WHERE is this "NBC embedded reporter" article???!!!! ARRRRGH!!!!!

[LynnTheDem]

I know...I'm getting very short-tempered. :D

But drudge & CNN keep on about this "embedded NBC reporter" who was with the 2nd group of troops to get to Al Qaqaa and he didn't see any explosives (even tho the FIRST group of troops DID find the explosives and their report from April 5, 2003 says so).

But NBC DOESN'T HAVE ANYTHING on their site about this "embedded reporter". So WHERE are drudge & CNN getting this from???

I done read EVERYTHING on NBC's entire site already. *sob*

[SoCalDemocrat]

1. Hannity

It's being spun on Drudge and conservative talking head shows.

It's crap.

Bush didn't secure the explosives and nuclear materials and research papers in Iraq because the planning centered on protecting the oil resources. This site has an excellent historical breakdown of what happened starting with day 1 of the invasion. You'll witness in all its glory the description of our troops moving in with all haste to secure....

Iraq's Oil Ministry and Oil refineries.

Huh?

I thought we went there to secure the WMD's?

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/iraqi_freedom_d2.htm



At approximately 6 p.m. on March 21, the elements of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, specifically the 5th Regimental Combat Team secured the gas oil separation plants (GOSPs), crude oil export facilities and oil wells in the Rumaylah Oil Fields. U.S. Marines from the 1st Marine Division, and U.K. Royal Marines combined their efforts to secure the critical Iraqi infrastructure.

Four GOSPs, a key pumping station at Az Zubayr, a manifold and metering station on the Al Faw peninsula, and the offshore crude oil export facilities had been secured and were critical nodes of the larger oil infrastructure in Southern Iraq. These key facilities gave the Iraqi people the ability to preserve 85 percent of the function of those fields.

The Mina al Bakr export facility was captured intact and in working order. The Khor al Amaya export facility was destroyed during the war between Iran and Iraq in the 1980s, and is currently non-operating. Both facilities are capable of handling 1.6 million barrels per day when operational. After their capture, all six major GOSPs were being evaluated in order to determine what work is needed to make the areas safe to begin pumping oil again to support the people of Iraq.

Six major GOSPs, covering an area approximately 50 kilometers in length, included seven oil wells that have been sabotaged and were on fire. Oil fire fighting crews were to move into the areas at a designated time to snuff out the fires.

Some of the deserted plants were improperly shut down by Iraqis, causing oil pumping from the well to overfill the pumping station’s oil tanks. The oil was seeping around the area and posed a potential threat of explosion if the oil reaches the burning wells.

The 1st Marine Division and the UK's 7th Armoured Brigade engaged the 51st Mechanized Division outside Basra, a battle which raged for some hours. The engagement began with the Marines initiating 155mm artillery fire at 6:25 p.m. local time as multiple AH-1s began to stream ahead softening Iraqi forces. By late Friday afternoon Eastern Standard Time the 51st Mech had surrendered, marking the first time that the commander of an Iraqi division and his deputy had personnaly surrendered to the US. The roughly 8,000 soldiers that comprised the division were secured as enemey prisoners of war.

Although the oil infrastructure was confirmed to have been extensively booby-trapped, the installations were secured intact and US and British troops began clearing the demolition charges. The US V Corps secured bridges over the Euphrates in their rapid advance on Baghdad.

[tishaLA]

2. How many times did you need to post this?

[TomClash]

3. NBC never reported it

NBC reported that the 101st did not find them on April 10 - that doesn't mean the 101st was the first US military force to reach Al Qaqaa. Look at the MSNBC website. Here's what it says:

"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."

Baghdad fell on 4/9 and the 101st arrived on April 10 and they say they didn't find these specific exposives. That's not the "immediate aftermath of the March 2003 invasion." It's obvious another unit arrived before the 101st and was told not to secure the explosives. I suspect they were special forces. I think that's why NBC did not report that.

[LynnTheDem]

4. That report I knew, Tom, thanks

I was looking for the "report" that Drudge & CNN *say* NBC says, but I've since learned it was a TV report. and not on NBC's site anywhere.

[TheWebHead]

5. this is what he's talking about

video is here:
http://video.msn.com/video/p.htm?t=1&i=cdd38e36-17b4-4158-9967-d13e7832a51a