Here's the October Surprise from the NY Times

[Jersey Devil]

Huge Cache of Explosives Vanished From Site in Iraq

By JAMES GLANZ, WILLIAM J. BROAD and DAVID E. SANGER

Published: October 25, 2004


his article was reported and written by James Glanz, William J. Broad and David E. Sanger.

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Oct. 24 - The Iraqi interim government has warned the United States and international nuclear inspectors that nearly 380 tons of powerful conventional explosives - used to demolish buildings, produce missile warheads and detonate nuclear weapons - are missing from one of Iraq's most sensitive former military installations.

The huge facility, called Al Qaqaa, was supposed to be under American military control but is now a no-man's land, still picked over by looters as recently as Saturday. United Nations weapons inspectors had monitored the explosives for many years, but White House and Pentagon officials acknowledge that the explosives vanished after the American invasion last year.

The White House said President Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, was informed within the past month that the explosives were missing. It is unclear whether President Bush was informed. American officials have never publicly announced the disappearance, but beginning last week they answered questions about it posed by The New York Times and the CBS News program "60 Minutes."

American weapons experts say their immediate concern is that the explosives could be used in major bombing attacks against American or Iraqi forces: the explosives, mainly HMX and RDX, could be used to produce bombs strong enough to shatter airplanes or tear apart buildings. The bomb that brought down Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988 used less than a pound of the material of the type stolen from Al Qaqaa, and somewhat larger amounts were apparently used in the bombing of a housing complex in November 2003 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and the blasts in a Moscow apartment complex in September 1999 that killed nearly 300 people.

More - http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/25/international/middlee...

[aquart]

1. George makes me feel so safe and secure. You?

[Meshuga]

2. Article not there anymore?

I got a page not found error. Strange...

[Dickie Flatt]

3. No wonder he doesn't think we'll ever be safe

[juliagoolia]

4. try this link

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/25/international/middleeast/25bomb.html?hp&ex=1098676800&en=61cf6e1aa29b7871&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[Meshuga]

8. Thanks n/t

[napi21]

5. I still smell a big problem here.

If this is in the NYT, Rove is going to spin it as "We TOLD you there were WMD's there! Now see...WE WERE RIGHT!

There was another thread on this earlier from Drudge. They said it's a problem for shrub because he didn't secure the areas where they thought these things were, but the whole thing bothers me A LOT!

[teach1st]

9. The explosives were sealed and under watch by

the I.A.E.A under the Iraqi sanctions. They were known and accounted for..until the looting.

[democrat in Tallahassee]

10. It's not WMD, it's stuff we knew they had at military installations

it's bad for Bush. Now who the hell knows where this stuff is? It's being used to kill our soldiers. No planning. period.

[The Magistrate]

13. That Would Be A Very Foolish Line For Them To Try, Ma'am

These are simply garden-variety military explosives, present in every national arsenal. That they are used for the charges to drive together fissionable materials to critical mass in an atomic weapon does not make them evidence of an atomic program underway, and this use does not require any great quantity of the materials. A dump of hundreds of tonnes is simply a sign of a well equipped armed force, and nothing more. Not to have secured these supplies immediately on occupying the country is criminal negligence: quite literally, the commanders immediately responsible ought to be court-martialed, and in a well-regulated armed force, could expect to be hanged.

"LET'S GO GET THOSE BUSH BASTARDS!"

[shelley806]

27. They were more interested in protecting the Ministry of Oil

and the pipelines.....And the fact that they didn't take interest in securing the supplies immediately sort of prooves that they knew there were no WMD's doesn't it?

[DemFromMem]

19. Administration is already playing down WMD argument

"The explosives could also be used to trigger a nuclear weapon, which was why international nuclear inspectors had kept a watch on the material, and even sealed and locked some of it. But the other components of an atom bomb - the design and the radioactive fuel - are more difficult to obtain. "This is a high explosives risk, but not necessarily a proliferation risk," one senior Bush administration official said."

I think they know that if they try to say this proves the WMD risk, the following part of the story will come back to haunt them even more:

"The International Atomic Energy Agency publicly warned about the danger of these explosives before the war, and after the invasion it specifically told United States officials about the need to keep the explosives secured, European diplomats said in interviews last week. Administration officials say they cannot explain why the explosives were not safeguarded, beyond the fact that the occupation force was overwhelmed by the amount of munitions they found throughout the country."

In other words, you were warned and you did nothing. Hard to see how making it sound like there is a WMD link helps Bush.

[luxpara]

23. Freeper say this was leaked

by the WH. Might be a set up...

[NightOwwl]

28. Doesn't make sense.

Set up for what? To prove once again the Bush Administration has made mistake after mistake after mistake?

[Dudley_DUright]

6. Try this link, it works for me

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/25/international/middleeast/25bomb.html?hp&ex=1098676800&en=61cf6e1aa29b7871&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[napi21]

15. I agree, it helps, but they'll try to spin it as WMD's that were there.

The thing I find funny, if you can find anything funny in this story, is the name of the facility!

