Rumsfeld Suggests Explosives Were Moved (spin baby spin)

[maddezmom]

WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld suggested Thursday that the removal of 377 tons of explosives from an Iraqi munitions base probably took place 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 Thursday 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.

more: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&ncid=736&e=1&u=/ap/20041028/ap_on_re_mi_ea/us_iraq_weapons

A single image....KTSP has video!!!

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - ABC News on Thursday showed video that appeared to confirm that explosives that went missing in Iraq (news - web sites) did not disappear until after the United States had taken control of the facility where they were stored.


The disappearance of the hundreds of tons of explosives from the Al Qaqaa storage facility has become a hotly contested issue in the U.S. presidential campaign.


Democrat John Kerry (news - web sites) said it was an example of President Bush (news - web sites) bungling the Iraq war. Bush countered that Kerry was making wild accusations without knowing the facts.


Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites) said it was possible that the explosives had been removed from the site before the U.S. forces arrived there.


ABC said the video was shot by an affiliate TV station embedded with the 101st Airborne Division when members of the division passed through the facility on April 18, nine days after the fall of Baghdad.

more: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&ncid=578&e=3&u=/nm/20041028/ts_nm/iraq_explosives_abc_dc

[AIJ Alom]

1. This single image shows that Iraqis were getting ready to fight with some

ammo, nothing more. Now KTSP video shows the seals and the weapons still in place.

[On the Road]

19. Right, in the Middle of Fighting a Huge Invasion Force

what in the world would Iraqi military vehicles be doing at an ammunition dump?

:silly:

This is the best Rumsfeld can come up with?

[mom cat]

2. Rumsfeld proves Iraq had two trucks! Wow, That is nifty!!!

:evilgrin:

[peacetalksforall]

3. Once again, I'm forced to ask - if we have satellite imaging that reads

a license plate, why weren't we watching this kind of movement? Did our illustrious DOD turn off the satellites?

[dqueue]

11. Yeah...

Oddly, cheney was leading some training missions that day, you see. And, well, you know he was demonstrating the capabilities of the W1ZBaNG-3 tracking system to bush, meticulously tracking a French waiter who had looked rudely at dick earlier in the day.

Meanwhile, a little known subsidiary of hell-i-burnt-one, just awarded a no-bid contract to prepare the target for attack, struck a brilliant deal with the locals. See, they PAID these guys... these locals, to clear those bunkers out, and make room for the liberators...

</sarcasm>
or something...

[mumon]

4. he is so screwed...

I only hope those guys suing him take him for his last penny.

[MADem]

5. CAUGHT IN ANOTHER BIG LIE

Christ, there is not enough time in the news cycle to list all the BAD NEWS that the weecowboy has endured today!!!

[Eloriel]

6. Rumsfeld needs to check the facts, not to mention the tapes

Bwaaahahahaa

KSTP: XCLUSIVE: MORE BREAKING NEWS ABOUT EXPLOSIVES FOUND IN IRAQ (SEALS)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x940376

OLBERMANN HAS THE TAPE
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x2553115

[The_Casual_Observer]

7. "I think is at least debatable"

No fucker, it happened afterward, and you ought to know it.

Jesus, if I never hear another one of this particular bastard's cute little understatements it will be a fine day. I hope that he gets a taste of some of this shit sometime while driving along the roads outside Baghdad.

[jimshoes]

8. Any one else NOT going to miss Rummy

when he is shown the door. (Hopefully a prison cell door).

[oldtime dfl_er]

9. four words - KSTP

haha

[renegade000]

10. two trucks for 350+ tons of explosives

methinks you are full of bullsh*t

[riverwalker]

17. that's exactly what I yelled at Paula Zahn

Just 2 little trucks seen on the satellite photos. They say it would have taken at least 38 ten ton trucks to haul it away.

[snippy]

12. If Bush and Rumsfeld watched as Saddam removed munitions from

storage two days before Bush invaded, why didn't they keep watching to see where the munitions went? More than 1,100 American families with a folded American flag that once covered a coffin might like to know the answer to that question.

Bush and Rumsfeld are saying that they did not give a shit about the location of munitions that could be used to kill and maim US troops.

[WordSalad]

13. But what Rummy failed to consider it would still look BAD for admin

If the trucks were seen just a few days before the invasion at a site known to have all this explosive material, and identified by the IAEA as highly important to secure, wouldn't it have seemed reasonable for the order to be given to secure the facility? To make sure that any trucks that were removing material only a few days before the invasion were tracked down? Wouldn't one think that they would keep track of these things? So, even the Pentagon's spin on the situation only shows the administration's incompetence.

