Pentagon Presents Inconclusive Evidence Regarding Missing Weapons

[Purveyor]

October 29, 2004 01:51 PM

In a Pentagon press briefing, the Department of Defense presented an Army officer to clear up the ongoing scandal regarding the missing high explosives recently reported by the New York Times.

The officer, Maj. Austin Pearson, explained his duties while in Iraq and that he had removed approximately 250 tons of ammunition from what could have been the al-Qaqaa complex. The removal operation was conducted on April 13th 2003 according to Pearson.

Although Pentagon spokesman Larry Di Rita began the briefing stating that some of the weapons removed were the missing HMX and RDX explosives, when grilled by reporters, Maj. Pearson could not say definitively that any of the explosives in question were removed by his unit. Furthermore, he could not say whether he saw any IAEA seals which were used to mark HMX bunkers. He did state that they went into bunkers that were already open.

The impact of the Pentagon's press conference was greatly minimized by the video evidence that has been released within the last 48 hours.

Footage shot by ABC affiliate KSTP on April 18th 2003 shows boxes clearly marked "al-Qaqaa" along with barrels marked with U.N. hazardous materials stickers. Soldiers used bolt cutters to gain access to bunkers sealed with what appeared to be an IAEA marker. Within the bunkers were rows of barrels and boxes designated at 1.1D which is the HazCat code for materials such as HMX and RDX.


Link to Washington Dispatch article

[indie_voter]

1. Tangled web! n/t

[indie_voter]

11. Also, weren't there embeds with these guys?

My bet is somebody is searching right now for tape of April 13th.

[Nicholas_J]

2. Well I guess

Tommorrow it will be Colonel Pearson

[mikeytherat]

5. This issue was orginally covered by Private Mistake.

He dropped the ball, and then General Backpeddle tried to straighten things out. Now they've trotted out Major Fuckup.

Did I miss anyone?

mikey_the_rat

[Cats Against Frist]

14. LOL!

[The Magistrate]

18. Well, Mr. Rat

General Public wants Major Repairs on this government, and damned quickly, or Corporal Punishment will be summoned....

"LET'S GO GET THOSE BISH BASTARDS!"

[whosinpower]

3. Seems like they are doing their level best

To muddy the picture instead of clear it up.

And - they cannot seem to get their stories straight at all....first the weapons were gone before the invasion...then the russians took them (LOL - that one is too funny!) - now they removed them on the 13th.....

[Beetwasher]

4. LOL! Man, They Really Screwed The Pooch What That Idiotic PC!

Ha Ha!

[Zorra]

6. Mistake. These were removed from the "el ca-ca" complex.

Dude was on latrine detail.

[aden_nak]

7. I like how they can't even say for sure it was al-Qaqaa.

That really boosts my confidence.

[ecoalex]

8. Smoke from the Pentagon

More smoke from the bushies, who have politicised the Pentagon .

[UpInArms]

9. Rummy finds puppy to trot out

to distort and distract.

Like I would believe anything that the Neo-Pentagon spews out.

[bpilgrim]

10. why was he in fatigues instead of dress blues?

was it a calculated choice :shrug:

peace

[maddezmom]

12. similar AP link, needs rating :)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x943265

[fryguy]

13. They're becoming pros at "Inconclusive Evidence"

whether its deciding to invade a country or trying to quell harmful stories, * and his friends have taken it to a new art form

[NotShocked]

15. nice try

I watched that news conference in disbelief.... I am not sure how anyone could watch it and not see how transparent their effort was. This Maj. Pearson was being hawked by this pentagon dude, who clearly was there to ensure that the poor Major did not say anything damaging and only what they told him was ok. He kept interrupting to explain and clear up the Majors' statements, and you could see the Major looking to the Pentagon dude for approval after many statements.. Now I have a few questions:

1. Is is standard procedure to leave an area like that where you just removed 250 tons of weaponry, knowing there is the possibility of much more being there, without assigning a guard or at least returning in a small amount of time to get the rest??? It really seems like a haphazard mission that he just went there the one time and took a bit of the stash there...?? Am i reading this wrong, what the hell? That in itself indicates to me a poor plan. But more so, it indicates a poorly planned STORY that was hastily prepared to deceive.

2. Why bring this officer instead of someone higher who gave the orders to go on this specific mission ( or the papers ordering this mission ) Why not bring someone lower in rank that was there with him to verify his claims?

3. Why does everyone seem so evil in this administration, that Pentagon dude had that same nasty evil smirk on his face as he spoke (you know the "I know I'm going to say this bullshit and they are actually going to print it for me in their papers and half the country will believe it!" one.) He was completely flustered when the media actually slammed them with questions that weren't even that difficult considering they presented nothing worth 2 beans anyway.

[Sideways]

19. Great Fucking Post And A Warm DU Howdy!

Spot on analysis. Good stuff.

[NotShocked]

20. One more question

I have to add one more:

4. Does not the world and media notice that this Major said that he got to this location and it was desolate. That means not secured, and they took out what they want us to believe is these explosives... The bunkers were NOT SECURED. We left them NOT SECURED. isn't this the whole point??? this guy has validated it..

[underpants]

22. Where has he been for 4 days? Why wasn't it secured? Not enough troops?

I agree I watched some of it too (at Kerry HQ here in Richmond) everyone was laughing at the poor guy.

Ridiculous and transparent.

welcome to DU :hi:

[young_at_heart]

16. So much confusion.......so much secrecy

Is there a pattern here?

[Sara Beverley]

17. Should say "Pentagon offers the lamest explosives explanation yet."

This administration is the most shameful administration I can remember.

[LynnTheDem]

21. "Ammunition" is NOT "explosives...April 13 = afTER INVASION...

April 18 = IAEA-sealed bunkers with explosives HMX & RDX...Pentagon = DESPERATE.