CBS eyed '60 Minutes' Bush bombshell

Washington Times ^ | October 27, 2004 | Jennifer Harper

[Former Military Chick]

CBS News apparently had an October surprise of its own for President Bush.

The network, already reeling from accusations of bias over anchorman Dan Rather's use of bogus memos to challenge Mr. Bush's Texas Air National Guard record, acknowledged yesterday in a statement that it had planned to air a story critical of the Bush administration's handling of Iraqi munitions Sunday on "60 Minutes," two days before the presidential election.

CBS opted to allow its "reporting partner," the New York Times, to run the story Monday, citing concerns over competition, and ran it on its network news Monday night.

"This was a timely story that was developing quickly, and we wanted to air it as soon as possible on '60 Minutes,' " spokesman Kevin Tedesco said. "Then it became apparent the story was already breaking elsewhere, so we agreed to run it in the Times, and on our own evening news Monday night."

Both news outlets reported that the Iraqi government has told the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that 380 tons of plastic explosives, one pound of which can bring down a jet aircraft, went missing during postwar looting.

The stories now are being challenged by the Pentagon and by an NBC News reporter embedded with the U.S. unit that first took control of the munitions dump. NBC News revealed Monday night that when one of its reporters embedded with the 101st Airborne Division arrived at the Al-Qaqaa site April 10, 2003, the Iraqi explosives were missing. The network added a slight nuance yesterday, adding that U.S. forces never undertook a thorough search.

The Pentagon stands by its statements that U.S. forces found no IAEA-sealed explosives there and that the site already had been looted by April 10.

[Former Military Chick]

I had hoped we heard the last of this prior to the election, guess I was wrong. Cannot wait until Rather is no longer anchoring the news. tick tock tick tock

[happydogdesign]

[Stellar Dendrite]

Bwhahahah, if the WaTimes picked it up it is gaining momentum. Would it be enough to carry over to election day?

[LegalEagle61]

CBS---total morons...they never learn.

[conservative in nyc]

Don't worry. 60 Minutes still has sloppy, biased reporting in store this week. Tomorrow, they're going to report on the DNC's "electronic voting machines are scary and can be corrupted" line of nonsense. Where's my paper printout from the New York lever machines? Why aren't they reporting on that story?

[Howlin]

And still not ONE WORD on 60 Minutes about the SwiftVets or Kerry's military records.

[kcvl]

bttt

[Howlin]

I'm almost dreading the rest of the week; God only knows what else they have in store.

This was my favorite one today:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1257733/posts

[kcvl]

Nutcases coming out of the woodwork it seems.

[Joe Bfstplk]

I am concerned about the disinformation published and broadcast. I would like to see heavy fines imposed for intentionally misleading the public by both news/entertainment media and poliical campaigns.

[Former Military Chick]

sign me up, I will gladly help fine some of the jerks that have no idea of what doing a good and fair job means ..

[Katya]

"The Pentagon stands by its statements that U.S. forces found no IAEA-sealed explosives there and that the site already had been looted by April 10."

wrong....Saddam did not need to "loot" his own stash. He simply moved it elsewhere.