MSNBC: Timing of theft of Iraq explosives remains a mystery (NBC retreats)

[Tesibria]

i.e., explaining away NBC's report last night
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6323933/

Timing of theft of Iraq explosives remains a mystery U.S. troops didn't find materiel in initial search

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.

It remains unclear, however, how extensively the U.S. forces searched the site in the immediate aftermath of the invasion to topple Saddam Hussein.

...

[maddezmom]

1. better be front and center in all their broadcasts...and CNN should report

the flip-flop the way they reported the first story.

[maddezmom]

20. NBC's Embedded Reporter Saw No Explosives Search :link

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041026/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_weapons_nbc&cid=540&ncid=1480

[JuniorPlankton]

2. Mystery?

It's not about the exact timing.
It's about who was responsible, and there is no mystery there!

:mad:

[Infomaniac]

3. Isn't materiel spelled material?

The NBC News crew obviously can't find a spell check program either.

[LisaM]

6. No, that's a military term. n/t

[amazona]

8. you can spell it either way

The pronunciation is different based on the spelling though. Materiel puts the emphasis on the "el" at the end. Material puts it on the second syllable like in "Material Girl."

[Goldmund]

9. No, check it out

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=materiel

[BOSSHOG]

11. Materiel is the correct spelling

In this case, It is not NBC who needs to refer to a dictionary.

[underpants]

4. W is getting PLAYED by the Pentagon (leak) and ElBaradei

ElBaradei told the council the IAEA had kept the theft quiet since learning of it from Iraqi authorities on Oct. 10 to give the U.S.-led multinational force and Iraq’s interim government “an opportunity to attempt to recover the explosives before this matter was put into the public domain.”

[russiamommy]

27. This kills me

Why did NOBODY know that this stuff was missing? Did they really go 18 months before looking for this stuff that everyone knew was supposed to be there??!!

[indie_voter]

5. Howard Dean is right. We do have the power.

Without DU, Kos, Talkingpointmemo and the rest, the media would have covered *'s behind.

After November 2nd, demanding accountability from our media is the next battlefront.

[jhain]

16. Yes.

n/t

[coreystone]

33. Roger That!! OUT! n/t

[jn2375]

7. CNN is good at pulling Dan Rathers on us

[Bandit]

23. Not sure exactly what is meant by that reply

If it means putting material out without completely doing the homework then I guess I could agree. If you are inferring that material is being deliberately put out falsly then I do not agree. CNN may do so deliberately but Rather did not do so.

[0007]

28. Good point!

[tridim]

10. It's no mystery

that the WH should know the answer to all these questions without stalling and doing more research. IMO it's a coverup no matter how you look at it. Where are the satellite images of trucks/people/whatever looting the stuff?

[nolabels]

13. It would be impossible for them not to know

Translation: never give a hammer to an imbecile

[soleft]

12. The attempted cover up isn't a mystery tho, is it oh liberal media

[juliagoolia]

14. THE BASIC QUESTION

WHY DONT THEY KNOW WHERE THEY ARE??????????

DID we not go in to secure nasty weapons?

Was this location NOT on the list????

WHY DONT THEY KNOW WHERE THEY ARE???

AND IF THEY ARE MISSING>> WHy ARE WE JUST NOW HEARING ABOUT IT?

[leftchick]

18. they do not know where they are and don't care....

We did not go in to get those nasty weapons that was the ruse. We went for the Oil.

They had lots of places including this to guard and they did not. Too may more oil installations to guard.

I am guessing what we all are. Those weapons are being used daily by the reisitance against our troops and collaborators. The difference is, they don't care or they would have guarded them.

They are great at cover -ups but this one is a HUGE mistake that will bite them in the ASS!

I promise! :)

[DodgerzFan]

32. War for Oil? Uh no.

Leftchick--

You say in your post we went to Iraq for the oil. Answer me this then. If we went for the oil, then why have we not started pumping it out and exporting it. We've been in Iraq for over 18 months now. Gas is close to or over $2.00/gallon all across the country. President Bush could start exporting it and drive oil prices down to where gas could be extremely cheap. Why hasn't he? Hmmmm, maybe because it wasn't a war for oil?

