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......"

[atomicpossum]

So Zarqawi et al rolled up in one of their taxis and loaded up 3/4 of a million pounds of high explosives. Riiiiight. Then why are they using old shells in their IEDs?

[Josh in PA]

Swiftees laying low.. I suspect they'll launch their suprise as soon as this thing settles on Tuesday or Wednesday.


This really isn't that serious. Most of it is old news regurgitated. There will be a couple Euro weinies from the IAEA who'll try to bury Bush on that, but it'll change very few votes.

[Petronski]

Start smearing everyone? Uh, no. They stand on their own bad reputation, no 'smear' is needed.

[calex59]

this stuff is really not new. They have been stealing munitions right along and they have stockpiles of the stuff all over Iraq. Our guys are finding it as fast as they can and destroying it. With the Iraqis being trained as soldiers several of them have come forward and volunteird information about ammo dumps we knew nothing about. Don't know if this hurts Bush or not. Don't think it does but you never know.

[motife]

Big deal. This is what 476 post and 6,500 views were about. Yawner.

[finnman69]

380 tons of powerful conventional explosives - used to demolish buildings, produce missile warheads and detonate nuclear weapons

Exsqueeze me!?!? Nuclear Weapons?

The NY Times used the word nuclear weapons in the first sentence. Which is it boys, WMD or no WMD?

[liberallarry]

The stuff has legitimate civilian uses. I don't know enough about it to draw conclusions from the amount that was stored.

Two points are made

1) not enough troops or planning were provided for nation building
2) the Administration attempted to hide the loss from the IAEA - apparently for political reasons

The first point is just beating a dead horse. The second...?

[ConservativeGreek]

Agree with you! Not a big story. Iraq had weapons?

DUD!

[Sooth2222]

I, too, am shocked, Shocked, SHOCKED to learn there are (gasp!) explosives missing in Iraq!

Next the Times will reveal that there are thousands and thousands of missing AK-47 "Assault Rifles"?

[oceanview]

this story is a setup for something else - the 4th paragraph is the giveaway - the DNC may well be plugged in with the terrorists in iraq, with knowledge of some large scale attack in Iraq this week - using these explosives.

then it becomes a bigger story.

[Positive]

It would take 10 Battalions 10 years to clear al qaqaa out?

How many "MOABs" would it take?

[Gibtx]

more spin from and ole story......

[stylin19a]

OK, I'll bite... how many tons ?

The Neslon Report said 350 tons.

The NYT says 380 tons.

Here's a UN report from 12/09/1997 that says 228 tonnes(1 tonne = 1.1 short ton or approx 251 tons)

In a letter to the United Nations Secretary-General, Mohamed Elbaradei says that in accordance with its notification of IAEA, Iraq had removed IAEA seals from five of the six high-explosive bunkers at the Al Qa Qaa facility and dispersed approximately 50 tonnes out of a total of 228 tonnes of high explosives (HMX) to other locations at Al Qa Qaa. Mr. Elbaradei says that IAEA inspectors have witnessed the return of this material to its original storage location and have taken measures to account for the original inventory. "There are no indications that any of this material has been diverted", the IAEA Director-General says.

So, there's NO satellite photos of any activity around Al Qa Qaa ?

This is better than Houdini making an elephant disappear in front of the audience at the Hippodrome.

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

We need to get on this one fast, people. Start smearing the NYT, smear the reporter, and focus on the WMD angle.

We don't "smear" people. That's what Democrats do.

[italianquaker]

nothing new to see here lets move on now
w2004
ciao

[shawngf]

This is a dud. It'll fly over the heads of anyone without any political knowledge as both sides will easily spin it...

[midftfan]

The Clintons will be keeping a low profile, well except for Bill's appearance in Philadelphia with Kerry. They and the rest of the Democratic heavyweights probably have already written off Kerry and are waiting to form Hillary's 2008 presidential exploratory committee before the end of the year.

[Trippin]

Maybe I have just lost interest in the whole "we didn't guard all the ammo dumps" storyline, but I fail to see the huge blow to Bush in this story. Surely, any reasonable person can surmise that it would have been impossible to guard every corner of Iraq, even if we had twice the number of troops over there.

[MissyMa]

Big deal. This is what 476 post and 6,500 views were about. Yawner.

LOL! I know, I feel a lot better seeing it before I went to bed. If I hadn't seen it, I would have been up all night wondering what the heck the NYT was going to print in the morning.

The only October surprise I am going to get is a bad cold from no sleep between the election and ball games.