Drudge backtracking...

[Goldmund]

The siren is gone. The NBC weapons story isn't even the lead story any longer -- now it's just a link on top of the page. And in there, he erased the sentence with his complaint about it being "unclear" why the NY times didn't mention that the explosives had been missing for up to 18 months -- since the NY Times story said this: "Earlier this month, in a letter to the I.A.E.A. in Vienna, a senior official from Iraq's Ministry of Science and Technology wrote that the stockpile disappeared after early April 2003 because of the theft and looting of the governmental installations due to lack of security."

[Mojambo]

1. That didn't take long at all.

hehe

[msanthrope]

2. Poor Matt--backtracking already......n/t

[tridim]

3. That sound you hear

is heads exploding all over Freeperland. :)

[papau]

9. some source/links on missing tons

Nelson Report newsletter is main source - links below


http://www.nytimes.com/pages/pageone/scan/index.html
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2004_10_...

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2004_10_...

Nelson Report newsletter is a private NEWSLETTER widely read in DC



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

By WILLIAM J. KOLE
ASSOCIATED PRESS
VIENNA, Austria (AP)
<snip>
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.

[papau]

18. Will US Media dare to report this AP Wire conjecture? Insurgents got 400T!

Will US Media dare to report this AP Wire conjecture? Insurgents got 400T!

Insurgents could possess up to 400 tons of the deadly materials often used in bombs

By William J. Kole, Associated Press

VIENNA, Austria -- The U.N. nuclear agency warned Monday that insurgents in Iraq may have obtained nearly 400 tons of missing explosives that can be used in the kind of car bomb attacks that have targeted U.S.-led coalition forces for months.
<snip>

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>

Al-Qaqaa is near Youssifiyah, an area rife with ambush attacks. An Associated Press Television News crew that drove past the compound Monday saw no visible security at the gates of the site, a jumble of low-slung, yellow-colored storage buildings that appeared deserted.
<snip>

Insurgents targeting coalition forces in Iraq have made widespread use of plastic explosives in a bloody spate of car bomb attacks. Officials were unable to link the missing explosives directly to the recent car bombings, but the revelations that they could have fallen into enemy hands caused a stir in the last week of the U.S. presidential campaign.
<snip>
http://www.trivalleyherald.com/Stories/0,1413,86~10669~2492592,00.html

[papau]

19. Josh Marshall posts interview NBC Producer embed - No Search

Josh Marshall posts interview NBC Producer embed - No Search


http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com /

Lai Ling Jew: When we went into the area, we were actually leaving Karbala and we were initially heading to Baghdad with the 101st Airborne, Second Brigade. The situation in Baghdad, the Third Infantry Division had taken over Baghdad and so they were trying to carve up the area that the 101st Airborne Division would be in charge of. Um, as a result, they had trouble figuring out who was going to take up what piece of Baghdad. They sent us over to this area in Iskanderia. We didn't know it as the Qaqaa facility at that point but when they did bring us over there we stayed there for quite a while. Almost, we stayed overnight, almost 24 hours. And we walked around, we saw the bunkers that had been bombed, and that exposed all of the ordinances that just lied dormant on the desert.

AR: Was there a search at all underway or was, did a search ensue for explosives once you got there during that 24-hour period?

LLJ: No. There wasn't a search. The mission that the brigade had was to get to Baghdad. That was more of a pit stop there for us. And, you know, the searching, I mean certainly some of the soldiers head off on their own, looked through the bunkers just to look at the vast amount of ordnance lying around. But as far as we could tell, there was no move to secure the weapons, nothing to keep looters away. But there was – at that point the roads were shut off. So it would have been very difficult, I believe, for the looters to get there.

AR: And there was no talk of securing the area after you left. There was no discussion of that?

LLJ: Not for the 101st Airborne, Second Brigade. They were -- once they were in Baghdad, it was all about Baghdad, you know, and then they ended up moving north to Mosul. Once we left the area, that was the last that the brigade had anything to do with the area.

AR: Well, Lai Ling Jew, thank you so much for shedding some light into that situation. We appreciate it.

[central scrutinizer]

20. too bad our soldiers are also exploding

thanks to the incompetence and malfeasance.

<>

[JohnnyCougar]

4. haaaaaaaaaahahahahaha

the freepers have been had again!!!

[RinaJ]

5. I love DU

I'll probably post 100 messages tonight because I'm so happy my registration finally went through. In late August I was tearing my hair out because I was sick of hearing Rethug spin everywhere, and just thought I was paranoid about the fact that all the news stations seemed to be pro-Bush. But you all made me realize that, though I may be paranoid, I had a right to be! I found this site around that time, but for some reason had trouble logging in until tonight.

Anyways, I love the way you guys dismantle these lies. Keep it up!

[murielm99]

6. Welcome to DU.

eom

[tkmorris]

12. Hiya RinaJ!!

Welcome to DU. I know how you feel and you have come to the right place for the cure. DU'ers are the best tonic you could have.

:hi:

[newyawker99]

15. Hi RinaJ!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[yardwork]

25. Welcome to DU!

[umtalal]

27. Welcom to the DU

[Guaranteed]

7. Yeah, I slammed him..

asked him if he could fucking READ and sent him here to one of the articles noted earlier on DU which said a Pentagon official confirmed that when our troops came upon the dump it was intact.

[Goldmund]

8. So did I

I'm sure he got a million messages through his site. lol

[MADem]

10. I did too

Asked him why he was ALWAYS wrong.

[girl gone mad]

13. I hope you guys also e-mail CNN..

and ask them why they take still Drudge seriously. They end up getting punked every time.

[thecrow]

24. Can I read that article?

I would need the link to it...I've been searching but haven't found it yet.
Thank you :)

[BUSHOUT]

11. Maybe it had something to do with this..........................

Multiple news sources reported today as follows:

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.

Do they think REAL news sources are making this stuff up, like they do? Nope!

[juliagoolia]

14. The real story is the coverup

Why are the Bush folks trying to cover this up???? twist the truth??

[Bush was AWOL]

16. The Bushbots (AKA his supporters) already ate it up, though

Drudge knows those idiots will keep repeating it even though they're wrong.

[bushwakker]

17. The facts don't matter. The GOP line is now that the weapons

were taken before the invasion.

[fishface]

21. I left a message on their 'news tips' explaining math.

That must be why they deleted the '18 months ago'Bushit. *snicker*

[Politicub]

22. There are run-of-the-mill whores for the GOP

and then there is Drudge. It's pathetic how he allows the GOP/Bushco to use his site for all of their "scoops."

Does he realize how much of a tool he really is?

He's such a self-loathing homosexual. How can so much repression fit inside his feeble little mind?

[Hot Water]

26. Let Drudge rot in his own squalor.

[4_Legs_Good]

23. Doesn't matter much... the Drudge crowd is already brainwashed into

believing it. I have 2 co-workers who (at least one of which) believe EVERYTHING once Drudge has put it up on his site. Even after it's refuted, they will not let go. It's pathetic.

I think they even still believe the Kerry/intern bit.

Pathetic x 100

david