October Surprise: A Lot Of Qaqaa

Information recently released by NBC News, the LA Times, and the Associated Press quite suggests that the New York Times and CBS News might have been attempting to disseminate a midnight hour, election eve expose designed to unseat an incumbent President without properly vetting it for accuracy. And, it is quite conceivable that the United Nations is stuck right in the middle of the conspiracy.

Furthermore, as the Kerry campaign and their media minions watched their hero sag in the polls with the election just days away, their despair rose to such heights that they chose to focus America’s attention on a supposed news bombshell designed to rock the electorate into a final capitulation. Fortunately, it appears that there is one honest member of the mainstream news media that was unwilling to participate in the cabal, and, instead, threw a sizable monkey wrench into their scheme.

This past Sunday evening, the Internet was all abuzz with reports of a huge cache of weapons lost in Iraq due to the bungling of the Bush administration. The story was released by the New York Times, and, on principle, I refuse to provide a link that in any way connects me to this national disgrace. However, as was typical, this became the Talking Points for Senator Kerry and his henchmen all Monday with every media outlet focusing on the story. True to form, Mr. Kerry pointed out that this represented another colossal failure on the part of the Bush administration to keep America safe, and was yet one more indication of how poorly the war was planned.

One problem: it appears that this munitions storage facility at Al Qaqaa was cleared of the most dangerous weapons in question BEFORE the United States ever got there, possibly by Saddam Hussein himself. Fortunately for all those interested in the truth – which clearly exempts 99% of our media – the NBC “Nightly News” elected to rise above all the excrement being spewed on the airwaves, and actually reported some facts. As transcribed by Jim Geraghty of the National Review:

NBC News: Miklaszewski: “April 10, 2003, only three weeks into the war, NBC News was embedded with troops from the Army's 101st Airborne as they temporarily take over the Al Qakaa weapons installation south of Baghdad. But these troops never found the nearly 380 tons of some of the most powerful conventional explosives, called HMX and RDX, which is now missing. The U.S. troops did find large stockpiles of more conventional weapons, but no HMX or RDX, so powerful less than a pound brought down Pan Am 103 in 1988, and can be used to trigger a nuclear weapon.” (NBC’s “Nightly News,” 10/25/04)

As one would imagine, this revelation has not deterred the NY Times, or Mr. Kerry, from continuing with this charade. In fact, Matt Drudge – who first released word of the pending bombshell on Sunday evening – reports that the Kerry campaign has released a new TV commercial referencing these supposedly missing weapons. What a shock that the ad includes a reprint of the NY Times headline about this incident.

The truly scary aspect of this whole seedy affair is the implication that this is all a coordinated effort on the part of the NY Times, CBS News, the United Nations, and possibly the Kerry campaign. To try and flesh this out, let’s look at some of the facts and the timetable involved.

According to an article in Tuesday’s LA Times, CBS News’ “60 Minutes” had this story last week, and was planning on airing it this coming Sunday, just 36 hours before the polls would open in the East. Unfortunately, when it became clear that the story was going to break well before this, CBS decided to hand it over to its reporting partner, the NY Times. However, what is

truly peculiar is that CBS got this tip last Wednesday, but the information had not been reported to the United Nations until the following Monday.

As William J. Kole of AP asserted on Tuesday morning, “International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei reported the disappearance to the U.N. Security Council on Monday, two weeks after he said Iraq told the nuclear agency that the explosives had vanished from the former Iraqi military installation as a result of ‘theft and looting ... due to lack of security.’”

Hmmm. So, ElBaradei reports this information to the U.N. on Monday, but CBS and the NY Times had it last Wednesday. How did that happen? Well, according to this same AP report, “But since the disappearance was reported Monday in The New York Times, ElBaradei said he wanted the Security Council to have the letter dated Oct. 10 that he received from Mohammed J. Abbas, a senior official at Iraq's Ministry of Science and Technology, reporting the theft of 377 tons of explosives.”

Wait a minute. So, ElBaradei received this information from Abbas in a letter dated October 10 th. Then, on October 20 th, the NY Times and CBS News got the same information, and, as a result of this leak, ElBaradei believed it was necessary to inform the U.N. Security Council. Given this, if the only people who were in possession of this information prior to October 20 th were ElBaradei and Abbas, this leak must have somehow come from one of them. And, since Abbas is in Iraq, and ElBaradei, as part of the U.N., is in New York much of the time, whom does the Fickle Finger of Fate Award point to?

The question arises as to why ElBaradei would do such a thing if indeed he is the culprit. It is no secret that ElBaradei is no friend of the Bush administration. His testimony at the U.N. during the lead up to the Iraq invasion was certainly not helpful. And, in return, the administration has been quite critical of ElBaradei and the IAEA for not better informing the international community of how advanced Libya and Iran were in their nuclear activities. Given this, as well as Senator Kerry’s love affair with the U.N., it certainly wouldn’t be at all surprising that ElBaradei would be quite happy to see President Bush and his whole team replaced.

However, regardless of motive, if this information was indeed leaked by ElBaradei or someone on his staff, his resignation needs to be tendered or his position with the IAEA terminated immediately. To be sure, the nuclear inspection arm of the United Nations cannot tolerate leaks about weaponry coming from the head of the organization. Furthermore, a full-scale investigation needs to be launched into determining how this information was transferred to CBS News, and when the Kerry campaign was notified of its existence.

