CNN - Report: Explosives already gone when U.S. troops arrived

[Chicago Democrat]

Report: Explosives already gone when U.S. troops arrived
NBC News says its crew was embedded with soldiers at time
Tuesday, October 26, 2004 Posted: 1:45 AM EDT (0545 GMT)

Officials fear the missing explosives could be used in bombings like those occurring regularly in Iraq.

(CNN) -- The mystery surrounding the disappearance of 380 tons of powerful explosives from a storage depot in Iraq has taken a new twist, after a network embedded with the U.S. military during the invasion of Iraq reported that the material had already vanished by the time American troops arrived.

NBC News reported that on April 10, 2003, its crew was embedded with the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division when troops arrived at the Al Qaqaa storage facility south of Baghdad.

While the troops found large stockpiles of conventional explosives, they did not find HMX or RDX, the types of powerful explosives that reportedly went missing, according to NBC.

The International Atomic Energy revealed Monday that it had been told two weeks ago by the Iraqi government that 380 tons of HMX and RDX disappeared from Al Qaqaa after Saddam Hussein's government fell


rest at...
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/10/26/iraq.explosives/index.html

[juliagoolia]

1. debunked already repeat

[Chicago Democrat]

5. Look the Freepers are having a circle jerk on this and it needs its own

topic...

[Chicago Democrat]

7. Debunked here, but CNN is running a total fantasy AT 1:45 AM

So that's a different story!

Please contact CNN.. thank you

:)

[Name removed]

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[Name removed]

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[Ramzi Al-Kaboom]

38. HI

Glad to be service

[Name removed]

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[Name removed]

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[ogradda]

2. we've already been thru this

:boring:

[Chicago Democrat]

6. Please write to CNN and get them to change the story please...

I know its late, but they are trying to get out of the responsibility for this.

Like they did for 9/11 and every other fuck up!

[Dem2theMax]

45. I did. A few hours ago. Don't think they'll like what I said --

kinda referred to the Fairness Doctrine and how President Kerry will be putting it back into place and maybe they want to start practicing telling the truth NOW instead of constantly lying for *. :evilgrin:

I like writing to them. They piss me off so much. LOL.

[papau]

3. some source/links on missing tons below give lie to CNN report

Nelson Report newsletter is main source - links below


http://www.nytimes.com/pages/pageone/scan/index.html
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2004_10_...

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2004_10_...

Nelson Report newsletter is a private NEWSLETTER widely read in DC



http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/w-me/2004/oct...

By WILLIAM J. KOLE
ASSOCIATED PRESS
VIENNA, Austria (AP)
<snip>
At the Pentagon, an official who monitors developments in Iraq said U.S.-led coalition troops had searched Al-Qaqaa in the immediate aftermath of the March 2003 invasion and confirmed that the explosives, under IAEA seal since 1991, were intact. Thereafter, the site was not secured by U.S. forces, the official said, also speaking on condition of anonymity.
The Iraqis told the nuclear agency the materials were stolen and looted because of a lack of security at governmental installations, Fleming said.
"We do not know what happened to the explosives or when they were looted," she told AP.

[BUSHOUT]

11. Yes...but it is an anonymous source. I accept it myself, but...

they're obviously playing poker at this stage of the game.

If they can convince the media/public that the stuff was gone before they arrived, then they're off the hook.

It's the new angle.

[papau]

50. not quite an anonymous source - the Pentagon, the UN -

April 05, 2003

<snip>

Closer to Baghdad, troops at Iraq's largest military industrial complex found nerve agent antidotes, documents describing chemical warfare and a white powder that appeared to be used for explosives.

UN weapons inspectors went repeatedly to the vast al Qa Qaa complex, most recently on March 8. But they found nothing during spot visits to some of the 1,100 buildings at the site 40 kilometres south of Baghdad.

Col. John Peabody, engineer brigade commander of the 3rd Infantry Division, said troops found thousands of five-centimetre by 12-centimetre boxes, each containing three vials of white powder, together with documents written in Arabic that dealt with how to engage in chemical warfare.

