The Iraqi interim government has warned the United States and international nuclear inspectors that nearly 380 tons of powerful conventional explosives - used to demolish buildings, produce missile warheads and detonate nuclear weapons - are missing from one of Iraq's most sensitive former military installations.

 

The huge facility, called Al Qaqaa, was supposed to be under American military control but is now a no-man's land, still picked over by looters as recently as Saturday. United Nations weapons inspectors had monitored the explosives for many years, but White House and Pentagon officials acknowledge that the explosives vanished after the American invasion last year [...]

 

American weapons experts say their immediate concern is that the explosives could be used in major bombing attacks against American or Iraqi forces: the explosives, mainly HMX and RDX, could be used to produce bombs strong enough to shatter airplanes or tear apart buildings. The bomb that brought down Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988 used less than a pound of the material of the type stolen from Al Qaqaa, and somewhat larger amounts were apparently used in the bombing of a housing complex in November 2003 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and the blasts in a Moscow apartment complex in September 1999 that killed nearly 300 people.

 

The explosives could also be used to trigger a nuclear weapon, which was why international nuclear inspectors had kept a watch on the material. But the other components of an atom bomb - the design and the radioactive fuel - are more difficult to obtain. "This is a high explosives risk, but not necessarily a proliferation risk," one senior Bush administration official said.

 

The International Atomic Energy Agency publicly warned about the danger of these explosives before the war, and after the invasion it specifically told United States officials about the need to keep the explosives secured, European diplomats said in interviews last week.

 

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/25/internat...artner=homepage

 

Sounds like the IAEA kept this stuff in check preinvasion then we screwed up and now the insurgents are using it to kill US soliders.

dailykos posters take on it:

 

Josh gives us the gist of the story that will be top of the fold on the New York Times Monday morning:

Some 350 tons of high explosives (RDX and HMX), which were under IAEA seal while Saddam was in power, were looted during the early days of the US occupation. Like so much else, it was just left unguarded.

Not only are these super-high-yield explosives probably being used in many, if not most, of the various suicide and car bombings in Iraq, but these particular explosives are ones used in the triggering process for nuclear weapons.

 

In other words, it's bad stuff.

 

What also emerges in the Nelson Report is that the Defense Department has been trying to keep this secret for some time. The DOD even went so far as to order the Iraqis not to inform the IAEA that the materials had gone missing. Informing the IAEA, of course, would lead to it becoming public knowledge in the United States.

 

This is rank incompetence that has directly resulted in the deaths of hundreds of our men and women in uniform, as well as other allied and innocent Iraqis.

And a coverup attempt to top it all off. If Josh is right, the Post is just the first of many papers tackling this explosive issue. (No pun intended.)

 

 

 

Uh oh Mr. Wolfowitz and Mr. Rumsfeld.

Its hitting the front pages now.

Nothing like 19 month old news. :mischief

 

used to demolish buildings, produce missile warheads and detonate nuclear weapons

Really? I though Saddam wasn't trying to pursue nuclear weapons!

Nothing like 19 month old news. :mischief

 

used to demolish buildings, produce missile warheads and detonate nuclear weapons

Really? I though Saddam wasn't trying to pursue nuclear weapons!

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Clearly you didnt read the article or even what I posted. He didnt have the nuclear material necessary and everyone, including the US and UN knew he had this stuff before the war. This stuff was under IAEA watch and under check preinvasion but after we came in and it was our job to watch it, it got looted.

 

Nice try though.

I wouldnt count Limbaugh or Bortz as reliable radio reporters as I'm sure they were trying to spin it in the way you state.

So hold that thought John - you may be having to eat those words and make a public apology -- an apology that is gonna sting hard at this point in the race.

 

 

You are living in a world outside the realm of reality if you think that will be the result of this goof.

 

Tonyi's preposterous post attempting to make it seem like this will majorly backfire on Kerry actually reminded me of a Simpsons episode. Its when Bart finds the burlesque house and Marge is yelling at homer for letting him go to one. Here is the hilarious sequence:

 

Marge: Homer, did you know it was a burlesque house when you sent Bart

? ? ?? to work there?

Homer: No, I only learned that four days ago.

-- And he's been working there five days, right?, "Bart After Dark"

 

Marge: What were you thinking, sending Bart to such an awful place?

Homer: I was trying to punish him exactly like you would.? [sly] So in a

? ? ?? way, you really dropped the ball on this one.? This is your mess,

? ? ?? and I'll be damned if I'm going to clean it up.

-- He's got her with his legal mumbo-jumbo, "Bart After Dark"

 

The trick doesn't work.

On another note, dailykos states that drudge has yet to provide any link or proof of the so called NBC report.

Is this a little disturbing? Of course.