The bottom line is that the integrity of our news media continues to be compromised by the comportment of some of the old stalwarts who unashamedly behave as if they are above scrutiny and reproach. This election period has been marred by regular conspiratorial incidents from some of this old guard that undermine America’s faith in our reporting institutions. When similar allegations of misconduct were leveled at the BBC in Great Britain over false accusations of the Blair administration having “sexed up” arms reports in Iraq, the British government was quick to levy significant fines and reprimands that lead to resignations all the way to the top of that esteemed corporation. By contrast, after some very high profile reporting fiascos here at home these last two years, there has been no similar action by our government to punish the guilty parties, and no corresponding senior management terminations or resignations. Certainly, the lack of consequence for these abhorrent actions ensures that they will continue.

With the kind of unseemly and almost tabloid-like news fabrications that we have been witnessing from some of our oldest and most well-respected news institutions, it appears high time for America to collectively invoke the memory of UBS’ Howard Beale, and let these media barons know that we are all mad as hell, and we’re not going to take it anymore.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Noel Sheppard is a business owner, economist, and writer residing in Northern California. He receives email at slep@danvillebc.com.

***....To be sure, the nuclear inspection arm of the United Nations cannot tolerate leaks about weaponry coming from the head of the organization. Furthermore, a full-scale investigation needs to be launched into determining how this information was transferred to CBS News, and when the Kerry campaign was notified of its existence. ...***

After President Bush is re-elected next Tuesday, the first order of business ought to be serving notice on the U.N. that they can pack their s--t and git. Expel them all from American soil, and as Daniel Moynihan once said 'wave them a fond (or not so fond) goodbye' as they sail off to whatever new locale will have them.

The U.N. is a thoroughly discredited and disreputable organization, it is a continuing criminal enterprise and has no business being granted legal sanction to conduct business in the United States, nor should the United States have any further dealings with the U.N. They have become as useless as the League of Nations, but costing billions more.

The second order of business?

Attorney General John Ashcroft begins preparing indictments for the New York Times, See-BS News, and all parties who participated in this fraud upon the public for the purpose of illegally influencing a federal election.

There is a reason the 9/11 hijackers never considered crashing one of those airliners into the New York Times building, CBS News or for that matter, the U.N. building:

Why would they attack their natural ALLIES?!?!

Media Shamelessly Shilling for Kerry and Kerry Brazenly Lying***...The New York Times, CBS News and many others in the “mainstream” media are shameless. They feign impartiality, pretend to be honest, and become angry at the mere suggestion of bias. Yet there can be no doubt. They are shills for John Kerry. They have repeatedly demonstrated their bias. Both the Times and CBS were once respected news organizations. Today, they survive on past accomplishments. They are no longer reputable news sources. They are little more than special interest groups campaigning for Kerry. Little wonder fewer and fewer people watch or subscribe. ***

Sent to Drudge

Rush played an excerpt from JF'nK during the Oct. 8 debate where he was moaning about "weapon stockpiles that were not guarded and were responsible for killing our soldiers." So he knew this phony story was in the pipeline and as usual, couldn't keep his big, droning mouth shut till CBS could spring it 48 hrs. before the election. What a disaster this incompetent would be as president!
After the election, there must be a thorough investigation of the UN in this fiasco, the NYT and CBS, and the Kerry campaign, with special attention given to that snake, Lockhart. All these dirty things began to come to light after he officially joined the Kerry crew.

Another vitriolic, yet eventually Pyrric attempt by the VLWC (IAEA/UN/DNC/CBS/NY Times) to bombard and frighten "the unwashed masses" into submission. When are these dipsticks going to get their heads out of the 1960s? And begin to understand that the great unwashed are not nearly as stupid and sheepish as they think we are? After this explodes in the Dems faces. I wonder if Anan and company could be facing Personae Non Grata status? At the very least! Jack.

Some of these journalists are collaborators with the UN and with Kerry, who himself collaborated with the N. Vietnamese Communists to destroy an American ally--S.Vietnam. Huge numbers of Vietnamese people died and continue to be persecuted.

However, I believe in the role of government in American life. Real Liberals--as opposed to leftists who hate America-- sometimes have good ideas. There are some things I don't like about policies of the Bush administration. For example, they could have pushed for a government role in making sure everyone had the flu shot. This is a kind of homeland security even tho' the germs don't come from Al Qaeda. It isn't so much the lawsuits that are the problem here; it is that the drug companies don't make money on these shots.Government has a role here. Thousands of people will die because they don't get this shot. And Al Qaeda didn't do it. The Bush Administration likes to wave the scarecrow of big litigators driving up health care costs. This could be handled with some rules. As it is now, we are at the mercy of bad doctors if we have an HMO because we can't sue. We ought to be able to sue--just not for extravagant amounts. And the government should have made sure we had the flu shot. There was a role here, and Bush blew it.

However, I believe in the role of government in American life. Real Liberals--as opposed to leftists who hate America-- sometimes have good ideas. There are some things I don't like about policies of the Bush administration. For example, they could have pushed for a government role in making sure everyone had the flu shot. This is a kind of homeland security even tho' the germs don't come from Al Qaeda. It isn't so much the lawsuits that are the problem here; it is that the drug companies don't make money on these shots.Government has a role here.

Why is it not profitable? Because the government is involved. Maybe the government should seize the drug companies factories and make the vaccine with government workers so we're all safe. What's that political system called again?

Then we can all stand in long lines, to get a number for the privilege of standing in another line, just like the Soviets.

Are you a "real" Liberal. Sounds like it with your conflicts about the big bad pharmaceuticals and the role of Guvernment. Maybe you can point out the current "real" (good?) Liberals. I sure don't see/hear any standing tall for their beliefs, whatever they are. Maybe they are in the Nader camp?

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.