Drudge can't count: We invaded 19 mo. ago, explosives said gone 18 mo ago

[gauguin57]

"NBCNEWS: HUGE CACHE OF EXPLOSIVES VANISHED FROM SITE IN IRAQ -- AT LEAST 18 MONTHS AGO -- BEFORE TROOPS ARRIVED"

BUT -- We invaded just over 19 months ago -- YOU IDIOT! Get a fugging calculator before you put that damned siren up there.

[dogtag]

1. Must be the new WH spin.

[movonne]

20. Maybe it is some other cache of explosives than the ones we are

talking about...this sounds like some trick they would pull...and it is developing...sometimes his developing never develops.

[Clinton Crusader]

2. BULLSHIT n/t

:kick:

[Bush was AWOL]

3. The Freepers are in a frenzy over this

they think NBC just blew a huge hole in the New York Times story from yesterday.

[Longhorn]

4. Not true.

Inspectors say they inspected in March 2003 just before the invasion. They didn't actually look at the explosives because the seals from previous inspections were not broken.

I assume they have a fairly sophisticated method of placing these seals, with the stakes so high.

[lanparty]

17. This is the bitch ...

The freepers also have the mistaken notion that weapons inspectors were NOT back in the country. These are the same mis-insinuated lemmings who believe Saddam Hussein was behind the 9/11 attacks.

So in order to seal the leak in the damn they just fall back on the old lie. There were no weapons inspectors. Therefore they couldn't have authenticated the locations of the weapons!!!!

Beyond this, if the supply was "stolen 18 months ago" they should have found the buildings left as they were with the seals intact and no explosives inside!!!!

No, somehow I think the NY Times and Washington Post will follow up on this story. I think Kerry will also get backing from the disillusioned conservative papers!!!!

[DemFromMem]

47. And how come it took us so long to figure out they were missing?

How dumb is it that we were in control of the facility for months before anyone bothered to inventory the facility's contents and compare to the IAEA's records.

Also, I understand the IAEA wanted to inspect the facility's and were kept out by the US. Why????

[eaprez]

5. That's their new spin?......

...if they new that then how come they didn't know there weren't any WMD'S? seems like the logical follow up question.

[Doosh]

6. no proof

The explosives -- considered powerful enough to demolish buildings or detonate nuclear warheads -- were under IAEA control until the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003. IAEA workers left the country before the fighting began.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/10/25/iraq.explosives/index.html

[lanparty]

24. Passing the buck .... AGAIN!!!!!

McClellan, talking to reporters on Air Force One, said the storage site was the responsibility of the interim Iraqi government, not the United States, as of the June 28 transfer of power.

Well it's apparently Allawi's fault.

Bush trusts warlords to abduct Osama Bin Laden in lieu of increased US troops and ally participation. Osama Bin Laden gets away.

Bush trusts an ex-thug to guard 380 tons of the most powerful non-nuclear explosives in existence. The explosives gets away.


Methinks that Bush takes "I'm a delegator" a little to seriously. BTW Bush, do you still think Putin is such a good guy deep down????


At the end of the day, the reason the facility wasn't guarded was we needed that extra division in Iraq to successfully complete the mission. If he didn't want to put out a 100% effort to succeed he shouldn't have started this half-ass foolhardy war.

Bush says you can't win a war if you don't believe in it. I say you can't win a war if your a fucking spoiled ignorant daddy's boy dumbass!!!!!

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

7. Damage control

and it ain't working.

[Maple]

8. Sigh...not true

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2004_10_24.php#003795

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1098677410357

[Skinner]

9. Drudge is wrong

At the Pentagon, an official who monitors developments in Iraq said U.S.-led coalition troops had searched Al-Qaqaa in the immediate aftermath of the March 2003 invasion and confirmed that the explosives, under IAEA seal since 1991, were intact. Thereafter, the site was not secured by U.S. forces, the official said, also speaking on condition of anonymity.

The Iraqis told the nuclear agency the materials were stolen and looted because of a lack of security at governmental installations, Fleming said.

"We do not know what happened to the explosives or when they were looted," she told AP.

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/w-me/2004/oct/25/102504973.html

[trumad]

11. Right on Skinner...

Now if you guys could lock up the 5 or 6 threads that just popped up about this that would be sweet.

[eaprez]

16. You will see he is also reporting that the WH is going to ask for

BILLIONS more in funding for Iraq.....will be in Washington Post tomorrow....another nail in Bush's coffin.

