October 29, 2004
BURIED UNDER MORE QAQA THAN DR. NO:
Pentagon: US Forces Removed 250 Tons of Al Qaqaa Explosives: Early Reports Exaggerated Quantity of Explosives (Nicholas Stix, October 29, 2004, A Different Drummer)
In a noontime press conference today at the Pentagon, Pentagon spokesman Larry Dirita and Army Maj. Austin Pearson, an ammunition management officer who was at the Iraqi ammunition depot Al Qaqaa in spring, 2003 with the Army 3rd Infantry Division, cast doubt on the New York Times/CBS News report alleging that 377 tons of Iraqi munitions had disappeared from the site, after it had come under American control in April, 2003.Maj. Austin estimated that his unit removed 200-250 tons of munitions, and Mr. Dirita emphasized that reports that 141 tons of RDX explosives were at the facility under IAEA seal may be mistaken, and that perhaps only three tons of RDX were at the facility.
An ABC News report by Martha Raddatz and Luis Martinez on Wednesday, first revealed the 138-ton discrepancy, which could reduce the amount of Al Qaqaa explosives in question to approximately 239 tons. The Raddatz/Martinez report also emphasized that the IAEA seals were not secure; weapons could have been removed through unsealed ventilation slats. Together with the 200-250 tons that Maj. Austin’s unit removed from Al Qaqaa, the new information could explain the disposition of virtually the entire weapons cache at Al Qaqaa.
Which led Kerry spokesman Joe Lockhart to say of the Gray Lady, "The bitch set us up." Posted by Orrin Judd at October 29, 2004 02:40 PM
Wonder if the Kerry camp will add "Because we had them all along" to its list of the Bush Administration's Excuses for Losing(sic)Iraqi Explosive Munitions.
(P.S. Thanks again, Mr. Rove)
Posted by: John Resnick at October 29, 2004 03:09 PMA Different Drummer isn't exactly mainstream media. Is Fox or anyone else reporting this?
Posted by: Gideon at October 29, 2004 03:57 PMA note on KerrySport made me wonder: are the New York Times story, the video to ABC News, and the Kerry campaign positions just the prelude to pre-election explosions that are to be blamed on George Bush's incompetence?
Suppose, for instance, that Iran has set up a bombing scheme to influence the election, and used a friendly UN guy like El Baradei to distribute their propaganda materials to lefty media and the Kerry campaign, who bit like useful idiots.
Posted by: pj at October 29, 2004 04:15 PMYep. Fox Scooped it
Posted by: John Resnick at October 29, 2004 04:17 PMPJ: Good point. Maybe Bush should appologize for that too (in advance).
Posted by: John Resnick at October 29, 2004 04:18 PMWell the October surprise is finally here (Windows Media player clip of Al Jazeera newscast).
To my inexpert eye, it looks like a guy with a fake beard from a trick or treat package glued on, about 35 years old, who can barely keep from bursting out laughing.
Anything to give the Dems and the mainstream media a chance to scream, "Bush let Osama go!"
Posted by: Eugene S. at October 29, 2004 04:57 PMTo John Resnick:
Obviously the Fox report is much longer, but that's because they took much longer to write it. They didn't "scoop" me -- I beat them to press by over two hours!
Posted by: Nicholas Stix at October 29, 2004 05:10 PM"Well the October surprise is finally here (Windows Media player clip of Al Jazeera newscast)."
By my count, that's at least 7 "surprise" efforts so far this week. Even British medical journals and our own FBI are now getting into the game. Given this record, it is safe to assume that more are on the way. One can only hope that GWB has at least one surprise of his own tucked away somewhere, just in case.
Posted by: curt at October 29, 2004 05:28 PMTwo things seem indisuptable about the bin Laden tape:
1) It is an attempt to influence the election;
2) Bin Laden doesn not favor Bush in that election.
Let's see what the voters do with that knowledge.
Posted by: curt at October 29, 2004 05:47 PM