Posted on 10/29/2004 4:13:59 PM PDT by Ragtime Cowgirl
Ordnance Officer Confirms About 250 Tons of Munitions Removed From Iraqi SiteBy Kathleen T. Rhem WASHINGTON, Oct. 29, 2004 -- A U.S. Army ordnance company removed roughly 250 tons of munitions from Iraq's Al Qaqaa weapons depot in mid-April 2003, that unit's commander said in the Pentagon today.
But officials said it is not known if any of the material removed then is part of the roughly 380 tons of high explosives claimed to be missing from the site. In recent days, International Atomic Energy Agency officials have said about 380 tons of high-melting explosive, known as HMX, and rapid-detonating explosive, RDX, are missing from the site in Iraq. The agency had tagged the explosives at the site and departed before hostilities started. On May 27, 2003, experts with the 75th Exploitation Task Force confirmed the IAEA-sealed explosives were missing. In today's press briefing, Army Maj. Austin Pearson explained how his former unit, the 24th Ordnance Company of the 24th Corps Support Group, entered the Al Qaqaa facility, which fell in an area known to the unit as "Objective Elms." On about April 13, 2003, less than a month after the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom, the company removed about 250 tons of "TNT, plastic explosives, detonation cords, initiators and white-phosphorus rounds," Pearson said. He explained that his company's primary mission was to supply U.S. units with conventional ammunition. Secondary missions called for the unit to manage a captured-ammunition holding area and to assist 3rd Infantry Division units in clearing captured enemy ammunition from their operational areas. DoD spokesman Larry Di Rita pointed out several items in media accounts that are now in question. The amount of missing explosives is "probably not accurate," he said, noting initial reports claimed there were 140 tons of RDX at this facility. That appears to not be the case, he said. There is even some confusion about exactly what kind of explosives were at the site and what type the 24th Ordnance Company removed. Di Rita explained that many people use the terms RDX and plastic explosive interchangeably. Even ordnance handlers, he said, commonly refer to all plastic explosives as RDX. Pearson said he is a specialist in ammunition handling and management, not an expert in different types of ordnance. He noted he couldn't know for sure what type of explosive his unit removed from the site in April 2003. None of the munitions Pearson's company removed from Al Qaqaa contained seals from the IAEA, he said. Also important to note, Di Rita said, is that even if 380 tons of explosives are missing from the site, that still only represents a thousandth of the total munitions coalition forces have destroyed in Iraq or marked for destruction to date. "We've destroyed or marked for destruction 1,000 times more ammunition than the amount of ammunition that has been called into question," he said. Pearson described wartime and post-war Iraq as a country littered with loose weapons and ammunition. He told how his unit once removed more than 7 million rounds of AK-47 ammunition from one home in Baghdad. The ammunition was "built into the walls of the house," the major said. He added that his unit found similar situations in elementary schools. Di Rita said initial reports on the missing explosive material have left an "unfortunate" impression that "the military forces there did not have a systematic approach to three priorities." He described the three priorities as taking down the regime of Saddam Hussein, minimizing casualties to U.S. and coalition forces and Iraqi civilians, and identifying and securing weapons throughout the country. "As we've delved into this deeper," he said, "we've been able to demonstrate that that planning was well-conceived and extraordinarily well-executed by the forces that are over there." Biography:
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I Watched Army Maj. Austin Pearson in the Pentagon News Briefing today, and I was appalled at how the News media treated Maj Pearson, like he was on trial. OBL must be proud of the Mass Media in America.
This story has been buried by the MSM. The biggest offender, the NYT, has remained totally silent on the evidence presented today that refutes their claim.
The media treated the Major today with contempt, and honestly I felt nothing but contempt for the Media.
CBS and the NYTIMES need to be knocked right out of the park for their BLATANT lies!! If we don't do something they will just continue to LIE and get away with it!! I don't know why more people, no matter what party affiliation aren't more outraged about the MSM lying, it so egregious against the public good...We might as well give this IDEA of America up if we're not going to fight for fair and accurate reporting.
Who's selliing the industrialized size can of Whoop Ass!?
It is time to sock the Truth to the Mass Media...and turn out the vote for President George W. Bush's re election and support our troops.
I didn't get to see all of the briefing, did anyone ask the Major "Why did you stop?"
A bump for our military.
And prayers too!
ANY evidence which does not support the myth that
John Kerry is the Second Coming, (Bill Clinton was
the First) is automatically regarded as a lie.
The military is always treated as the "enemy" , that
is until it is needed to stand between the brilliant,
elite, intelligentsia and the murdering Islamic
Terrorists who want to either blow up their trim, toned
bodies or cut off their educated heads.
One day, the military en masse is going to get tired of
being treated disrespectfully by the likes of "Petah"
Jennings and Tom "Brokeoff" and tell Michael Moore to
get himself an assault weapon and defend his own fat
rear end. I would imagine a lot of these DUer's are
about good draft age for Kerry's "army" after he and
the Silken Pony drive off the real army.
The New York Times is or should be absolutely protected by the First Amendment; if the broadcasters were protected by the First Amendment they wouldn't need licenses. The fact that The New York Times is protected merely means it is free irrespective of whether it puts editorials on the front page; the NYT is in no sense official. The fallacy of FCC policy permitting - indeed promoting - the use of broadcasting for the transmission of news based on the NYT model is that there is some reason to presume that the NYT is objective. The First Amendment means exactly the opposite - it means that the NYT doesn't have to be objective, whether or not it claims to be.
It is strictly a "Let the reader beware" proposition. But for the government to give a grant of the presumtion that a licensed broadcaster is "broadcasting in the public interest" is an abuse.
Why Broadcast Journalism is
Unnecessary and Illegitimate
Until WE the people show them We are not going to buy or watch their biased crap, boycott their advertisers to the hilt, and even hit them with a campaign of shunning their programming they will continue to promote lies.
I say let them spew their crap for as long as they can before the market place holds them accountable and completely shuts them down or makes them report responsibly.
Didn't Kerry very recently say that due to the "lost explosives," President Bush should be fired?
Therefore, since it is not true, President Bush should be rehired.
Bump!
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