[lanparty]

27. That will take us to 200 billion ...

Bush has been fudging about his 20 billion figure. We already know that the private contractors have carried most of that off. The Pentagon has burned through their portion!!!

This shit will end up costing 600-1000 billion before we're done!!!!

[nicktom]

18. Funny, I heard a caller on the Larry Elder radio show

make this same claim. This was at 3:50 pst today. I thought to myself, gee thats the first I heard of that. For some reason Elder cut to a commercial without any follow up. They are trying to plant a seed.

[charleston1]

29. Drudge is right, Gulp

Unfortunately this one is going to be very ugly tomorrow. I watched the NBC Evening News and as it turns out, NBC was embedded with the 101st Airborne when they took the weapons site three weeks into the war 18 months ago). After a careful inspection, all that was there was conventional weapons. No RDX, or any of the other really powerful high explosives. This is pretty bad. Did the NY Times set up John Kerry or are they just totally incompetent?

[Kadie]

32. But didn't the bushie administration say they just learned of this

a few days ago? If they were missing 18 months ago, then that once again show incompetence.

[charleston1]

35. The incompetence won't matter. Spin matters

I have been trying to review the story as much as possible and there was confusion on the story with the Pentagon even arguing with itself. This does happen from time to time, so the bottom line is what is true about the story? The news media will eat the NY Times alive and that will spill over onto Kerry. THE NY Times is a sad excuse for a big time paper.

[alcuno]

43. Huh? The 101 Airborne arrived three weeks AFTER .

That's what the NBC reporter who was embeded with them said. THREE DAMN WEEKS! Did our morons in charge think everything would just be at a standstill until they got around to sending troops there? The incompetence of this administration is a disgrace. Remember the people looting the facility with nuclear waste and using the containers for water? Remember Rummy throwing up his hands at a news conference and declaring the looting to be people acting free? And now we're supposed to blame the NY Times for finally telling some truth?

BTW - How's that Washington Times story going?

[Beetwasher]

50. Spin This

Bush is incompetent and let hundreds of tons of high explosives be looted by terrorists. That's the first impression, end of story. The Times will stick by it's reporting in the face of being "refuted" by a moron like and Drudge and the people (like you) that peddle his tripe.

[Sparkly]

51. There's a lot of truth here, and a lot of questions for BushCo

International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei reported the disappearance to the U.N. Security Council on Monday, two weeks after he said Iraq told the nuclear agency that the explosives had vanished from the former Iraqi military installation as a result of "theft and looting ... due to lack of security."

The disappearance raised questions about why the United States didn't do more to secure the Al-Qaqaa facility 30 miles south of Baghdad and failed to allow full international inspections to resume after the March 2003 invasion.

(snip)
McClellan said the IAEA informed U.S. mission in Vienna on Oct. 15 about the missing explosives at Al-Qaqaa. He said national security adviser Condoleeza Rice was notified "days after that," and she then informed President Bush.

Is the Pentagon/BushCo claiming the US didn't know the inventory there? If not, why not?

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&ncid=716&e=2&u=/ap/20041026/ap_on_re_mi_ea/nuclear_agency_iraq

[Cha]

53. And who are you voting for on Nov 2?

bush is a loser and this is more of the bush inc incompetence..condi, rummy, cheney..the whole damn lot of them are goin' down!

[jezebel]

36. How does that help Bush? It proves he didn't have enough troops if it took

3 weeks for them to get there and check it out. Those explosives should have been of the highest priority to secure and done in days. Obviously * went in there without a plan or enough troops.

[Jacobin]

33. CNN was doing the Drudge spin

Pentagon spokesman pretending that they "must have been looted before the troops arrived"

Kerry needs to keep hammering this. Gross incompetence of Bushco, right out in the open for all to see.

[charleston1]

39. The NY Times sucks

"Pentagon spokesman pretending that they "must have been looted before the troops arrived"

Not pretending. NBC has footage of the site and it is boxes and boxes of normal weapons of all kinds.

There was no RDX or HDX there so the US Army went on to the next site as per the plan in the hunt for WMDs. I agree there were not enough troops. Who in their right mind doesn't? Nevertheless this one is going to hurt tomorrow because Kerry was so strong on the issue. That is why I am so mad at the NY Times. They couldn't invetigate their way out of a wet paper sack.

