Posted on 10/28/2004 4:36:02 PM PDT by Cavalier79
Oct. 28, 2004 — The strongest evidence to date indicates that conventional explosives missing from Iraq's Al-Qaqaa installation disappeared after the United States had taken control of Iraq.
Barrels inside the Al-Qaqaa facility appear on videotape shot by ABC television affiliate KSTP of St. Paul, Minn., which had a crew embedded with the 101st Airborne Division when it passed through Al-Qaqaa on April 18, 2003 — nine days after Baghdad fell.
Discrepancy Found in Explosives Amounts
Alleged American Al Qaeda Warns of U.S. Attacks Video Suggests Explosives Disappeared After U.S. Took Control Person of the Week: Complete Coverage Experts who have studied the images say the barrels on the tape contain the high explosive HMX, and the U.N. markings on the barrels are clear.
"I talked to a former inspector who's a colleague of mine, and he confirmed that, indeed, these pictures look just like what he remembers seeing inside those bunkers," said David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security in Washington.
The barrels were found inside sealed bunkers, which American soldiers are seen on the videotape cutting through. Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency sealed the bunkers where the explosives were kept just before the war began.
"The seal's critical," Albright said. "The fact that there's a photo of what looks like an IAEA seal means that what's behind those doors is HMX. They only sealed bunkers that had HMX in them."
After the bunkers were opened, the 101st was not ordered to secure the facility. A senior officer told ABC News the division would not have had nearly enough soldiers to do so.
It remains unclear how much HMX was at the facility, but what does seem clear is that the U.S. military opened the bunkers at Al-Qaqaa and left them unguarded. Since then, the material has disappeared.
ABC News' Martha Raddatz filed this report for World News Tonight
My question is the quantity and was this truly HMX.
I assume this was written before the Pentagon showed the shots of the explosives being moved before the start of the war. If not, this writer is obviously in serious denial!!
The real question here is why ABC has gotten into the business of covering up WMD related situations.
What experts? How is the date on the videotape proven? Who was the embedded reporter and is there record of the person's presence in military logs?
All unanswered questions but no 'balance' needed here.
This story has now become so convoluted, that it wont help either side.
This is pure kaka
Fox debunked this story tonight.
At the bottom of the UN report from the IAEA it states that their seals on the building aren't failproof since there are ventilation shafts in the buildings and the contents of the buildings could be accessed without breaking the UN seals. (Fox had a copy of the forms that the IAEA submitted).
I thought it was supposed to be boxes, not drums.
this is a problem
Exactly. At this point most people are just going to throw up their hands.
Sorry Martha, your report is a lie. Try again...
http://washtimes.com/national/20041028-122637-6257r.htm
good questions
Time for the 'pajamahadeen' to go to work.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1260610/posts?q=1&&page=51
#59 on has tape and stills...
I honestly don't think voters care much about this issue.
Kerry has relatives that work for ABC!
Whats going to happen is 60 minutes will still do their show on Monday, showing all the evidence only to conclude that it was taken after we took over the site. But I swear, if this ends up costing Bush the election, some heads need to roll in the media. This a total hit job and nothing but BS. There mine as well not even be a media anymore.
wasn't that the whole Rove strategy????
The death throws of cornered RATS.
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