A senior U.S. official familiar with initial testing said the powder was believed to be explosives. The finding would be consistent with the plant's stated production capabilities in the field of basic raw materials for explosives and propellants.


http://www.globalsecurity.org/org/news/2003/030405-chem-readiness01.htm

[papau]

73. Will US Media dare to report this AP Wire conjecture? Insurgents got 400T!

Will US Media dare to report this AP Wire conjecture? Insurgents got 400T!

Insurgents could possess up to 400 tons of the deadly materials often used in bombs

By William J. Kole, Associated Press

VIENNA, Austria -- The U.N. nuclear agency warned Monday that insurgents in Iraq may have obtained nearly 400 tons of missing explosives that can be used in the kind of car bomb attacks that have targeted U.S.-led coalition forces for months.
<snip>

The disappearance raised questions about why the United States didn't do more to secure the Al-Qaqaa facility 30 miles south of Baghdad and failed to allow full international inspections to resume after the March 2003 invasion.
<snip>

Al-Qaqaa is near Youssifiyah, an area rife with ambush attacks. An Associated Press Television News crew that drove past the compound Monday saw no visible security at the gates of the site, a jumble of low-slung, yellow-colored storage buildings that appeared deserted.
<snip>

Insurgents targeting coalition forces in Iraq have made widespread use of plastic explosives in a bloody spate of car bomb attacks. Officials were unable to link the missing explosives directly to the recent car bombings, but the revelations that they could have fallen into enemy hands caused a stir in the last week of the U.S. presidential campaign.
<snip>
http://www.trivalleyherald.com/Stories/0,1413,86~10669~2492592,00.html

[papau]

72. Will US Media dare to report this AP Wire conjecture? Insurgents got 400T!

Will US Media dare to report this AP Wire conjecture? Insurgents got 400T!

Insurgents could possess up to 400 tons of the deadly materials often used in bombs

By William J. Kole, Associated Press

VIENNA, Austria -- The U.N. nuclear agency warned Monday that insurgents in Iraq may have obtained nearly 400 tons of missing explosives that can be used in the kind of car bomb attacks that have targeted U.S.-led coalition forces for months.
<snip>

The disappearance raised questions about why the United States didn't do more to secure the Al-Qaqaa facility 30 miles south of Baghdad and failed to allow full international inspections to resume after the March 2003 invasion.
<snip>

Al-Qaqaa is near Youssifiyah, an area rife with ambush attacks. An Associated Press Television News crew that drove past the compound Monday saw no visible security at the gates of the site, a jumble of low-slung, yellow-colored storage buildings that appeared deserted.
<snip>

Insurgents targeting coalition forces in Iraq have made widespread use of plastic explosives in a bloody spate of car bomb attacks. Officials were unable to link the missing explosives directly to the recent car bombings, but the revelations that they could have fallen into enemy hands caused a stir in the last week of the U.S. presidential campaign.
<snip>
http://www.trivalleyherald.com/Stories/0,1413,86~10669~2492592,00.html

[Chicago Democrat]

4. THIS IS A LIE! COMPLAIN TO CNN! See TPM reaction!

Marshall writes...

(October 26, 2004 -- 02:10 AM EDT // link // print)
I'm working on a final update for the evening on the al Qaqaa issue. But I notice that CNN has picked up the NBC news report that the explosives were already gone when the first troops arrived.

NBC, they say, "reports that the material had already vanished by the time American troops and an NBC crew arrived there on April 10, 2003."

You guys are awfully gullible. Did it strike you guys as odd that MSNBC doesn't even appear to have picked up this "report"?

Setting aside the matter of whether a detachment from the 101st Airborne and an NBC news crew would have been able to make that determination, they weren't the first US troops there.

The first American troops on the scene (from the 3rd Infantry Division) came a week earlier, on April 4th and they found lots of
explosives at the (complex)

Snip

see...

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/

[LynnTheDem]

8. 'Cept that's NOT what the NBC report actually says.