[Beetwasher]

48. LOL! Dude, You Are Completely Delusional

How heavy is that water you're carrying? WTF are you talking about? You are pathetic:

At the Pentagon, an official who monitors developments in Iraq said U.S.-led coalition troops had searched Al-Qaqaa in the immediate aftermath of the March 2003 invasion and confirmed that the explosives, under IAEA seal since 1991, were intact. Thereafter, the site was not secured by U.S. forces, the official said, also speaking on condition of anonymity.

The Iraqis told the nuclear agency the materials were stolen and looted because of a lack of security at governmental installations, Fleming said.

"We do not know what happened to the explosives or when they were looted," she told AP.

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/w-me/2004/oct/25/102504973.html

The first strike has been made and THAT will leave the impression w/ a week to go BUSH IS INCOMPETENT AND LET EXPLOSVE GET INTO THE HANDS OF TERRORISTS. End of story. Man, you are pathetic.

[charleston1]

41. Ah shit

http://www.drudgereport.com/nbcw.htm

[Beetwasher]

49. You're Deluded

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/w-me/2004/oct/25/102504973.html

[whistle]

once again Drudge is saying things without any facts to back his....

...position up. The military has the timeline and during March 2003 our own troops inspected the site and verified that thsoe sealed explosives where there and they re-sealed the storage areas. The HMX went AWOL after our troops inspected them during the invasion. So, the last people who saw the HMX explosives should be first on the list of suspects as to telling the American people where the HMX went. Time to apply pressure.

[Roland99]

10. That's a CROCK! Here's the proof...two sources

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6326367

At the Pentagon, an official who monitors developments in Iraq said U.S.-led coalition troops had searched Al Qaqaa in the immediate aftermath of the March 2003 invasion and confirmed that the explosives were intact. Thereafter the site was not secured by U.S. forces, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.



http://www.boston.com/dailynews/299/world/Timeline_on_missing_explosivesP.shtml
January 2003: IAEA inspectors viewed the explosives at Al-Qaqaa for the last time. The inspectors took an inventory and again placed storage bunkers at Al-Qaqaa under agency seal.

February 2003: IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei told the United Nations that Iraq had declared that ''HMX previously under IAEA seal had been transferred for use in the production of industrial explosives.'' This apparently did not include the HMX that remained under seal at Al-Qaqaa.

March 2003: Nuclear agency inspectors visited Al-Qaqaa for the last time but did not examine the explosives because the seals were not broken. The inspectors then pulled out of the country.

March 2003: The U.S.-led coalition invaded Iraq.

After the invasion: The Pentagon said Monday that ''coalition forces were present in the vicinity at various times during and after major combat operations. The forces searched 32 bunkers and 87 other buildings at the facility, but found no indicators of WMD (weapons of mass destruction). While some explosive material was discovered, none of it carried IAEA seals.

[Longhorn]

12. From MSNBC's own article online:

At the Pentagon, an official who monitors developments in Iraq said U.S.-led coalition troops had searched Al-Qaqaa in the immediate aftermath of the March 2003 invasion and confirmed that the explosives, which had been under IAEA seal since 1991, were intact. The site was not secured by U.S. forces, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6323933/

[tomfodw]

13. Bullshit, since they were still looting them this past weekend

[59millionmorons]

14. Sirens

But another Pentagon official who spoke to the Associated Press seems to disagree ...

At the Pentagon, an official who monitors developments in Iraq said US-led coalition troops had searched Al-Qaqaa in the immediate aftermath of the March 2003 invasion and confirmed that the explosives, which had been under IAEA seal since 1991, were intact. Thereafter the site was not secured by U.S. forces, the official said, also speaking

[LynnTheDem]

15. BULLSHIT.

At the Pentagon, an official who monitors developments in Iraq said US-led coalition troops had searched Al-Qaqaa in the immediate aftermath of the March 2003 invasion and confirmed that the explosives, which had been under IAEA seal since 1991, were intact.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1098677410357

[renegade000]

19. what a friggin moron

eom

[novadem]

21. You say Drudge is saying this

but isn't it NBC who is saying this?

[Connie_Corleone]

23. The headline is Drudge's interpretation of NBC's story...

Drudge's math is wrong. I doubt if NBC said that this happened before we invaded. I think that's Drudge's imagination.

[gauguin57]

22. Why are freepers getting excited? The numbers are wrong!

We invaded 19 months ago; even if the explosives disappeared 18 months ago, the U.S. military planning still fucked up.

Thanks, George, for helping us "sleep safer" at night. Why didn't you just put the damned explosives on the oil fields ... they'd have been secure as a baby in its blankie!

