White House Releases Photo of Weapons Site

Wall Street Journal ^ | October 29, 2004 | CHRISTOPHER COOPER and DAVID S. CLOUD

[OESY]

The Bush administration, moving to buttress its claim that Saddam Hussein's government and not looters may have removed nearly 400 tons of explosives from a sprawling Iraqi weapons dump, released a satellite picture purporting to show prewar "loading activity" outside one of the bunkers where materials may have been stored.

The Pentagon said the photograph, dated March 17, 2003, and posted last night on the Pentagon's Website, shows a portion of the 56-bunker al-Qaqaa munitions complex, which has been identified by the International Atomic Energy Agency as a storage site for a powdered explosive called HMX. The picture shows six desert bunkers, one of them adjacent to a tractor-trailer truck and a smaller vehicle. While a description accompanying the small photograph says it isn't known whether the bunker actually contained explosives and the image isn't detailed enough to show whether cargo is being moved, the photograph is labeled "loading activity."

At issue is whether the explosives were removed by Mr. Hussein's government or whether a lack of security after the invasion gave looters the opportunity to take them, threatening U.S. and allied troops. The satellite image is clearly designed to inject a measure of doubt into Mr. Kerry's claim that the administration's Iraq strategy didn't properly plan for the war's aftermath and left tons of unguarded weapons lying about for insurgents to collect.

As the Bush administration pressed its case, it was careful not to oversell the fuzzy photograph or claim that it settled the issue of when the explosives were removed. "All this shows is that there was activity at this site or at least part of this site between the time the inspectors left and the time the troops arrived," one administration official said. "We're not making any claims about what the activity portrayed in the photo is."...

[OESY]

This satellite image shows two trucks parked outside one of the 56 bunkers of theal-Qaqaa
Explosive Storage Complex approximately 20 miles south of Baghdad on March 17, 2003.

A soldier with the 101st Airborne Division is seen examining the contents of a barrel
in a bunker in the Al-Qaqaa facility, in footage taken by an ABC affiliate.

"Mr. President, for the sake of our brave men and women in uniform, for the sake of those troops
who are in danger... you owe Americans real answers about what happened, not just political attacks.
Your administration was warned, you were put on notice but you didn't put these explosives on
priority lists, you didn't think it was important."

Here's what I said more than two years ago about WMD and the nuclear triggers found missing in Iraq:

"I will be voting to give the President of the United States the authority to use force--
if necessary-- to disarm Saddam Hussein because I believe that a deadly arsenal
of weapons of mass destruction in his hands is a real and grave threat to our security."
-- Sen. John F. Kerry (D, MA), Oct. 9, 2002

US President George W. Bush greets suppporters at a campaign rally in Lancaster County, PA.
Bush said US forces were investigating the fate of the 350 tons of explosives and that
John Kerry was irresponsibly jumping to conclusions [-- to say nothing of his mendacity].

[AmericanMade1776]

[Texas4ever]

Wait a minute..... you mean there were weapons of mass
destruction?

I thought there were no weapons? Now there are tons of weapons. Which one is it Mr. Kerry, Mr Rather, Mr Brokaw

[OXENinFLA]

Is it right for me to surmise that since the picture is in gray and others here are shown color (tan) that the gray ones were taken at night????

[Nathan Zachary]

oh come now, a dozen barefoot iraqi's snuk in one night and carried away 380 tons of white powder in their pockets... or, maybe they sat and drank beer and snorted it, thinking it was something else... OR, they though it was flour and they took it home and baked bread. That would explain the bad gass Iraqi's seem to have...

[cyncooper]

A soldier with the 101st Airborne Division is seen examining the contents of a barrel in a bunker in the Al-Qaqaa facility, in footage taken by an ABC affiliate.

Um, they've since amended their description of the location to at *or near* Al Qaqaa.

The 101st was not there on April 18 when the video was shot. The were at that particular complex on April 10. The video is "near" not "at".

Big diff.

[Texas4ever]

Be thankful the 101st were near.


Ever been "near" a bomb going off?

Thank your Soldiers. Uhrrra to the 101st.

[scab4faa]

What I havn't been able to understand is why has this went as far as it has? 300+ tons of explosives disappeared after we went in? ok, let's think of the logistics of this.. The americans are making a beeline for baghdad and a bunch of looters went into a military complexe and just stole explosives? Military installations were being bombed by a/c and cruise missles and these people sat around with semi's and loaded explosives? B/S...

I'm a pretty average person and I can see the load of crap in this story and the MSM and Kerry can't?

What a bunch of idiots..

[Eagle9]

This reconaissance picture, released yesterday, shows two trucks parked outside one of the 56 bunkers of the Al Qa Qaa Explosive Storage Complex on March 17, 2003, prior to the U.S. invasion of Iraq. (AP)

[kaboom]

The DNC denounced the photo stating that it's quite obvious that it was doctored. Notice the two identical bunkers in the picture with identical trucks parked out front. It is obvious that this is a concerted effort by the White House and US Army to discredit earlier reports of stolen munitions.

The DNC was at a loss to explain the Yellow, Red, and Blue markings in the sand.

< /sarcasm >

[Txslady]

ping!

This was a good cartoon.

Enjoy your morning coffee, I'm still on my first cup.


Thank you Oesy for the WSJ post(s), I won't get to read the paper this morning.

[Eagle9]

The DNC was at a loss to explain the Yellow, Red, and Blue markings in the sand.

LOL!         Give 'em time, they come up with something.

[devane617]

I wonder why these sites were not the first to be bombed? I mean we have all the intell we need, we know what was in those bunkers, so why did we not destroy them in the beginning?
Why didn't we blow them up as our troops were leaving the area?

[OESY]

Excellent catch -- as the story again unwinds.

[cyncooper]

We did bomb the place before going in.

[devane617]

The place was never touched, and as far as I can research is still intact today.

[cyncooper]

You're talking about Al Qaqaa? We bombed it during the war, before Baghdad fell.

Or are you talking about wherever this ABC video was shot. Do you know where that footage was taken?

[Robert A Cook PE]

At the TIME (note the emphasis!) we did know that this was a nuke weapons-related site. (And other WMD's!)

You don't go arbitrarily blowing up bunkers were nuke weapons (that you need to investigate and analyze carefully anyway!) might be stored.

Particularly when there are thousands of bunkers in the country, any one of which might have the weapons, or might be empty, when there are thousands of more important targets in areas that are under active Iraqi army and militia guard and are higher on the priority list.

You can't simply blow up everything in the country - though Hillary and Clark tried to in Bosnia!

[Howlin]

The DNC denounced the photo stating that it's quite obvious that it was doctored.

Alan Colmes said that last night.

He will continue to say it tonight.

And he will call this guy from the 3rd ID a liar.

[devane617]

I agree that you can't go around blowing stuff before you are certain of the contents. However, the UN inspectors had been there, and after the war started, our troops were filmed walking around the place without air masks or other precautions. That told me we were fairly certain what was in those bunkers.
I say we should have blown them up as we passed .