NBC report:

At the Pentagon, an official who monitors developments in Iraq said U.S.-led coalition troops had searched Al Qaqaa in the immediate aftermath of the March 2003 invasion and confirmed that the explosives were intact. Thereafter the site was not secured by U.S. forces, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6326367

[Chicago Democrat]

9. Even worse! please point that out to CNN...America's most untrustworthy

news source!

Thank you

[Nordic]

13. [e-mail]

[e-mail]

He's their news chief. Write him. He reads them because he's written me back a few times.

Let him have it. I fucking hate CNN like I can't even tell you.

I may hate them more than George Bush. Bush can't help what he is. He was born a spineless little ass-kisser. He's a weak man who got shoe-horned into whatever he's into.

CNN is supposed to be part of the country's free press and they have a goddamn responsibility.

[secdiego]

17. Which NBC report?

There's apparently two reports here. One based on the 18-month-old recollection of an anonymous source on one of hundreds of ammo dumps in Iraq, and one based on first-hand reports of an NBC reporter embedded with the US troops who first inspected this particular site (and who undoubtedly has video confirming what he remembers).

If there really is a "debunk" of this, please post a link to the site.

Thx

[cubsfan forever]

58. Welcome Freeper!

You folks can't even get your LIES straight. Back to fantasy world for you.

Professor 2

[cubsfan forever]

71. See post #67

Try not to be intimidated by all of those big words.

Professor 2

[Ramzi Al-Kaboom]

25. NBC Evening news

"But these troops never found the nearly 380 tons of some of the most powerful conventional explosives, called HMX and RDX, which is now missing. The U.S. troops did find large stockpiles of more conventional weapons, but no HMX or RDX."

[Name removed]

32. Deleted message

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[Ramzi Al-Kaboom]

36. Propaganda?

I really dont see how national news reports and the IEAE 's own report on the matter is propaganda.
And no I'm a moderate person who like to look at both sides of an argument (theres always 3 ya know yours, mine , and the truth somewhere in the middle).
Military no i'm a little outside the upper age limit
As for "true honest politics" I posted legitimate articles and only metioned the U.N. in a bad way NOT Kerry or Bush either one
and I'm called names and jad my patriotism questioned?
Geez take a break

[Was_Immer]

40. I really dont see how Drudge counts as NATIONAL NEWS

I dont see how he counts as a human being to be honest

[kikiek]

51. They aren't even denying it. It just wasn't a priority.

It is well documented that it was there. Securing it was our job. They said their excuse is there were too many to secure. This is more unrealistic planning. Now it's being used to kill our troops. They screwed this Iraq war up big time. Face it. Bush and his gang don't know what the hell they're doing.

[Democat]

10. The mainstream media has no problem lying to help Bush

They debunk truth to hurt Kerry and back up lies to help Bush.

That's what the mainstream U.S. media has become.

It's never been as bad as it is now.

[Nordic]

14. you're right, and they're gonna keep doing it until someone stops them

who's that someone gonna be?

It's gonna be us.

Somehow, some way. We have to bring down the US "news" media.

[Chicago Democrat]

15. At CNN.com hit the "Contact Us" and then go to the CNN.com

form and make sure you reference the above CNN article and please point out that the article is 2nd hand and in error as Josh Marshall says....


Thank you..

[BUSHOUT]

12. THIS IS THE NEW ANGLE! They're banking that the anonymous

source won't have the guts to expose themself before Nov. 2nd.

This portion of so many news items hurts them:

At the Pentagon, an official who monitors developments in Iraq said U.S.-led coalition troops had searched Al-Qaqaa in the immediate aftermath of the March 2003 invasion and confirmed that the explosives, under IAEA seal since 1991, were intact. Thereafter, the site was not secured by U.S. forces, the official said, also speaking on condition of anonymity.

They've decided on a full-frontal denial attack.

[Was_Immer]

16. Well if we all get together and email these bozos maybe they'd be honest!

I did my part, I just email the address listed above. Its funny how CNN is now becoming the second FOX NEWS. Pure Republican propoganda!

[LynnTheDem]

18. WHAT NBC REPORT!!!!!!!

I've so far read THREE reports on NBC; ALL of them refer to the Pentagon official saying the explosives were STILL SEALED and INTACT immediately AFTER the US invasion.

