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Democrats' October Surprise du jour is the Al Qaqaa ka-ka, whereby the New York Times (yep, them again!) colluded with CBS News (yep, them again!) to assert, at the 11th hour, that U.S. occupation forces in Iraq had permitted terrorists to abscond with 377 tons of explosives from a munitions dump in Al Qaqaa, after the fall of Baghdad. The explosives consisted of HMX (high-melting-point explosive), RDX (rapid-detonation explosive), and PETN (pentaerythritol tetranitrate). All are powerful explosives, but none ever counted as weapons of mass destruction. Coalition forces have so far confiscated and destroyed some 400,000 tons of powerful explosives....

In a noontime press conference today at the Pentagon, Pentagon spokesman Larry Dirita and Army Maj. Austin Pearson, an ammunition management officer who was at the Iraqi ammunition depot Al Qaqaa in spring, 2003 with the Army 3rd Infantry Division, cast doubt on the New York Times/CBS News report alleging that 377 tons of Iraqi munitions had disappeared from the site, after it had come under American control in April, 2003. Maj. Austin estimated that his unit removed 200-250 tons of munitions, and Mr. Dirita emphasized that reports that 141 tons of RDX explosives were at the facility under IAEA...

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...

  Inter-Galactic Edition |  COMRADE SERVICES           Kerry slams Bush over missing Alien Explosives 'One of the great blunders of this administration' PORTSMOUTH, New Hampshire (AP) -- Sen. John Kerry is blaming President Bush for the disappearance of tons of Alien explosives from a Roswell, NM stockpile."And now we know that our country and our troops are less safe because this president failed to do the basics," Kerry said at a campaign appearance in Dover, New Hampshire, on Monday."This is one of the great blunders of Homeland Security, one of the great blunders of this administration. And the incredible incompetence...

Aaron Brown: We saw at the top of the program there is new information to factor in. Pretty conclusive to our eye. So we'll sort through this now. Take the politics out of it and try and deal with facts with former head UN weapons inspector, US weapons inspector, David Kay. David, it’s nice to see you. David Kay: Good to be with you, Aaron. AB: I don't know how better to do this than to show you some pictures have you explain to me what they are or are not. Okay? First what I’ll just call the seal. And...

Senator John Kerry is once again making claims that he cannot substantiate. He charges that President Bush’s “misjudgments” led to the disappearance of 380 tons of explosives from the Iraqi al-Qaqaa facility, and that these explosives have been used against U.S. troops -- even though there is no proof for such accusations. While the Kerry campaign has already released a television ad making such allegations, they simultaneously have backed off from the same charges. Senator Kerry’s TV ad states: The obligation of a Commander in Chief is to keep our country safe. In Iraq, George Bush has overextended our troops...

BUSTED! BUSTED! BUSTED! http://www.dailyrecycler.com/blog/2004/10/nytrogate.htmlIf this link fails to work, just go to the top for the link. You will not believe it!

The Corrections section in the New York Times on Tuesday contained some weighty admissions of error. One correction was that the Times had spelled the first name of Barbara Genther "Barbra." Another correction was that a weather report "listed incorrect times in the section headed 'Sun, Moon and Planets.' The correct times were one hour later than those shown." As Times ombudsmen tended to these consequential corrections, the paper's editorial writers used its now-discredited Monday story on missing explosives in Iraq to slander George Bush's military as incompetents who couldn't guard 380 tons of explosives. No, Jayson Blair hasn't been...

The biggest threat posed by Saddam Hussein is his continued ability to generate biological and chemical weapons - and to conceal this in a giant web of deception. There is a real threat from chemical weapons, and a longer term one from nuclear bombs and missiles, but these are not the prime worry for London and Washington. Iraq's forces still have potent weapons for delivering biological and chemical warheads such as the Scud B missiles used against Saudi Arabia and Israel during Desert Storm in 1991 and the longer range Al Hussain missile fired against Iran in the Gulf war...