This is all presuming that the weapons really were taken before the war, which I notice all those involved at the Pentagon are taking great care to only IMPLY, not state with any certainty. It may not matter anyway if the Minnesota tapes and other documentation can be verified. Thank you, Minnesota!

[Roon]

14. Rumsfeld is wrong

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/iraq_explosives_abc_dc

[Kellis]

15. lol

Rumsfeld is the new Baghdad Bob :kick:

[auburngrad82]

21. Technically he's right. They were moved from a storage facility

by insurgents to many little locations in the form of roadside bombs and car bombs.

[riverwalker]

16. Rumsfeld's link to Al Qaqaa:he sold the stuff

this is an old article, but the missing munitions was sold to them by Rummy himself. (mentions the AlQaqaa facility and what was in it, courtesy of Rummy)
http://www.counterpunch.org/green02242003.html

"Perhaps the most surprising testimony taken by the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs was that given in the earlier 1992 hearings on the matter of U.S. assistance to the Iraqi ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programs. Gary Milhollin, Director of the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control, testified that U.S. companies were being licensed by the Commerce Department to ship such items directly to the Al-Qaqaa and Badr facilities, which the Pentagon had formally identified as part of the Iraqi nuclear weapons production program, and to Salah al Din, known to be the center of its ballistic missile development efforts."
"And the instrument, the person, the envoy, who negotiated the process in the first instance, is the current U.S. Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld."

[Tempest]

18. IMAGE FROM RUMMY A FAKE

Imagery of storage bunkers at Al Qa Qaa
According to the IAEA Action Report on the facility, the HMX was being stored in only nine bunkers at the site. All of the HMX bunkers were sealed by the IAEA after verification, using metal seals on the front entrance doors.

DoD released on Oct. 28, 2004, imagery showing two trucks parked outside one of the 56 bunkers of the Al Qa Qaa Explosive Storage Complex approximately 20 miles south of Baghdad, Iraq, on March 17, 2003. According to the release: "It is not believed that all 56 bunkers contained High Melting Explosive also known as HMX. A large, tractor-trailer (yellow arrow) is loaded with white containers with a smaller truck parked behind it. The International Atomic Energy Association inspectors identified bunkers in this complex as containing High Melting Explosive."

However, a comparison of features in the DoD-released imagery with available commercial satellite imagery, combined with the use of an IAEA map showing the location of bunkers used to store the HMX explosives, reveals that the trucks pictured on the DoD image are not at any of the nine bunkers indentified by the IAEA as containing the missing explosive stockpiles.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/iraq/al_qa_qaa-imagery4.htm

[maddezmom]

20. but the spinners are on TV this am using it, calling Kerry irresponsible

for holding the pres. responsible for missing weapons. :crazy:

[wishlist]

22. CNN Headline news 8 am totally ignored the 4/18/01 video evidence!

Despite CNN's Aaron Brown yesterday having David Kay on verifying that the explosions were certainly there after invasion and left unguarded and vouching for what the imbedded reporters video shows, CNN is ignoring that evidence and emphasizing Rumsfeld and Pentagon satellite photo crap. Unbelievable CNN is choosing to cover this story on headline news this morning in a way that discredits Kerry and totally ignores the video evidence from 4/18/01 that shows the soldiers breaking the locks on the bunkers holding the explosives, backing up what IAEA and Iraqi govt has said.

[BiggJawn]

23. Wonder how much Rumsferatu got for them?

"Was all that stuff unguarded? Obviously. Did it belong to anyone? That's debatable. Could an enterprising Secretary of War slip it out of there and sell it in the bazzaars of Pakistan? You betchurfuckinass I could!"

[Catfight]

24. Why is Dumbsfield still in office? The man is incompetent! n/t

[wishlist]

25. Finally, CNN just covered the story accurately with Kay and the video!!!!

I just saw CNN finally do their job and give credence to David Kay and the video evidence that the ammo was indeed there after we invaded and that we failed to secure it. Made Rummy look discredited on his radio addresses he has released claiming that they would have noticed if looting had occurred and Rummy alleging that explosives were gone when we got there.

We need to start shouting COVERUP by Administration

[cthrumatrix]

26. why the delay...? I thought that this would be "breaking news"...bastards

[Supersedeas]

27. why is our courage President hiding behind Rudi & Rummi & Karen

Mr. Bunnypants, please put down the Rovian script and explain.

[maddezmom]

28. MORE SPIN on the way...Pentagon to hold a news conf 12pm EST