AP: Al-Qaqaa Commander Theorizes on Weapons

[Bossy Monkey]

Oct 27, 9:35 PM EDT

Al-Qaqaa Commander Theorizes on Weapons

By JOHN J. LUMPKIN
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The infantry commander whose troops first captured the Iraqi weapons depot where 377 tons of explosives disappeared said Wednesday it is "very highly improbable" that someone could have trucked out so much material once U.S. forces arrived in the area.

Two major roads that pass near the Al-Qaqaa installation were filled with U.S. military traffic in the weeks after April 3, 2003, when U.S. troops first reached the area, said Col. David Perkins. He commanded the 2nd Brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division, the division that led the charge into Baghdad.

Perkins and others in the military acknowledged that some looting at the site had taken place. But he said a large-scale operation to remove the explosives using trucks almost certainly would have been detected.

Perkins, now a staff officer at the Pentagon, was made available to reporters by Defense Department spokesmen. Perkins' account comes in the middle of a furious exchange of accusations between the campaigns of President Bush and Sen. John Kerry over what happened to the missing explosives.

(more)
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_IRAQ_WEAPONS?SITE=SCCOL&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

According to a Google search, just about every paper in the country has picked this up; where they'll run it is another question, of course. Alas, you have to read to the very last paragraph to pick up the only important or persuasive point: invasion authorities didn't search the site until May 8; a new record for burying the lead, I'm thinking.

[jimshoes]

1. Hint to Colonel Perkins,

Please keep in mind you may have a new boss in less than a week. Consider your comments well.

[never cry wolf]

2. Was the place guarded or not!

10 iraqis a night toting of a few hundred each pounds over the course of a year could have cleaned the place out easily.

Was it guarded? EVER!