Hundreds of Tons of Explosives Missing In Iraq

**Garrick** · October 26, 2004, 12:37:38 PM

ummm yeah... how about those missing weapons being missing before american troops ever went over to iraq. the democrats are just trying to use catastrophic means to sway voters at the last minute. i'm not sure how anyone can be blamed for something that happened before they ever intervened.

this news is over a year old...

**BSully828** · October 26, 2004, 01:04:30 PM

Re: Hundreds of Tons of Explosives Missing In Iraq

The timing of this "report" is extraordinary - but it is old news. That storage unit, along with others, was cleared out long before the troops got in there.

Another side to the story

"Although Kerry and the Democrats are blaming the Bush administration for losing the ammo, calling it "one of the great blunders" of the Iraq war, recent reports by NBC show that the material was gone from that locale when the 101st Airborne Division rolled into Iraq to depose of Saddam Hussein"

And from MSNBC

"An NBC News crew that accompanied U.S. soldiers who seized the Al-Qaqaa base three weeks into the war in Iraq reported that troops discovered significant stockpiles of bombs, but no sign of the missing HMX and RDX explosives.

You conspiracy theorists should be having a field day with this one - but what if WMD's were a part of this missing cache? What weapons were in that bunker? Where are those weapons now?! What if they shipped them off to some place like Syria until it's safe to bring them back?!? Open your eyes, Open your EYES!!

**Umar** · October 26, 2004, 01:22:52 PM

Re: Hundreds of Tons of Explosives Missing In Iraq

Its all a cover up! Do you suppose this missing cache can be used by the so-called terrorists to strike to the advantage of people using these "terrorists"?
How else can u explain their disappearance?

**Jun_K** · October 26, 2004, 01:52:02 PM

Re: Hundreds of Tons of Explosives Missing In Iraq

THOSE Idiots relying on CNN,NBC,CBS for their info on any WMD knowledge are SOO informed!

Iraqi Freedom?????????? BUZZ WORD!!!!!!

No ONe Gave a FOCK about the Iraqi people, especially those souls in this forum that 'choose' to believe in BUSH...

US troops ALLOWED mobs to loot and destroy the Ministry of Planning,Ministry of Education, Ministry of Irrigation, Ministry of Trade, Ministry of Industry, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Culture, and Ministry of Information...as well as the PRICELESS historical treasures from the Museums.

Yet 100s of marines deployed to defend 2 ministries thus remained undamaged - Ministry of Oil and Ministry of the Interior (Intel).

WMDS? Iraq isn't about Oil??

**Garrick** · October 26, 2004, 02:01:56 PM

Re: Hundreds of Tons of Explosives Missing In Iraq

Originally posted by Jun_K";p="

Iraqi Freedom?????????? BUZZ WORD!!!!!!

No ONe Gave a FOCK about the Iraqi people, especially those souls in this forum that 'choose' to believe in BUSH...

^ i don't give a shit about iraqi freedom. what i DO give a shit about is keeping the war off of american soil. iraqi freedom isn't the only reason we're over there, dude.

**toasty** · October 28, 2004, 10:51:00 PM

Re: Hundreds of Tons of Explosives Missing In Iraq

uh, the idea that the weapons may have already been gone is one of the potential theories offered by the Pentagon -- at this point, it isn't clear when the weapons disappeared. NBC ran a follow-up to make it clear that it was not stating that the weapons were already gone when we invaded, only that that was among the potential scenarios...

Assume for a moment that the Pentagon's theory is correct and that the weapons, which we were evidently aware of before the war, were gone when we got there. Why is it that Condi was just made aware of this a month ago, and Bush even more recently?

**Balanc3** · October 29, 2004, 12:08:49 AM

Re: Hundreds of Tons of Explosives Missing In Iraq

Originally posted by Jun_K

US troops ALLOWED mobs to loot and destroy the Ministry of Planning,Ministry of Education, Ministry of Irrigation, Ministry of Trade, Ministry of Industry, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Culture, and Ministry of Information...as well as the PRICELESS historical treasures from the Museums.

uhhh, ooook..... . The looting was taking place as our troops were working their way into Baghdad and while we were trying to claim control of some of the most chaotic cities- shit had already hit the fan. Do you even know any of the soldiers that were actually on the front line, those who dropped in northern iraq or drove into Baghdad? Have you gotten their opinions, cause we aren't a bunch of fucking sheep. And those oil fields, oh those precious oil fields... yeah we got to them first, they are in the fucking Desert! And if this war really was about oil, Americans sure haven't seen any of this. But I bet Germany, France, and Russia are still swimming in Iraqi oil. We have always imported less than 3% of our oil from Iraq, this has not changed. If there was a dictatorship in America and we were suddenly liberated- you can bet your ass we would be out in the streets looting the hell out of shit, taking back what was rightfully ours - April 29, 1992...
You are either misinformed or uneducated Jun_K. You should come excercize your cakehole more often

**toasty** · October 29, 2004, 10:18:55 AM

Re: Hundreds of Tons of Explosives Missing In Iraq

Update from the AP wire:

Video May Show Explosives at Al-Qaqaa

29 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Videotape shot by a Minnesota television crew traveling with U.S. troops in Iraq (news - web sites) when they first opened the bunkers at the Al-Qaqaa munitions base nine days after the fall of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) shows what appeared to be high explosives still in barrels and bearing the markings of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The video taken by KSTP of St. Paul on April 18, 2003, could reinforce suggestions that tons of explosives missing from a munitions installation in Iraq were looted after the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq. The video was broadcast nationally Thursday on ABC.