NONE mention any NBC embedded reporter saying HE was with the first group to Al Qaqaa (he wasn't, that's proven fact) and saw no explosives.

So how come there's not a single mention of NBC's embedded reporter on NBC's site?????

[Ramzi Al-Kaboom]

19. NBC

NBC News: Miklaszewski: “April 10, 2003, only three weeks into the war, NBC News was embedded with troops from the Army's 101st Airborne as they temporarily take over the Al Qakaa weapons installation south of Baghdad. But these troops never found the nearly 380 tons of some of the most powerful conventional explosives, called HMX and RDX, which is now missing. The U.S. troops did find large stockpiles of more conventional weapons, but no HMX or RDX, so powerful less than a pound brought down Pan Am 103 in 1988, and can be used to trigger a nuclear weapon. In a letter this month, the Iraqi interim government told the International Atomic Energy Agency the high explosives were lost to theft and looting due to lack of security. Critics claim there were simply not enough U.S. troops to guard hundreds of weapons stockpiles, weapons now being used by insurgents and terrorists to wage a guerrilla war in Iraq.” (NBC’s “Nightly News,” 10/25/04)

[kentuck]

44. "three weeks into the war.." ??

Where were we three weeks into the war ???

[cspiguy]

53. marching toward baghdad and getting shot at by fedayeen

remember the sandstorm and quagmire call?

[psychopomp]

74. Hi conservative spy guy!

;-) :hi: :hurts:

[secdiego]

20. The one on TV

NBC news on television, not MSNBC on the web. I saw the report tonight on NBC news and they had film of US soldiers going into that bunker...I guess they've chosen not to run the story on MSNBC.

[LTRS]

21. The TV report doesn't say they were already gone!

You can watch it on MSNBC video.

http://video.msn.com/video/p.htm

it's the one with David Kay's mug showing on the thumbnail. NO WHERE does that story say they were already gone - just that we didn't find them when they were there that date. Other reports say they left them because they were still under seal. Who knows, but one thing we do know - that CNN report makes an extrapolation that is just not there in the NBC TV news report.

[Name removed]

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[Name removed]

26. Deleted message

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[Name removed]

30. Deleted message

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[Ramzi Al-Kaboom]

24. NBC Evening news

"But these troops never found the nearly 380 tons of some of the most powerful conventional explosives, called HMX and RDX, which is now missing. The U.S. troops did find large stockpiles of more conventional weapons, but no HMX or RDX."

[Name removed]

29. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Ramzi Al-Kaboom]

34. Jan 27 th IAEA

Nope I suppose like you I saw the original story this evening and have been doing some searching. These are what I've found so far.
Looks as if the IAEA took some form of inventory on or about jan 2003.
but all the differing amounts of HE looks to mean they didnt know themselves exactly how much and what kind was where on what day.
Does it hurt Bush?...not really
Does it help Kerry?...not really
Does it look like the U.N. are poor accountants?
Betweeen this and Oil for Food I'd have to say yes.

[Name removed]

35. Deleted message

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[Ramzi Al-Kaboom]

37. Oil

Yeah all this oil fighting is sure making it abundant and cheap!
When the world consumes as much as the wells can produce, we either find new sources, find another source(electric..solar...ect), or we'll all be fighting for it. Oil is in everthing you know
almost all plastics cannot be made with out petro products and by-products, medicines too.

[Name removed]

39. Deleted message

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[Media_Lies_Daily]

56. Hey, sparky...the goal wasn't to make oil cheaper and more abundant....

...the goal was to jack up the price of oil to maximize profits, AND to consolidate all known OPEC oil reserves. Take a look at where our troop are involved around the world, and you'll find that OIL is the target, not terrorists.

Along with the massive corporate tax cuts, Big Oil should be laughing all the way to the bank.

[trapper914]

47. I know the Right's current talking points...

...involve trumpeting "Oil For Food" as a justification for war, but don't you think you should at least wait until there's a real investigation of those allegations?