[wickerwoman]

35. Well, War for Profits for Oil Companies doesn't have quite the same ring.

It was never about securing cheap gas for the U.S. It was about bombing the shit out of Iraq and then paying companies like Halliburton billions of dollars to rebuild it.

And he is selling the gas, he's just not using the money to drive down oil prices for common Americans. Why would he want to do that? He's using it to disguise the real cost of his foolish war and to line the pocket of his oil industry buds.

And sending a message to other OPEC nations thinking about trading oil in Euros instead of dollars.

[leftchick]

36. uh, yeah it is a "WAR FOR OIL AND WAR PROFITEERS"!

bezdomny summed it up quite nicely but let me add. Companies that rebuild the pipelines and oil installations that get bombed daily, make a great deal of US TAX DOLLARS rebuilding! It is a very viscious yet very profitable cycle. Let's see, now can you guess the company the US picked to rebuild those installations? Sure, I know you can.....

[DoYouEverWonder]

22. Yes this was a major (possible) WMD location and we were there on 04/05/03

Funny thing was at the time we were claiming that we found evidence that Saddam had chemical weapons because of the materiels and documents that we found there.


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

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.

[dave502d]

29. They show this on the News,I remember seeing it.

They said it was explosives.

[Sideways]

37. David Bloom Was The Embedded Journalist W/3rd He Died April 6

Of a pulmonary embolism. This connection is bugging me......A LOT! What did he see? Were the troops ordered to "take" the explosives? It would explain why they were "missing" just days later.

I think the military knows exactly where those explosives went. I'll stop there.....just follow the money...and put your cynic/tinfoil hat on.

[maddezmom]

15. MSNBC doing a report now...doesn't sound like they are backing away

pretty much saying Saddam stole his own weapons before May 27th(?)

[Zen Democrat]

17. IAEA warned Bush administration that explosives site must be secured

and made it a top priority. If we failed to do that, by negligence, by going in with too few forces, or whatever ... if we failed to secure this site after being warned by the IAEA that it was Priority 1, then the Chimp is cooked.

Especially since the troops are ran in to secure the oilfields.

[The_Casual_Observer]

19. The rw media have these weapons in the hands of the Syrians

by way of truck caravans done back in January of 2003. I have heard this along with the "Kerry uses news headlines!!!" in several different places today, so this must be the latest rw talking points courtesy of rover & co.

[skip fox]

21. NBC reporter: No search!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x933834

[HerbieHeadhunter]

24. Any word whether CNN is going issue a correction story...

since it got burned by Drudge.....once again.

[HerbieHeadhunter]

25. My email to CNN requesting a correction story...

I'm curious if CNN is going to retract reporting it did on CNN and www.cnn.com on the missing 380 tons of high explosives at Al Qua Qaa in Iraq. CNN reported that the explosives were missing prior to the invasion based on an NBC news report and a report by the Internet gossip site the drudgereportcom. NBC news has pulled the plug on that story, noting that the 101st Airborne group that went through Al Qua Qaa on Oct 10th which had an NBC inbedded reporter, was not the first US Army group to be at Al Qua Qaa, and, that the aforementioned NBC inbedded reporter has stated today that no search of Al Qua Qaa was completed and the time spent there was simply a "pit stop" on the road to Baghdad. Indeed, as widely reported in the press in April 2003, explosives were found by the first group into Al Qua Qaa several days before Oct. 10th.

It seems that since NBC has pulled the plug on the story today, and that now indeed it does appear that the explosives were looted after the invasion, and not before as CNN reported, that CNN ought to issue a retraction.

CNN owes this correction for its viewers.

[indie_voter]

26. You mean April 10th, not Oct right? Otherwise great letter. n/t

[stevietheman]

34. CNN indeed retreated

http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/10/26/iraq.weapons.nbc.ap/index.html

[Supersedeas]

30. oh no....Dan Rather should be fired for this!!!

[Cronus Protagonist]

31. It's a huge load of qaqaa