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Photo, video show Iraqi complex before, after invasion; Items bolster different theories ...
CNN ^ | 10/28

Posted on 10/28/2004 9:52:24 PM PDT by ambrose

Photo, video show Iraqi complex before, after invasion

Items bolster different theories on missing explosives

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Two more bits of possible evidence surfaced Thursday in the mystery of the missing Iraqi explosives, but they appear to bolster two different scenarios as to what may have happened to the cache.

The Pentagon released a photo showing activity before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003 outside a bunker at the weapons dump where nearly 380 tons of explosives reportedly disappeared.

While the photo might lend support to but does not prove the Pentagon's theory that the high-grade explosives were moved before the war, a videotape surfaced offering another scenario.

The video, shot by a crew from KSTP-TV in Minneapolis, Minnesota, that was embedded with the 101st Airborne Division, showed barrels of explosives in unguarded bunkers in the Al Qaqaa complex on April 18, 2003, nine days after the fall of Baghdad.

It was unclear, however, if the explosives in the video were of the same types as in the missing cache.

(Excerpt) Read more at edition.cnn.com ...


TOPICS: Breaking News; Politics/Elections; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: alqaqaa; ammogate; iraq; napalminthemorning; wot
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To: ScaniaBoy

Exactly.

None of the things that AP or any of these other reporters are saying pass the test. For things to happen the way they have been instructed by the Kerry campaign to claim. It would have had to happen with the entire region devoid of any U.S. military presence. Which is absolute B.S. we had tens of thousands of troops in that immediate area (50 miles).

Besides when you start adding up the dates in all the story's from March, April 2003 and current, you find we arrived at AL-Qaqaa, at the very latest, April 3rd and continued to have a presence there until well after May 2003.

What's laughable is that the 101st HQ was at Al-Qaqaa during the 2 week period after the 10th. This was filmed on the 18th? Hell they were being escorted by our own troops, showing the reporters all the crap we had found!


21 posted on 10/28/2004 10:31:10 PM PDT by 7mmMag@LeftCoast ("....to defend the Constitution of the United States, against all enemies, foreign and domestic")
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To: DocRock; All

politicalunit@abcnews.com
Drudge@drudgereport.com


22 posted on 10/28/2004 10:33:42 PM PDT by rwfromkansas (BYPASS FORCED WEB REGISTRATION! **** http://www.bugmenot.com ****)
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To: finnman69
In the affiliates video they clearly state they did not open the bunker with the seal.

It's a good thing. You don't want to go messin' with a UN inspector's seal. Why, if they find out you broke one of their seals, they'll report you to their security council, and the security council will....they'll.......uhh......oh, never mind.

23 posted on 10/28/2004 10:37:31 PM PDT by Bronzewound
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To: jbarkley

They're digging.

They are trying to prevent another RAThergate blowup.

They know that if they can push this through Friday...that it will only leave Monday for the exposing of the bogus story and the coordination with Kerry.

If they make it through Friday....Kerry will use the slow news push days (the weekend) to keep pushing the lie.


24 posted on 10/28/2004 10:44:24 PM PDT by ArmyBratproud (Kerry wants to steal documents, taxes, my gun, etc. And now the commie punk wants to steal my vote.)
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To: DocRock

good call.

There is no seal there. Not even presence of the cable that holds the seal.


25 posted on 10/28/2004 10:46:04 PM PDT by ArmyBratproud (Kerry wants to steal documents, taxes, my gun, etc. And now the commie punk wants to steal my vote.)
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To: DocRock

Uranium in Iraq? What the hell? I feel like I've been asleep all these months. How did I not know about this? That's a huge story!


26 posted on 10/28/2004 11:01:47 PM PDT by jwb0581
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To: ArmyBratproud

Bunkers...?? As in Archie Bunker....geezzzz louise....that damn Edith forgot the lock the door again???


27 posted on 10/28/2004 11:04:06 PM PDT by Duaine (Peace is our profession....)
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To: DocRock

Can you post a snap of the video with the soldier hanging half way out of the vent in the IAEA bunker. It's as close as they ever got to looking in an IAEA bunker, and they admit it on the video. I think it is pretty funny for them to try to confuse a bunker that was under IAEA seal with content from another bunker not under IAEA seal.


28 posted on 10/28/2004 11:06:06 PM PDT by rocklobster11
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To: ambrose

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disturbed by the ABC affiliate tape and particularly David Kaye's comments about it to the NYSlimes this evening (I won't dignify it with a link). I think this business of the seals is a complicated and technical issue that many people simply won't understand, meaning they could be misled -- I want to see how it spins out on Friday, but I'd rather we'd be heading into the weekend talking about something else. The Pentagon footage should have put it to rest but I have a feeling the MSM is going to keep pumping this as long as it's not resolved.
On the bright side, people are so sick of the election they are either voting early or simply taking the phone off the hook and fast-forwarding through the ads (thank God for Tivo!).


29 posted on 10/28/2004 11:08:19 PM PDT by MohawkDrums
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To: ambrose
Puzzles me beyond words that the final week of an election which will literally shape the world to come has been reduced to a brain hemorrhage-inducing analysis and debate focused on the location of a relative drop in the sea of munitions found amidst the battlefield of Iraq a year and a half ago.

Can't wait until Tuesday. Looks like I picked a bad week to quit sniffing glue.

