Lost Iraqi explosives gone before U.S. arrived?

Seattle Times ^ | Colum Lynch and Bradley Graham

[PoliticalTracker]

If 380 tons of HMX an RMX can go missing before US troops got there, then what else could have gone missing?

Political Tracker

[tirednvirginia]

Why are they suggesting this? They should be adamant that the weapons were already gone. Maybe that don't really know for sure.

[Glenn]

The MSM is working overtime to make this stick to Bush, but it's not getting traction, in my opinion. Jerks.

[Drango]

Kerry now feels American GI's should have died to secure the explosives. And why didn't we invade earlier?

[sgtbono2002]

Howmany weapons and how much stuff did we blow up during that invasion, I am sure that if this stuff had been found it would have been destroyed, The un is wagging this dog to cover up the oil for food scandal.

[sirchtruth]

They should be adamant that the weapons were already gone. Maybe that don't really know for sure.

Unbelievable!!! The NBC/MSNBC embedded reporters back in 2003 reported they were gone then. This is your MSM bogus, BS, last push effort for an OCT surprise...LOL!!!

So the MSM loses MORE credibility for pushing this crap.

[Drango]

we get CNN Europe and they are rabid maniacs.

They're morons here too.

[WestVirginiaRebel]

One more desperate, last-ditch attempt to smear Bush before the election. This sounds like another story that was purposefully leaked by Karl Rove, and the Slimes fell for it hook, line, and sinker. If they went to Syria, could this be the prelude to an October Surprise?

[The G Man]

Hopefully the Bush team can get their message out on this one, because this issue is a winner for us. This story shows how absolutely ineffective the UN inspections were that this stuff was able to disappear 18 months before the war even happened. And if 40 trucks of this stuff could "disappear" ... why is it so hard to imagine that much smaller volumes of anthrax, sarin, etc., also couldn't just "disappear" on trucks. Right under the UN's nose.

[lainde]

Was accidentally watching CNN...Tuned out O'Reilly replay. The Dem talking points seem to be we could guard the oil ministry but not the HE ammo dump (That had no ammo)....

[Glenn]

've heard that CNN also said the story was untrue.is that correct?

NBC had embedded reporters when the troops reached the site. The buildings were empty. End of story. I don't know why the MSM is chasing it.

[TMSuchman]

This is an old story. The explosives were gone before we set foot in the country. It was common practice to move explosives out of their bunkers and hide them so they would not get blowen up by us in raids!

[PoliticalTracker]

Actually it was NBC who broke this story last night. Jim Miklaszewski had a report where they stated when the unit that NBC was embedded with arrived at this bunker it was empty.

[joeystoy]

Howard Wolfson was on MSNBC last night claiming that "680 tons of explosives" were missing. The MSNBC moderator (guess who) never mentioned that his own network debunked the story.

[PreciousLiberty]

To give CNN some credit, the story is a giant headline on it's home page.

That at least shows some journalistic integrity.

Now, we'll see if Kerry can manage some integrity, integrity, integrity...ooops sorry for the stutter there. ;-)

[1963avanti]

Before everyone goes balistic over these explosives, everyone should know that HMX and RMX or the most common explosives used by the oil industry for perforating equipment. Perforating is the act of lowering a long tube into a well on wireline then denonating it with an electrical current to set off shaped charges which then blow holes through the steel casing which is run into a well. Blowing the holes in the casing then allows for oil production to enter the well.

The question should be this....Which goverments were selling oilfield equipment to Iraq before the war and where large amounts of HMX and RMX being exported to Iraq for oilfield purposes and then being stored by Saddam for other purposes. I can think of one very large International oilfield service company that is French whose primary business is wireline services, perforating and logging... ever hear of Schlumberger??? No proof on my part but a possibility worth looking into.

[Anti-Bubba182]

Howard Wolfson was on Fox and Friends this morning and got Jumped on the story. He said, "there were still some questions..." MSM, especially the NYTimes has a lot invested in this story. It will be interesting to see how they spin it in the next few days and how hard Kerry personally propounds the story.

Kerry went at this hard yesterday. If he backs off or tries to spin it we will know what they think of the story. Jamie Reuben is now on trying to change the subject to how we should have had more troops, etc. Maybe what Kerry will do, or try to do, is change the subject.

Lord these guys are a bunch of weasels.

[Proud Conservative2]

CBS reported 3 times between 4 AM and 4:30 that we had lost the weapons and then followed with Kerry's attack on Bush for the loss. No point in letting the truth enter into their reports at this late date.

I contacted our local CBS affiliate at 10:15 last night and asked them to check the facts before they kept airing that lie. The newsroom said they would check into it yet reported the same falsehood early this morning. I cslled KOLR back and talked to Sonia , the news reader. She said they have their news scripted with talking points. I told her that it reflects poorly on her nad the station to continue to deceive the viewers. Her response was that they don't deliberately lie to us. I explained that if they know the truth and fail to report it, then they DO deliberately lie to us. She said no one was going to call her a liar and slammed the phone down. They have not mentioned the weapon loss since she came on the air at 5:30. A small accomplishment, but at least she is no longer lying to her viewers.