 

But I think Tonyi has a point in that this isn't the kind of stuff Johhny Jihad can wire together into a roadsider with a few bucks and a trip to radio shack.

 

He also has a valid point that over a half million pounds of anything is a little hard to move withoout some major (and noticeable) logistics. This stuff was MIA befoe the US had oversight of the area.

 

I'm wondering who told the IAEa/UN to take a coffeee break on watching this site?

 

 

Anyways, a Tonyi-like story just for fun....

 

A friend of mine had some training/exposure with this stuff when he was in the service. It's so powerful that it actually "atomizes" human flesh. In theory, if you were standing by someone who got smoked in close proximity to this stuff and you survived, you'd have to be tested for AIDS and other diseases because the explosion would actually blow human matter of those around you into you.

I just saw a story on MSNBC that completely contradicts and disproves the entire NYTimes article, the same story should be re-ran tonight on the NBC Nightly News.

I wouldnt count Limbaugh or Bortz as reliable radio reporters as I'm sure they were trying to spin it in the way you state.

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I mostly listen to Neil Rogers on WQAM.

 

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I knew you were okay Tonyi. :thumbup

Here is the transcript of an interview of the single reporter who is the central part of this NBC story:

 

Amy Robach: And it's still unclear exactly when those explosives disappeared. Here to help shed some light on that question is Lai Ling. She was part of an NBC news crew that traveled to that facility with the 101st Airborne Division back in April of 2003. Lai Ling, can you set the stage for us? What was the situation like when you went into the area?

Lai Ling Jew: When we went into the area, we were actually leaving Karbala and we were initially heading to Baghdad with the 101st Airborne, Second Brigade. The situation in Baghdad, the Third Infantry Division had taken over Baghdad and so they were trying to carve up the area that the 101st Airborne Division would be in charge of. As a result, they had trouble figuring out who was going to take up what piece of Baghdad. They sent us over to this area in Iskanderia. We didn't know it as the Qaqaa facility at that point but when they did bring us over there we stayed there for quite a while. We stayed overnight, almost 24 hours. And we walked around, we saw the bunkers that had been bombed, and that exposed all of the ordinances that just lied dormant on the desert.

 

AR: Was there a search at all underway or did a search ensue for explosives once you got there during that 24-hour period?

 

LLJ: No. There wasn't a search. The mission that the brigade had was to get to Baghdad. That was more of a pit stop there for us. And, you know, the searching, I mean certainly some of the soldiers head off on their own, looked through the bunkers just to look at the vast amount of ordnance lying around. But as far as we could tell, there was no move to secure the weapons, nothing to keep looters away. But there was - at that point the roads were shut off. So it would have been very difficult, I believe, for the looters to get there.

 

AR: And there was no talk of securing the area after you left. There was no discussion of that?

 

LLJ: Not for the 101st Airborne, Second Brigade. They were -- once they were in Baghdad, it was all about Baghdad, you know, and then they ended up moving north to Mosul. Once we left the area, that was the last that the brigade had anything to do with the area.

 

 

 

Nothing indicated anything either way. But like you tried yesterday, the Bush campiagn is trying to turn this around on Kerry. But guess what smart guy? Its the last week of the election and Bush is defending this. This is not what he wants on the news. Even CNN conceded this as they stated Bush wanted today to be about him entering Kerry country but all the questions were about the explosives. This is part of the tonyi great test of bad publicity. They cant prove or disprove it either way so they want to paint Kerry as being someone who jumped the gun. Real scandal there tonyi! HA!

 

Its like someone accusing Bush of molesting a kid and when reporters ask him, he says he doesnt know but Kerry is bad for criticising him! Its obvious who gets the bad end of this story.

 

The longer this story is in the news, the worse for Bush. Not for Kerry.

Funny. :lol As I finish typing this, Wolfe Blitzer and David Gurgon both agree that the momentum is in Kerry's favor because of the bad news Bush is taking. Both mention the Alawi story I also posted and this explosions one. Also the consumer confidence story.

the Bush campiagn is trying to turn this around on Kerry.

 

As they should - it was Kerry who made attacks based on it. Attacks which even you now admit in your own words were based on "Nothing indicated anything either way".

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In the last week of an election Kerry taking advantage? I dont fault him for being smart. Clearly its working.

 

I never expected you of all people to have some care for non political truth from half the crap you post.

the Bush campiagn is trying to turn this around on Kerry.

 

As they should - it was Kerry who made attacks based on it. Attacks which even you now admit in your own words were based on "Nothing indicated anything either way".

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In the last week of an election Kerry taking advantage? I dont fault him for being smart. Clearly its working.

 

I never expected you of all people to have some care for non political truth from half the crap you post.

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This is the guy who's campaign is based on truth right? Just want to get that straight...