30 posted on 10/28/2004 11:34:44 PM PDT by AHerald ("Be what you is, cuz if you be what you ain't, then you ain't what you is.")
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To: rocklobster11

Here is the article - you can link to the video on the top.

http://kstp.com/article/stories/S3741.html?cat=1

The rebuttal to this scam needs to be made very simple:

One, the location has not been verified, as they have just said it is south of Al-QaQaa.
Two, the news crew said they did not enter a bunker that had been sealed by the IAEA, therefore, the photos had to have been taken at a bunker that did NOT contain the explosives in question. The crew had to climb up on the side of the bunker to look through the vent to see inside, proving, they did NOT go inside any sealed bunker. Also there is no photo or video of anyone breaking an IAEA seal.
Third, if these explosives were so dangerous, why did the IAEA not destroy them in 1995 when they were told to do so?
Fourth, it needs to be STRESSED that the IAEA left these explosives in the hands of Saddam Hussein.
Fifth, the amount of explosives is not near as high as first stated.
Sixth, Iraq WAS an ammunition dump and a very dangerous place.

Bush has handled this just right, as he has called for an investigation and should keep hammering Kerry for jumping to conclusions too quickly and blaming the troops, and he should keep talking about how many thousands of tons of ammunition the military has already destroyed. He should finally acknowledge that he is grateful that Kerry finally realizes how dangerous Iraq really was. Also, he should point out that the IAEA should have destoyed these explosives, as they were required to do according to Charles Krauthammer.


31 posted on 10/28/2004 11:40:49 PM PDT by Texas Deb
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To: stylin19a

shop smart. shope s-mart.....YOU GOT THAT?!?!


32 posted on 10/29/2004 12:14:21 AM PDT by KOZ. (i'm so bad i should be in detention)
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To: Texas Deb
"Also, he should point out that the IAEA should have destoyed these explosives, as they were required to do according to Charles Krauthammer."

Yeah, but the IAEA isn't the Republican candidate, so nobody reporting the news in the MSM will pass that word along. This whole thing is insane anyway and it won't work. IMHO swing voters are seeing through this and it's going to work in Bush's favor.

33 posted on 10/29/2004 12:39:15 AM PDT by GraceofGod
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To: Mo1; Howlin; Peach; BeforeISleep; kimmie7; 4integrity; BigSkyFreeper; RandallFlagg; ...
http://www.wjgr.com/default.aspx


Ooooo

Tori Clark [Former spokeswoman for the DOD] will be on Bill Bennett soon!
34 posted on 10/29/2004 4:38:50 AM PDT by OXENinFLA
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To: AHerald

LOL

And it looks like I picked a bad week to stop taking amphetamines.

And Leon's getting Larrrrrrger...


35 posted on 10/29/2004 5:00:13 AM PDT by kimmie7 (I saw a Kerry bumper sticker on a trash can today. FINALLY, truth in advertising!)
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To: ambrose

You know, if this is the best the democrats can muster through their surrogates in the MSM, then GWB has this thing wrapped up. What a lame attempt to derail his momentum for a second term. This is much ado about nothing. The republicans know that the NYT has no qualms going after the military and the more this story is mentioned out there tha more people begin to see a pattern. My brother who is a bleeding heart liberal said it best "they have to get off this story, it ain't 1971 and it ain't Viet Nam. Americans wants to shed the ghost of that war not revisit it!"

What troubles me is not the story or the NYT pathetic attempt to influence the race oh no, what baffles me is how can an intelligent person like my brother utter an intelligent arguement yet support these morons.

I guess some thing will always remain a mistery!!!

Out.


36 posted on 10/29/2004 5:17:05 AM PDT by bubman
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To: kimmie7
And Leon's getting Larrrrrrger...

LOL - Had forgotten that one.

37 posted on 10/29/2004 5:26:05 AM PDT by AHerald ("Be what you is, cuz if you be what you ain't, then you ain't what you is.")
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To: finnman69

But there's no sealed bunker there now - so it begins to look as if our guys did in fact screw up in not securing that area.

Thata's what the TV station's story clearly indicates.


38 posted on 10/29/2004 6:14:32 AM PDT by Redbob
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To: rocklobster11
"Can you post a snap of the video with the soldier hanging half way out of the vent in the IAEA bunker."

I'll be happy to, just point me to a link to the video.
39 posted on 10/29/2004 6:29:20 AM PDT by DocRock (Support the tagline tax relief fund. Donations can be made on my homepage.)
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To: ambrose
In the late 80s and early 90s I was a member of the 59th Ord. Brigade and member of the Brigades EOD Team. I know for a fact that a find like this would not be unusual and in a lot of cases just locking the door after a find would be sufficient until EOD gets there. The assessment is based on a five level threat assessment chart, 1 being very low, 5 being very high. This bunker was probably listed as a 2, meaning EOD cleaned it out maybe a day or two later. This reason for the low risk was that there was so many troops in the area that no terrorist or enemy could have gotten to it. A 5 is imminent threat and EOD would be there within a couple hours. The EOD would detonate the explosives at the same time imploding the bunker assuring terrorist or enemy couldn't get to it. In this case, I believe EOD arrived a couple days later and hauled these explosives off to a secure facility awaiting destruction. I guarantee the airships in the area would have spotted any movement in the area by any enemy or terrorist between the time of find and EOD's arrival. As for the amount, much of these crates are just blasting caps or fuses for mortar rounds. The barrels are explosives in powder form used for the explosives in mortar rounds. The powder form has to be processed in order to make C4. The powder in its self is an explosive but because of the lack of compression is not as potent as it would be in a mortar round or any warhead because in a round or warhead it is enclosed in metal which allows a massive build up of compression in the chamber. The point of all this is, so what about this one bunker. It was not looted.
40 posted on 10/29/2004 6:30:18 AM PDT by tobyhill (The war on terrorism is not for the weak!)
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