"The photographs are consistent with what I know of Al-Qaqaa," David A. Kay, a former American official who directed the hunt in Iraq for unconventional weapons and visited the site, told The New York Times. "The damning thing is the seals. The Iraqis didn't use seals on anything. So I'm absolutely sure that's an IAEA seal."

The question of what happened to the tons of explosives has become a major issue in the closing days of the presidential campaign.

Democrat John Kerry (news - web sites) says the missing explosives ? powerful enough to demolish a building, bring down a jetliner or set off a nuclear weapon ? are another example of the Bush administration's poor planning and incompetence in handling the war in Iraq. President Bush (news - web sites) says the explosives were possibly removed by Saddam's forces before the invasion.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld entered the debate Thursday, suggesting the 377 tons of explosives were taken away before U.S. forces arrived, saying any large effort to loot the material afterward would have been detected.

"We would have seen anything like that," he said in one of two radio interviews he gave at the Pentagon (news - web sites). "The idea it was suddenly looted and moved out, all of these tons of equipment, I think is at least debatable."

The Pentagon also declassified and released a single image, taken by reconnaissance aircraft or satellite just days before the war, showing two trucks outside one of the dozens of storage bunkers at the Al-Qaqaa munitions base.

The particular bunker is not one known to have contained any of the missing explosives, and Pentagon spokesman Larry Di Rita said the image only shows that there was some Iraqi activity at the base when it was taken, on March 17. Di Rita said the image says nothing about what happened to the explosives.

Rumsfeld, in one radio interview, also cast doubt on the suggestion of one of his subordinates that Russian forces assisted the Iraqis in removing them.

John Shaw, the deputy U.S. undersecretary of defense for international technology security, suggested to The Washington Times in an interview that the Russians may have been involved, prompting an angry denial from Moscow.

Rumsfeld said, "I have no information on that at all, and cannot validate that even slightly."

But at issue is whether the weapons were moved before or after U.S. forces occupied that region of the country in early April. No one has been able to provide conclusive evidence either way, although Iraqi officials blamed it on poor U.S. security after Baghdad fell.

The Pentagon has said it's looking into the matter, and officials note that 400,000 tons of recovered Iraqi munitions have either been destroyed or are slated to be destroyed.

I know that Bushies are crying foul at the timing of this announcement, but seriously, if Bush's administration IN FACT allowed a munitions dump of that size go unguarded, they really need to go. That is an inexcusable lack of planning. We're not talking about solidiers defending the weapons but losing -- we're talking about someone coming and taking them because they were unguarded, which falls squarely on the shoulders of those responsible for organization and strategy...

**Balanc3** · October 29, 2004, 11:45:48 AM

Soldier to brief reporters at Pentagon within the hour that he was tasked with removing explosives from al QaQaa and he and his unit removed 200+ tons... Officer was ordered to join the 101st airborne on April 13 -- to destroy conventional explosives at the al QaQaa complex... developing...

MAJOR: WE REMOVED 200+ TONS OF EXPLOSIVES FROM FACILITY

http://www.washtimes.com/national/20...5519-3700r.htm (with satellite photos)

Video Shows G.I.'s at Weapon Cache (Published 2004)

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/29/politics/29bomb.html?ei=5065&en=9b3f4b6995f82009&ex=1099627200&partner=MYWAY&pagewanted=print&position=

Videotape made by television crew with American troops when they opened bunkers at sprawling Iraqi munitions complex shows huge supply of explosives still there nine days after fall of Saddam Hussein, apparently including some sealed earlier by International Atomic Energy Agency; tape appears to confirm warning earlier this month from Iraqi officials to IAEA that hundreds of tons of high-grade explosives vanished from Al Qaqaa site after invasion of Iraq following massive looting; issue is raised in American presidential campaign, with Sen John Kerry accusing Pres Bush of incompetence, and Bush saying it is unclear when material disappeared; weapons experts familiar with work of international inspectors in Iraq say videotape appears identical to photos inspectors took of explosives, which were put under seal before war; Pentagon spokesman says that in days after IAEA left, when site was still under control of Saddam Hussein, there was 'activity' there before invasion; photo; map (L)

(longer version of Toasties article).

There are SOOOooo many contradictory arguments at this point. But nobody contradicts better than Kerry himself....

Kerry Says Saddam 'Might Be Gone' Had He Been President
Fri Oct 29 2004 10:02:35 ET

NBCNEWS Brokaw interviewed John Kerry Thursday evening.

Brokaw: "If you had been President, Saddam Hussein would be in power."

Kerry: "Not necessarily."

Brokaw: "You said you wouldn't go to war against him."

Kerry: "That's not true. Because under the inspection process, Saddam Hussein was required to destroy those kinds of materials and weapons."

Brokaw: "But he wasn't destroying them."

Kerry: "That's what you have inspectors for. That's why I voted for the threat of force, because he only does things when you have a legitimate threat of force. It's irresponsible to suggest that if I were President, he wouldn't be gone. He might be gone, because if he hadn't complied, we might have had to go to war, but if we did, we would have gone with allies, so the American people weren't carrying the entire burden. And the entire world would understand why we did it."

**Garrick** · October 29, 2004, 12:39:48 PM

matt drudge will get to the bottom of this! :P

**phoenixbass** · November 2, 2004, 04:40:36 PM

how about the what 400,000 tons of explosives WE DID REMOVE...

**Slimshady** · November 4, 2004, 08:06:21 PM

The timing of the announcement certainly appeared to be conspiratorial, but then again atent they all?

Hundreds of Tons of Explosives Missing In Iraq

Hundreds of Tons of Explosives Missing In Iraq

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