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......"

[VA40]

Oh calm down. This is bullsh*t. When we screwed around with the UN for months before, France and Russia still running around the country as we entered, isn't it more likely they had time to clear out before we got there? It said the troops went thru at the beginning and it was ALREADY GONE.

[Arizona Carolyn]

Bad

[icecold]

lol

[Queen of Excelsior]

I started reading the article,looking for the part that would be devastating to the President. Got all the way to the end --and nothing! This can't possibly be the best they've got.

[Jim Robinson]

Don't panic. Dan Rather's 60 Minutes is on it!

[ConservativeGreek]

Agreed, the story has been out there. Hope that have Powell or Condi handle it.

[Fruitbat]

En route to undisclosed polling locations no doubt...

[Cold Heat]

Isn't this kinda old?

Cripes, I remember the air strike where they got huge secondary explosions on the ground.

No doubt some of the stuff made it into the terrorist's hands, but so dis thousands of bombs, missiles, arty rounds and you name it.

That is why we took the bastards out to begin with.

[Nova Reservist]

Having now read the "dreaded article" (I'm shocked, SHOCKED that there were explosives in Iraq) if this is the long waited for Democratic October Surprise, no dramas. if terrorists or insurgents truly did what is alleged here, drove dozens of trucks away from weapons storage bunkers WHILE the Coalition military was in Iraq, that would not bode well for the local commanders.

But, taking the article in faith, from late 2002 to late 2003, the stockpile went missing. If I am Saddam Hussein or his military, would I move that stuff in advance of an invasion: you betcha.

The bottom line on this is two fold. Number one, thankfully, this President doesn't meddle in the day to day nit picking of military operations as some of his predecessors did, notable LBJ. Second, if this is the October Surprise, I'd be ecstatic. I was getting worried they found out about Elvis's secret location or that we've been covertly tracking Grey Goose Vodka, the official French Vodka of the Liberals.

Stay focused, one week to go, this was a news story, not the end all be all nothing more

[DocRock]

"In May, an internal I.A.E.A. memorandum warned that terrorists might be helping "themselves to the greatest explosives bonanza in history." "

In May, the I.A.E.A. also refused to give U.S. Forces permission to remove 500 tons of Uranium.

"However, the International Atomic Energy Agency has taken the position that the uranium is Iraqi property and the agency "cannot give them permission to remove it," a diplomat said."

San Diego Union Tribune

[Cosmo]

I thought the Swifties had already blown their wad. What's next?

[nonkultur]

How can they spin this as Bush's fault?

The Qaqaa stockpile went unmonitored from late 1998, when United Nations inspectors left Iraq, to late 2002, when they came back. Upon their return, the inspectors discovered that about 35 tons of HMX were missing.

[Toonces T. Cat]

This looks like a total crock to me:

"RDX is a colourless solid, of density 1.82 g/cm³."

That means that one kilo, or 2.2lbs., is a cube about 3.5" on each side...think Rubik's Cube here. 350 tons of this stuff would amount to almost 320,000 of these cubes. That is one huge pile of RDX and enough weight to fill 35 or 40 full-size dump trucks.

I'm sorry, but an operation of that size would not have gone unnoticed. In fact, I think we are the only ones in the area that could pull it off. If there is that much stuff, we have it or the actual quantity should read 350lbs. or 350kilos.
-Toonces

[sayfer bullets]

Get a grip.

"Smearing" is not our way. Now if, in the course of events, the other side looks totally stupid that's fine....but the goal is the truth getting out...not a smear.

Your post reads like you need a paper bag to breathe into. Give me a reason to trust you're here for the right reasons...please.

johannes89a:HOME PAGE ----->

Since Sep 18, 2004

I am serious about taking down the Democrats and doing it in style.

I am also serious about putting an end to the socialist pot-smoking wasteland known as Canada.

[Arizona Carolyn]

Problem is we'll see Hanx Blix, Baradi (sp) and others trotted out over the next week...

[AmishDude]

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.

Bump to save from the memory hole.

[Petronski]

johannes is an agent provocateur.

[jbstrick]

"IS this good or bad for Bush?"

VERY Bad... To the point where, if it is true, would piss me off too.

It's not the fact the cache was raided, it's if there was a coverup. If there was a coverup, there will be big problems.

[focusandclarity]

Agree with you and note;
Not only are these super-high-yield explosives... these particular explosives are ones used in the triggering process for nuclear weapons.

I think the question needs to be posed to the IAEA, the UN Weapon Inspectors, The UN which was not enforcing the sanctions and the Truce agreement Saddam agreed to after the Gulf War, and Bill Clinton;

"What were 350 tons of these high explosives (RDX and HMX),doing in Iraq in the first place??????"

Hey Blix and UN WMD Inspectors, Bill Clinton, Senator-Candidates Kerry and Edwards, and the whole U.S. Congress read this..."these explosives are the ones used in the triggering process for nuclear weapons."

And I don't care whether they were under IAEA seal while Saddam was in power or not. The last time the IAEA was in Iraq was when, 1998? Need I ask again, what were these explosives doing in Iraq at the start of the war?

If the NYTimes breaks this story, will no one ask these questions above.