[msanthrope]

28. the freepers are getting excitied because they think that

thay have found a way to spin this story....

1) Misquote a legitimate newsource-NBC
2) Put it out on the winger websites
3) Push it until the base swallows it
4) Hope, desperately, that major media will talk about the 'controversy'.
5) Really, really hope that people can't add or subtract
6) Really, really, really hope that the base doesn't read anything but Drudge and Newsmax.

[Peanut Gallery]

Hey, that's fuzzy math

:crazy:

[lanparty]

25. One more observation ...

This stuff really didn't NEED to be guarded. All they needed to do was to wire it all up and blow it to hell!!!!! No guarding required after that!!!!!!

[gauguin57]

26. Freepers and Drudge need to learn to count.

To quote the immortal Bugs Bunny: "This little piddy went to market ... this little piddy stayed home ... OOPS, no more piddies!"

[Sparkly]

30. My guess as to what this is about (how they're confusing the issue)

And I apologize in advance if somebody else already said this... I think it may be purposeful confusion of these explosives with "WMDs."

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said U.S.-led forces searched the Al-Qaqaa facility after the invasion.

"Coalition forces were present in the vicinity at various times during and after major combat operations," he said. "The forces searched 32 bunkers and 87 other buildings at the facility, but found no indicators of WMD (weapons of mass destruction)."

This can be quickly paraphrased to, "The coalition forces searched early on, and never saw any weapons there."

That's my guess about what they're spinning and how.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&ncid=716&e=2&u=/ap/20041026/ap_on_re_mi_ea/nuclear_agency_iraq

[jezebel]

31. This quote from NBC tonight has the stupid freepers ecstatic.....

Jim Miklaszewski of NBC News pretty much dismantled the New York Times attack on behalf of Kerry today.


NBC News: Miklaszewski: “April 10, 2003, only three weeks into the war, NBC News was embedded with troops from the Army's 101st Airborne as they temporarily take over the Al Qakaa weapons installation south of Baghdad. But these troops never found the nearly 380 tons of some of the most powerful conventional explosives, called HMX and RDX, which is now missing. The U.S. troops did find large stockpiles of more conventional weapons, but no HMX or RDX, so powerful less than a pound brought down Pan Am 103 in 1988, and can be used to trigger a nuclear weapon. In a letter this month, the Iraqi interim government told the International Atomic Energy Agency the high explosives were lost to theft and looting due to lack of security. Critics claim there were simply not enough U.S. troops to guard hundreds of weapons stockpiles, weapons now being used by insurgents and terrorists to wage a guerrilla war in Iraq.” (NBC’s “Nightly News,” 10/25/04)

But in actually this makes Bush look worse. It took 3 weeks to get troops up their. This shows Bush didn't immediately make sure day one it was protected and in the 3 week time frame, it was looted. Somehow the freepers think because the troops hadn't gotten there yet, it exonerates Bush. The question is why weren't there adequate troops to secure it immediately?

[Sparkly]

40. That raises more questions, seems to me

Why did the IAEA have to report this to the UN Security Council, and why is it coming out this late into the fiasco? Why didn't the US tell them both early on that they were missing? Are they trying to claim the US did not know about this inventory?

[novadem]

34. What is key

is how the NYT reacts to this. Will they stand by their story or back down?

[msanthrope]

37. no--it's not key. The New York Times doesn't have to

even notice a Internet rumor with as much substance as a fart in the wind, written by people who are too stupid to count back 18 months--or, worse, think that you are too stupid to count back 18 months.

FYI---you really do not disguise yourself very well.

[novadem]

38. I hope you're right

but we'll find out tommorow, I'm sure.

[NightOwwl]

46. I f*ckn knew it.

NYTimes is pulling the same shit again. Remember the last terra alert? WaPo and NYTimes both had front page headlines saying the alert was based on old news, and it was most likely politically motivated. The next day they went back on the story.

I f*ckn KNEW they were going to backtrack.

ETA: Maybe I'm overreacting. I hope so.

[Sparkly]

42. "Their" story?

This is all over the international media as well as the wires here. What part of it is the "NYT's story?"

[Zen Democrat]

44. Drudge makes up these things, or Rove makes 'em up and calls Drudge.

[BadMatt22]

45. There is no contradictions to the NYT story...

Whats the big deal?
The spin will only work if we let it. Tomorrow at the water cooler will be very important!!

[Cha]

52. OMG..ROFLMAO

That's right! 19 Freakin' months ago!