These are corrections of the most common errors I am seeing in understanding the missing explosives story.
These explosives have nothing to do with nuclear weapons except that they were purchased as part of Sadaam's 1980s nuke program. CNN keeps saying they can be used to detonate a nuclear weapon. Of course they can... as can any other type of high explosive. These are not in any way nuclear materials. It's high explosive, like what's used in grenades or for commercial building demolition or in mining or a zillion other things. If reporters would simply call these explosives "plastic explosive" everyone would understand the story better.
This material disappeared a year ago, not a month ago. The only reason this is a story today is because the year-long cover-up has collapsed. The COVER UP is the story. Bush refused to cooperate with the UN on this because he didn't want voters in the US to know about the story until after the election and knew the IAEA would publish their findings about the missing material.
Don't forget that the inspectors were in Iraq before we invaded. They inventoried and sealed this material in 2003. (A lot of freeps think the material disappeared after the inspectors left in 1998, forgetting--as freeps always do--that the inspectors were allowed back into the country in 2002)
This is not material that "may be used" for something; this material HAS been used for the last year to blow up hundreds of our soldiers and thousands of Iraqis.
This material was in place when we invaded but was NEVER secured by us. The IAEA tried to do something about it but we refused to let them in because they are part of the UN. They noticed the material was being looted from commercial satellite photos and warned us AGAIN about it. Yet if one reads the NYT article their reporter saw that site still being looted LAST SUNDAY, still with no US guard of any sort.
Everyone on TV (and elsewhere) needs to read the entire NYT story as well as everything on Talking Points Memo.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/25/international/middleeast/25bomb.html?hp&ex=1098676800&en=61cf6e1aa29b7871&ei=5094&partner=homepage
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/