including other stockpiles of exotic explosives.
This is just a hyped-up story, which carries only harmful innuendo, no harmful FACTS.
DG
p.s. Guess where Saddam got these explosives:
Weapon inspectors determined that Iraq had bought the explosives from France, China and Yugoslavia, a European diplomat said.
"A MINUTE AGO, FOX NEWS JUST REPORTED THIS. 12:07 AM EST"
good analysis
I have a question and I know you're knowledgable. I remember reading something about Canadians finding a big cache of weapons and someone tried to disuade them from reporting it. It's been in the last week or so. Do you remember anything like that on FR?
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