60 MINS PLANNED BUSH MISSING EXPLOSIVES STORY FOR ELECTION EVE

Drudge ^ | 10-26-2004 | Drudge

[nckerr]

In 1992 it was the Iran Contra charges brought days before the election... In 2000 it was the DUI charges a few days before the vote... And Now...

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.

Developing...

[ApesForEvolution]

NYT=CBS=The DNC=John Kerry=World Communist

[silverleaf]

CBS is one sick organization. I'm outa there.

[MEG33]

Speechless..

[SCALEMAN]

ping

[pikachu]

I hope theri hand writing analysts were better prepared this time :-)

[unojook]

Just Damn

[investigateworld]

Looks like NBC is bolting from the herd ?. Could be a good business move as C BS and ABC have been caught with the hand in the Proverbial Cookie Jar. (But I still don't trust them)

[investigateworld]

Looks like NBC is bolting from the herd ?. Could be a good business move as C BS and ABC have been caught with the hand in the Proverbial Cookie Jar. (But I still don't trust them)

[Fiddlstix]

Note to See^BS: Maybe stuff like this why a lot of people would ra^ther watch Fox.

[Aetius]

I was almost surprised that they'd consider this after the forged documents mess. I should know better.

[ApesForEvolution]

pong

[Mfkmmof4]

This smells of Hillary and Billy-Bob from start to finish and the DNC chair for topping!

[snooker]

Dim missing explosives found ...

[schaketo]

Just called and sent this via email to the following addresses at the NYT:

executive-editor@nytimes.com

managing-editor@nytimes.com

public@nytimes.com

---

The NYT needs to apologize to America, and you need to run a retraction regarding the Iraqi explosives story you ran yesterday.

Once again Dan Rather and CBS News and the New York Times are attempting to manipulate a false story to effect our nation’s elections.

The Iraqi explosives story CBS and the New York Times ran yesterday is a fraud. These weapons were not there when US troops went to this site in 2003. The IAEA and its head, the anti-American Mohammed El Baradei, leaked a false letter on this issue to the media to embarrass the Bush administration.

I’m going to ask the FCC to investigate CBS and the NYT continued egregious actions.

[Troublemaker]

Darn

Is it possible for the Republicans to get a little more agressive than "Darn". This is the last week of an election against some of the creepiest people on the planet. I'm not into swearing, but I know it's going to take a little more agression than ....Darn.

[TigersEye]

SENATOR KERRY - Oct 8 debate: You rely on good military people to execute the military component of the strategy, but winning the peace is larger than just the military component. General Shinseki had the wisdom to say you're going to need several hundred thousand troops to win the peace. The military's job is to win the war. The President's job is to win the peace. The President did not do what was necessary -- didn't bring in enough nations, didn't deliver the help, didn't close off the borders, didn't even guard the ammo dumps. And now our kids are being killed with ammos right out of that dump.

Notice how he goes from the plural to the singular?

[newgeezer]

Ping.

When I first heard the story yesterday, my very first thought was that it's too early for an October surprise.

[billhilly]

Don't forget that MS is still in NBC. MSNBC is almost as bad as CNN.

[plushaye]

"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..."

I think some CBS executive got wind of this and pulled the plug, considering that the CBS 60 Minutes news team is under blue-ribbon panel investigation. CBS can't afford another blow-up-in-their-own-face fiasco like the forged document try.

Dan Rather is deeply disappointed by this turn of events.