Paul Volcker is the lead investigator, and at last check, has not been given access to the documents from where the allegations originate. Who has the documents? Ahmed Chalabi--criminal, serial liar, and Iranian spy.

Maybe the UN was corrupt, but I'll wait for a real investigation, rather than taking Hannity's, Beck's, Savage's, Boortz's, or Limbaugh's word for it.

[grumpy old fart]

64. And what of U.S. corporations?

It will also be interesting to see what U.S. corporations will be involved in the scandal. It would be hard to believe that U.S. corporate creeps would be left out in the cold when there's graft to be had.

[MattP]

27. Morning shows

Both mnbc and cnn morning shows don't mention any new details to the story so I don't think anything is coming out the White house b.s.

[truthisfreedom]

28. yet another article online that says international atomic energy agency

says the explosives were taken AFTER the invasion started.

----------

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/story/246296p-210983c.html

Bushies guilty of a big bang snafu in Iraq

BY HELEN KENNEDY in Dover, N.H.,
and JAMES GORDON MEEK in Washington
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU


The Bush White House admitted yesterday it let 380 tons of high-powered explosives stockpiled near Baghdad get swiped right from under its nose, an error that John Kerry leaped at as "one of the great blunders of the Bush policy in Iraq."

The Democrat called the stunning report of the missing munitions proof that President Bush's argument that he can keep America safer is bunk.

"The unbelievable incompetence of this administration ... has put our troops at greater and greater risk," Kerry told supporters at a Philadelphia rally. "George W. Bush has failed the test of commander-in-chief."

The missing HMX, RDX and PETN-type military-grade explosives vanished sometime after the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, the International Atomic Energy Agency said.

[truthisfreedom]

31. all i can figure is that some of the press is complicit with bushco in

spreading the lies that the explosives were missing before the invasion.

[Sinnerman]

43. CNN.. Another Lie Hoe can they get away with it

[0007]

46. Cnn and the White House are in complete unison with their

misinformation and down right lies, while the freeper monkeys keep beat !

[Q]

48. Disinformation...

...and this is exactly why half of America still believes that Iraq was involved in 9-11.

- Stories like this are meant to confuse and place doubt on the original story.

[wrate]

76. Exactly. The damage is already done. Which is not to say that this

shouldn't be investigated until the truth is uncovered. But, politically speaking, the * mafia got away with another one, at least as far as 49% of Americans goes because according to them, the 380 tons of ammunition weren't there by the time the U.S. invaded. Sad but true.

[DoYouEverWonder]

49. Too bad that on 04/05/03 they reported that they did find explosives

April 05, 2003

<snip>

Closer to Baghdad, troops at Iraq's largest military industrial complex found nerve agent antidotes, documents describing chemical warfare and a white powder that appeared to be used for explosives.

UN weapons inspectors went repeatedly to the vast al Qa Qaa complex, most recently on March 8. But they found nothing during spot visits to some of the 1,100 buildings at the site 40 kilometres south of Baghdad.

Col. John Peabody, engineer brigade commander of the 3rd Infantry Division, said troops found thousands of five-centimetre by 12-centimetre boxes, each containing three vials of white powder, together with documents written in Arabic that dealt with how to engage in chemical warfare.

A senior U.S. official familiar with initial testing said the powder was believed to be explosives. The finding would be consistent with the plant's stated production capabilities in the field of basic raw materials for explosives and propellants.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/org/news/2003/030405-chem-readiness01.htm

[maddezmom]

54. they admit they found them and yesterday scotty potty admit they lost them

and yet the media allows the spin....ACK!!

[Beetwasher]

52. So, HOW DOES THIS SQUARE W/ THE AP REPORT?!!!!

It doesn't...I'm reminded of a fish flopping around out of water here for some reason...Sooooo pathetic, but go ahead dumbasses! Keep it in the news!

[abburdlen]

55. BREAKING NEWS!

my dog ate them.

admiistration spinning every angle until they can find one that sticks.

