NYTimes just screwed Bush spin [Witnesses of looting talk]

[AnIndependentTexan]

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/28/international/middleeast/28bomb.html?oref=login&oref=login

4 Iraqis Tell of Looting at Munitions Site in '03
By JAMES GLANZ and JIM DWYER
Published: October 28, 2004

But the accounts make clear that what set off much if not all of the looting was the arrival and swift departure of American troops, who did not secure the site after inducing the Iraqi forces to abandon it.

"The looting started after the collapse of the regime," said Wathiq al-Dulaimi, a regional security chief, who was based nearby in Latifiya. But once it had begun, he said, the booty streamed toward Baghdad.

Earlier this month, on Oct. 10, the directorate of national monitoring at the Ministry of Science and Technology notified the International Atomic Energy Agency that the explosives, which are used in demolition and missiles and are the raw material for plastic explosives, were missing. The agency has monitored the explosives because they can also be used as the initiator of an atomic bomb.

Agency officials examined the explosives in January 2003 and noted in early March that their seals were still in place. On April 3, the Third Infantry Division arrived with the first American troops.

[krkaufman]

1. Oh, jeebus! That first line is killer. n/t

But the accounts make clear that what set off much if not all of the looting was the arrival and swift departure of American troops, who did not secure the site after inducing the Iraqi forces to abandon it.

[BattyDem]

2. Perfect!

Another "spin" has spun out! :evilgrin:

[Merlin]

6. And this one as well:

The mechanic, Ahmed Saleh Mezher, said employees asked the Americans to protect the site but were told this was not the soldiers' responsibility.

[tomfodw]

3. Well, that satisfies the "reality-based community"

Although I'm sure it'll go totally ignored in Freeperville.

[KittyWampus]

4. Alrighty Then!

[DELUSIONAL]

5. NYT doing its job -- 4 damned years late

n/t

[vickie]

7. Hmmmm, guess the "Russians stole the weapons" story won't

fly now, will it?