http://www.drudgereport.com/nbcw.htm

XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX MON OCT 25 2004 22:45:05 ET XXXXX NBCNEWS: CACHE OF EXPLOSIVES VANISHED FROM SITE IN IRAQ BEFORE TROOPS ARRIVED... The NYTIMES urgently reported on Monday in an apprent October Surprise: The Iraqi interim government and the U.N. nuclear agency have warned the United States that nearly 380 tons of powerful conventional explosives are now missing from one of Iraq's most sensitive former military installations. ... But tonight, NBCNEWS reported: The 380 tons of powerful conventional explosives were already missing back in April 10, 2003 -- when U.S. troops arrived at the installation south of Baghdad! An NBCNEWS crew embedded with troops moved in to secure the Al-Qaqaa weapons facility on April 10, 2003, one day after the liberation of Iraq. According to NBCNEWS, the HMX and RDX explosives were already missing when the American troops arrived. ... A senior Bush official e-mailed DRUDGE late Monday: "Let me get this straight, are Mr. Kerry and Mr. Edwards now saying we did not go into Iraq soon enough? We should have invaded and liberated Iraq sooner?" Top Kerry adviser Joe Lockhart fired back Monday night: "In a shameless attempt to cover up its failure to secure 380 tons of highly explosive material in Iraq, the White House is desperately flailing in an effort to escape blame. Instead of distorting John Kerry’s words, the Bush campaign is now falsely and deliberately twisting the reports of journalists. It is the latest pathetic excuse from an administration that never admits a mistake, no matter how disastrous." Why is the U.N. nuclear agency suddenly warning now that insurgents in Iraq may have obtained nearly 400 tons of missing explosives -- in early 2003? NBCNEWS Jim Miklaszewski quoted one official: "Recent disagreements between the administration and the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency makes this announcement appear highly political."

Apologies if it's a dupe.

Not a dupe but unfortunately NBC says it's BS.

IBTL, found it on page 3.

<snip> "nearly 380 tons of powerful conventional explosives are now missing from one of Iraq's most sensitive former military installations." ...

"But tonight, NBCNEWS reported: The 380 tons of powerful conventional explosives were already missing back in April 10, 2003 -- when U.S. troops arrived at the installation south of Baghdad!"


Well...that would explain the nearly non-stop car bombings and the other IED's our troops and the citizens of Iraq are facing on a daily basis...damn.

I always wondered where the "insurgents" (TERRORISTS in *my* book) were coming up with the vast amounts of explosives that would be necessary to cause the disruptions that they have over there for such a sustained period of time. I always figured they were working from small caches....but THREE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY TONS?!! Thats just...wow. Thats just over THREE QUARTERS OF A MILLION POUNDS of high explosives!!! FUCK 'blame"...it's time to take the kid gloves off and CLEAN HOUSE.  

Quoted: IBTL, found it on page 3.

Link? I cant find it.

Dupe, IBTL, linky-linky:
http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=1&f=5&t=287600

Bugger!

Quoted: Quoted: Not a dupe but unfortunately NBC says it's BS. Why is it 'unfortunate' that the story of the missing ordnance is BS? Huh? Eric The(Quizzical)Hun

what the hell are you doing up at this time of the morning?

wait a minute...what the hell am i doing up at this time of night?

really--i'm off to bed now.  

Apparently lack of sleep kills my reading comprehension.  

Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas...

Quoted: Then why are all the TV (including Fox) newses still reporting it as a present occurence?

The Tulsa Daily Communist World printied it as this morning's headline, as if it was the truth. Of course their retraction will be buried on the back of the third section sometime AFTER next Tuesday,

But they don't have any WMD.

When will the New York Times and the Kerry Campaign start telling lies that can't be found out?

GunLvr

Saddam had been stowing conventional weaponry away all over the country for 20 years...I can't remember how many RPGs that were reportedly part of that stash, but it was an insane number....enough to keep them going for a while.  Don't think these guys will be running short of ammo anytime soon, despite all the stuff we've already captured.  

This whole thing will get buried faster than the MiG-25s out in the Iraqi desert.....any retractions or clarifications will take place Nov. 3.

Pardon my ignorance, but don't these explosives have specialized uses?  I thought the "missing" explosives would be quite valuable to other countries' militaries, let alone for terrorist use.  When it comes to terrorists why pay for something (assuming it was stolen) when you can pick up an artillery shell and use that for an IED?  Granted, I heard that Pan Am flight was downed by a pound of specialized explosive.  Still, this story stinks to high heaven.  You can't exactly walk out of a facility with 380 tons in your pants.  Wouldn't some evidence of this stuff shown up by now?

I just did some reading on both RDX and HMX.  Was this stuff explosives or components in (or was it) rocket fuel?  I thought I heard the site in question was where they stored rockets.

It doesn't matter whether the story is true or not.  The charge has been thrown into the public arena (by the UN, no less) and the damage is done.  Everyone here knows that the truth is less important in these matters than the charge.  By now it would be next to impossible to change anyone's mind about this story, certainly not in a week.  That's all that was ever intended.

FYI:  The news, John Kerry and the UN couldn't care less about the explosives themselves.  They didn't exist, remember?  (The are supposedly meant for the nuclear program Saddam never had to begin with, right?).  They only care about hurting Bush.  And they have succeeded again.