[byronm]

57. I wrote the editor at CNN - story no longer on front page

The afformentioned story is no longer linked from the home page - hopefully they're cleaning up there obviously biased reporting to present the facts instead of anonymous presumptions.

Keep the heat on CNN for there obvious bias!

[cubsfan forever]

59. Maybe they think

they have already accomplished their "throw it against the wall and see if it sticks" mission. What a bunch of W****s

Professor 2

[donkeyotay]

60. this seems like classic CNN Pravda but even if you buy their story

Yesterday the WH said * just found out about this like Oct 15th, 2004. Now they're claiming this stuff was missing back in early 2003. So, is the shrub just permanently out of the loop? He doesn't seem to know much of anything that goes on in his WH.

Maybe Clinton did it. Maybe Clinton's penis did it. No wonder Clinton looks thin and pale. They said he was in the hospital, but maybe he was outside of Bahgdad moving all those explosives... yeah, all that fancy satellite survellience would have spotted semis... so it was Clinton using a dolly. No! Lots and lots of dollies... and George just found out about it. Yeah, that's it.

[MacDo]

61. I just want it found. n/t

[young_at_heart]

62. Soldiers and family members must be angry at all the confusion

Who is telling the truth? I'd be fuming if I had a loved one over there!

[Webster Green]

63. No shit!

Why would any of them vote for smirky?

[robbedvoter]

65. Like with 911, the Clenis did it!

Joseph Wilson spoke of this blunder way back when publicizing the Plame case - which is still under wraps, BTW.

[grumpy old fart]

66. link?

got a link for this statement?

[milkyway]

67. Josh Marshall thoroughly debunks this nonsense. Too bad CNN doesn't

have any reporters of their own, just government stenographers.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2004_10_24.php#003800

[Chicago Democrat]

68. Josh Marshall- My Hero!! nt

[Supersedeas]

69. CNN a tradition like only one other - FAUX

[Arioch]

70. Got a reply from CNN that they are

showing conflicting versions.

Can anyone confirm?

Reply:

"CNN is not broadcasting a false report. It's an account of a journalist who was at the site. CNN is reporting conflicting versions of the story, too."

-----Original Message-----
From: ********************
Sent: Tuesday, October 26, 2004 11:22 AM
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Why CNN, why?


Why are you broadcasting a false story about an excuse for the Iraqi
explosives mishandling?

Why are you reporting something that has no possibility of verification
and in fact contradicts Pentagon reports on the weapons cache?

What has happened to CNN?

Regards,
A former CNN loyalist,
*** ******

[indie_voter]

75. There is no conflict

According to the reports at the time, around April 4th troops saw the explosives.

April 10th, the reporter didn't see the explosives (did she go to all the buildings? Would she know what to look for?)

Some time between 4th-10th the explosives disappeared (if the reporter is accurate).

CNN is editorializing baseless conclusions that the explosions were gone pior to ANY troops visiting the site. This conclusion isn't supported by the record.

[BlueScreen]

77. Copy of the email I just sent

Good Morning, Mr. Jordan.

I write to express my disappointment with CNN. You continue to mislead viewers by claiming that the missing 380 tons of HMX and RDX explosives in Iraq were stolen before American troops assumed responsibility for the Al Qaqaa facility. This is supposedly substantiated by NBC, who arrived with the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division in 2003 and noted that they did not find any HMX or RDX at that time.

What about the other story that MSNBC is running, in which a Pentagon official responsible for monitoring developments in Iraq claimed that U.S.-led coalition troops had searched Al Qaqaa in the immediate aftermath of the March 2003 invasion and confirmed that the HMX and RDX explosives were intact? The site was later not secured by U.S. forces, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

(http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6326367)

CNN owes its viewers the straight story. Several media pundits are attempting to use the spun version of events to attack John Kerry's credibility. Even if the jury is still out on what exactly happened with the weapons, CNN should tell its viewers that <u>the jury is still out</u>, that important questions remain. Instead, it appears that you have decided on NBC's first claim that US troops did not lose the weapons through their own negligence, and this will unfairly lead voters to believe the pundits when they attack Kerry.

Sincerely,
Sagar Jethani