BUSTED! The dimwits at Fox and Newsmax think they have disproved the Times

milkyway

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Wed Oct-27-04 12:28 AM
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BUSTED! The dimwits at Fox and Newsmax think they have disproved the Times

article on the missing explosives in Iraq. Check out this "scoop" from Fox that has Fox, Newsmax, and the freepers in a frenzy.

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from Newsmax:

Tuesday, Oct. 26, 2004 10:33 p.m. EDT

Feb. 2003 UN Report: Saddam Moving Explosives From Al-Qaqaa

The United Nations nuclear watchdog group first reported that Saddam Hussein had begun moving stockpiles of explosives from his Al-Qaqaa nuclear weapons facility a month before the U.S. invaded Iraq.

The February 2003 report by the International Atomic Energy Agency, first reported Tuesday by the Fox News Channel, severely undermines claims by the New York Times, CBS News and the Kerry campaign that the Al-Qaqaa explosives went missing only after the U.S. gained control of the facility.

Fox correspondent Bret Baier detailed the chronology of events at Al-Qaqaa for "Special Report with Brit Hume":

* "In January 2003, inspectors with the International Atomic Energy Agency went to the Al-Qaqaa storage facility, tagging and sealing the large stockpile of powerful conventional explosives, HMX and RDX.

* "In February 2003, IEAE chief Mohamed ElBaradei reported to the United Nations Security Council that some explosives had been removed from Al Qua Quaa - 377 tons remained.

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2004/10/26/223708.shtml
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But that's exactly what was originally in the NY Times article. Here it is:

The Qaqaa stockpile went unmonitored from late 1998, when United Nations inspectors left Iraq, to late 2002, when they came back. Upon their return, the inspectors discovered that about 35 tons of HMX were missing. The Iraqis said they had used the explosive mainly in civilian programs.

The remaining stockpile was no secret. Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei, the director general of the arms agency, frequently talked about it publicly as he investigated - in late 2002 and early 2003 - the Bush administration's claims that Iraq was secretly renewing its pursuit of nuclear arms. He ordered his weapons inspectors to conduct an inventory, and publicly reported their findings to the Security Council on Jan. 9, 2003.

During the following weeks, the I.A.E.A. repeatedly drew public attention to the explosives. In New York on Feb. 14, nine days after Secretary of State Colin L. Powell presented his arms case to the Security Council, Dr. ElBaradei reported that the agency had found no sign of new atom endeavors but "has continued to investigate the relocation and consumption of the high explosive HMX."
<snip>

Two weeks ago, on Oct. 10, Dr. Mohammed J. Abbas of the Iraqi Ministry of Science and Technology wrote a letter to the I.A.E.A. to say the Qaqaa stockpile had been lost. He added that his ministry had judged that an "urgent updating of the registered materials is required."

A chart in his letter listed 341.7 metric tons, about 377 American tons, of HMX, RDX and PETN as missing.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/25/international/middleeast/25bomb.html?pagewanted=3
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Am I missing something? The Fox scoop is identical to the NY Times article. They didn't bother to read the entire article, then misrepresented what the Times says by stating the article says "that the Al-Qaqaa explosives went missing only after the U.S. gained control of the facility." No, it doesn't say that. It says 35 tons were missing when the inspectors came back in 2002 (before the invasion).