Al Qaqaa

Now, maybe I'm jsut a little weird, but isn't this pronounced al caca? As in "the sh*t???"

[NightOwwl]

26. They can't spin it that way.

They KNEW the weapons were there. They were WARNED about possible looting. Once again, they failed MISERABLY.

[shelley806]

31. LOL; I know, not a funny story, but ka-ka! (poop)

Kakos Greek for evil, bad, exceedingly filthy

[goclark]

7. Rap Your Big Strong Arms Around Me Georgie

You Make Me Feel So Safe and Warm --- ROTFL

He can't even keep us safe from the FLU, how in the hell can he keep us safe from terrorists?

Well, on second thought, he is the worst terrorist that I know sooo,take your butt to Crawford and put Kerry in the WH.

[Wickerman]

11. But, most importantly, the oil fields were well protected

Welcome to the Kleptocracy!

[ranosgol]

12. so this isnt chemical or nuke

what abig surprise they have tons of weapons conventinal big deal

[iamjoy]

14. Never Underestimate The Power Of Spin

they will call these weapons of mass destruction
hopefully, they will be called on these were conventional weapons that disappeared BECAUSE of the invasion

Bush's original reason for the invasion of Iraq may turn into a self-fulfilling prophesy.

[napi21]

20. That's exactly what I'm afraid of! 9 days isn't very long to dispell the

WH spin! I agree with all the posters here that it's another sign of incompetence on shrub's part, but I really do believe they will try to say "See, I told ya!" Is 9 days long enough to prove them wrong?

[ciaobox]

33. He who spins first, spins loudest...

We need to HAMMER the media like we've never hammered before on this story. These were conventional explosives that were stolen AFTER the invasion that the inspectors maintained close tabs on. These explosives are NOW being used to murder our troops and blow up facilities, pipelines, etc. This is a clear cut example of Bush incompetance. They gaurded the oil facilities and ignored the weapons dumps, allowing looters to rummage freely for weapons like these".

Spread it far and wide people. Tomorrow may be too late. Beat RoveCo to the punch just like we did in the debates.

[NightOwwl]

35. See post#

9, 10, 13, 19, 26, 27.

Enough already.

[NightOwwl]

32. Bull.

Read the article again. They can't spin them into WMDs when it is on record the Pentagon knew about the munitions site and acknowledged the warning to secure it.

[Gyre]

16. Is that all they got?

Dudes, this country doesn't give a rat's ass about shit we failed to protect when we invaded. This country is already square with the fact that we only protected the oil ministry while all the stuff meaningful to the people of Iraq were cleaned out with the blessing of US forces who were not present. Hasn't meant shit to US up to now. Those who supported the "war" didn't care what we broke, and they still don't.

Why not report something that has traction with a nation with a 50% troglodite population? Like Brittany Spears in thong underwear.

Gyre

[kentuck]

17. But doesn't this prove Bush is the most "competent" leader ??

Wouldn't it have been worse if we had captured those tons of explosives? If the terrorists didn't have those, they might be looking for nuclear explosives. Oh, we are definitely better off with these conventional explosives in the hands of the terrorists... Is that the next "logical" argument from the war pigs?

[bush equals idiot]

18. Weapons of

LOST PROTECTION ....... rolf.

[Democrat 4 Ever]

21. Think story will be devastating to BushyBoy because

aren't the missing weapons currently being used to kill our soldiers right now? They have rockets that will split tanks and Humvees (especially the ones without armor protection) into a thousand pieces. They are being used to kill the good guys. The insurgents are awfully well armed for a bunch that was "defeated" back in May 2003. Remember, the Chimp in Chief said "Mission Accomplished."

The IAEA had them, they were marked, sealed and controlled until we come marching in to Iraq. Meanwhile the troops were guarding the Oil Ministry while the generals let the "bad" stuff walk right out from under their noses. They are now getting it back the hard way - people are dying and suffering horrible injuries.

Gross incompetency and complete stupidity. Which person at the Pentagon will rat out the others first?

[GimmeDANEger]

22. Come on people!!

There is nooooooo way this will help Bush.

Remember how many times Kerry destroyed Bush in the debates mentioning unprotected weapons and whatnot.

If anything, as horrendous as it sounds, this horrible occurance helps us more than it does the freepers.

[Roland99]

24. Exactly! Kerry NAILED Bush on leaving ammo depots unprotected in Iraq!!

[ciaobox]

25. Cuntisleeza too busy campaigning....

to worry about such minor things.

[Chimpanzee]

29. They just announced it on CNN

citing the NYT

[siliconefreak]

30. wow

The NY Times website says it's currently having "server problems". Do you think it's because so many people are now reading this story?

[Stephanie]

34. still picked over by looters as recently as Saturday!!!

The place is being looted NOW. Holy cow!