Al Qa Qaa Explosives Update

Written by David Flanagan
Published October 29, 2004

Two new significant developments as of 12:45pm today regarding the missing explosives at al Qa Qaa:

  1. First, The Drudge Report has announced this Flash message: FLASH 10.29.04 11:36:56 ET /// Soldier to brief reporters at Pentagon within the hour that he was tasked with removing explosives from al QaQaa and he and his unit removed 200+ tons... Officer was ordered to join the 101st airborne on April 13 — to destroy conventional explosives at the al QaQaa complex... Developing... Obviously, some of you will deride Drudge and dismiss this, but he has tremendous sources in Washington and I have no doubt that this conference will happen.
  2. Second, the Pentagon has released a photo, seen here, showing trucks at the al Qa Qaa storage facility just days before the coalition invasion. According the the Washington Times, the Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, known as NGA, "documented the movement of long convoys of trucks from various areas around Baghdad to the Syrian border," a finding which bolsters the Pentagon claim that Russian Spetnaz (special forces) removed such weapons days before the invasion to set up redoubts in neighboring countries to bolster a Saddam insurgency.

Methinks that Senator Kerry is about to look awfully silly...

David Flanagan
Viewpointjournal.com

----------------------------------------
Well, the confusion regarding what really happened at the al Qakaa weapons storage facility continues to grow. Yesterday, ABC News added more information to the pool of existing data. Here is the meat of the story:

The Iraqi interim government has told the United States and international weapons inspectors that 377 tons of conventional explosives are missing from the Al-Qaqaa installation, which was supposed to be under U.S. military control.

But International Atomic Energy Agency documents obtained by ABC News and first reported on "World News Tonight with Peter Jennings" indicate the amount of missing explosives may be substantially less than the Iraqis reported.

The information on which the Iraqi Science Ministry based an Oct. 10 memo in which it reported that 377 tons of RDX explosives were missing — presumably stolen due to a lack of security — was based on "declaration" from July 15, 2002. At that time, the Iraqis said there were 141 tons of RDX explosives at the facility.

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Al Qa Qaa Explosives Update
Published: October 29, 2004
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Section: Politics
Writer: David Flanagan
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#1 — October 29, 2004 @ 13:21PM — RedTard

Pentagon Pop Quiz:

What's the latest excuse for the missing explosives in Iraq?

a) IAEA is making it up
b) Russian special forces
c) Fedayeen Saddam
d) We removed it (before the video?)
e) Dog ate it

I think the conflicting stories the pentagon is releasing is hurting Bush more than the Kerry attacks. They would do well to quit making excuses until they know the facts.

#2 — October 29, 2004 @ 13:32PM — olorin took

indeed.

#3 — October 29, 2004 @ 13:41PM — Victor Plenty [URL]

To complete the quiz:

f) acid reflux disease
g) the drummer hit the wrong button

#4 — October 29, 2004 @ 15:37PM — Trebz [URL]

What about the video?

#5 — October 29, 2004 @ 16:01PM — Jim Carruthers [URL]

After seeing Southpark this week, the most important question is: does Flannel-man support the Giant Douche or the Turd Sandwich, the answer may surprise you, after this important message.

Seeding FUD is not information. Drudge is not information. Citing media reports is not information. It is PR, spin and confusion. And given your election is already rigged, all you are contributing is just noise to cover an incompetent, bungled imperial show of strength.

Just stop, it makes you look like an idiot, and it just reinforces the prejudice in the rest of the world that the USA is a corrupt imperial oligarchy.

Just searching out items on the net which agree with your lies is not blogging, it is just playing "telephone" with Drudge (and like most mean girls, he probably has somebody else on a conference call to hear you say something stupid).

#6 — October 29, 2004 @ 16:22PM — David Flanagan [URL]

I think the conflicting stories the pentagon is releasing is hurting Bush more than the Kerry attacks.

I disagree. I think that Kerry was definitely scoring with his message before he began this four-day-long diatribe about 380 tons of explosives.

Everyone knows that Iraq is a difficult situation right now, and we also know that the entire country is basically one BIG ammo dump. 240,000 tons of explosives, munitions, and weaponry have already been destroyed, and the coalition has secured and earmarked another 160,000 tons! Thats an incredible amount.

Now we know that approximately 250 tons of the total cache of explosives was loaded and hauled north by the military, then photos and videos taken about five days later of additional weaponry, some of which may be more explosives, then about 15 to 20 days where the military was moving cargo up and down the highway before another team came in to conduct a more thorough inspection of the facility.

The long and the short of this story is that, things like this are not simple. For all the complaints I hear about President Bush's unwillingness to see the nuances or greys of a situation, Kerry seems to have jumped the gun (no pun intended) significantly on this one.

Will this hurt him or the President? I have no idea, but, as Rumsfeld said yesterday, first reports on issues are almost always wrong. You have to show some patience and wait for the whole story.

For Kerry, the whole story doesn't work as well as a ready-made hit piece on the Prez by the NY Times. Hopefully, over the next few days, people will realize this.

We'll know on Tuesday... or sometime thereafter, depending on the lawsuits.

Thanks,

David

#7 — October 29, 2004 @ 17:04PM — RedTard

Yes, the point is you made a much better defense of the situation than the Pentagon did.

I'm not arguing the merits of the story but the way it has been handled looks very bad for Bush. It reinforces the picture Kerry has painted of him as a liar and someone who will not accept responsibility.

#8 — October 29, 2004 @ 17:25PM — Jim Carruthers [URL]

Yes, the point is you made a much better defense of the situation than the Pentagon did.

So from this, we are to infer you and Flannel-man are playing Iraq and the election as a D&D game with those multi-side dies, and then blogging about it from your mom's basement?

Well, that explains a lot.

#9 — October 29, 2004 @ 17:59PM — curt

you mean those two "rambos" haven't had a chance yet to actually serve over there?

hhmmm...interesting.

#10 — October 29, 2004 @ 18:04PM — Hal Pawluk [URL]

The picture was not painted by Kerry but is, rather, a self-portrait.

#11 — October 29, 2004 @ 18:35PM — Jim Carruthers [URL]

If you can come up with one sensible reply to this, then I'll think you have something to say. Go ahead, tell me something.

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