 

Suppose the public isn't as dumb as Kerry thinks they are and manage to put 2+2 together and come up with 4?

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Youre not that naive.

I guess you are so silly enough to think this election is remotley similiar to 84 and 88. But I wont speculate on what goes on in that head of yours.

On another note, dailykos states that drudge has yet to provide any link or proof of the so called NBC report.

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Firstly, it was NBC embedded reporters who were apparently witnesses to the fact that the stuff was already gone.

 

CNN has a good story with a complete rundown. I presume you accept CNN as a somewhat credible organization, or are they a bunch of right wing hacks now?

 

 

CROW - its what's for diner tonight.

Will that be baked, broiled or deep fried?

Our chef has prepared a most delightful HUMBLE PIE for desert as well.

 

http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/10...raq.explosives/

 

(CNN) -- The mystery surrounding the disappearance of 380 tons of powerful explosives from a storage depot in Iraq has taken a new twist, after a network embedded with the U.S. military during the invasion of Iraq reported that the material had already vanished by the time American troops arrived.

 

NBC News reported that on April 10, 2003, its crew was embedded with the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division when troops arrived at the Al Qaqaa storage facility south of Baghdad.

 

While the troops found large stockpiles of conventional explosives, they did not find HMX or RDX, the types of powerful explosives that reportedly went missing, according to NBC.

 

The International Atomic Energy revealed Monday that it had been told two weeks ago by the Iraqi government that 380 tons of HMX and RDX disappeared from Al Qaqaa after Saddam Hussein's government fell.

 

In a letter to the IAEA dated October 10, Iraq's director of planning, Mohammed Abbas, said the material disappeared sometime after Saddam's regime fell in April 2003, which he attributed to "the theft and looting of the governmental installations due to lack of security."

 

Baghdad fell on April 9, 2003. According to NBC, troops from the 101st Airborne arrived the next day to find that the material was already gone.

 

Prior to the Iraq war, the high-grade explosives at Al Qaqaa had been under the control of IAEA inspectors because the material could be used as a component in a nuclear weapon, IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said. IAEA and other U.N. inspectors left the country in March 2003 before the fighting began on March 19.

 

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Monday that five days after the IAEA received the letter from the Iraqi government, the agency alerted U.S. officials in Vienna, who in turn told National Security Director Condoleezza Rice. She then alerted Bush, McClellan said.

 

Once U.S. officials were alerted, the multinational force in Iraq and the Iraq Survey Group, charged with hunting for weapons in Iraq, were both ordered to investigate what was missing and the possible circumstances, according to State Department spokesman Adam Ereli.

 

"We, from the very beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom, did everything we could to secure arms caches throughout the country," Ereli said. "But given the number of arms and the number of caches and the extent of militarization of Iraq, it was impossible to provide 100 percent security for 100 percent of the sites, quite frankly."

 

The news of the missing explosives followed an IAEA report earlier this month that said high-end, dual-use machinery that could be used in a nuclear weapons program was missing from Iraq's nuclear facilities. (Full story)

 

"Our immediate concern is that if the explosives did fall into the wrong hands, they could be used to commit terrorist acts and some of the bombings that we've seen," the IAEA's Fleming said.

 

She described Al Qaqaa as "massive" and said it is one of the most well-known storage sites. Besides the explosives, it also held large caches of artillery.

 

Fleming said the IAEA, which is based in Vienna, Austria, did not know whether some of the explosives may have been used in past attacks.

 

The IAEA said that before the war it inspected the Al Qaqaa facility multiple times and verified that the material was present in January 2003. The agency said the material was mentioned in reports to the U.N. Security Council that were made public.

 

Ereli said coalition forces searched 32 bunkers and 87 other buildings at the Al Qaqaa facility after the war for weapons of mass destruction. The troops found none, but did see indications of looting, he said. Bush declared an end to major combat operations in Iraq on May 1, 2003.

 

"Some explosive material at the time was discovered, although none of it carried IAEA seals, and this discovery was reported to coalition forces for removal of the material," Ereli said.

 

Ereli said coalition forces have cleared 10,033 weapons caches and destroyed 243,000 tons of munitions. Another 162,898 tons of munitions are at secure locations and awaiting destruction, he said.

 

A senior administration official played down the importance of the missing explosives, describing them as dangerous material but "stuff you can buy anywhere."

 

The official noted that the administration did not see this necessarily as a "proliferation risk."

 

"In the grand scheme -- and on a grand scale -- there are hundreds of tons of weapons, munitions, artillery, explosives that are unaccounted for in Iraq," the official said.

 

"And like the Pentagon has said, there is really no way the U.S. military could safeguard all of these weapons depots or find all of these missing materials."

 

The official said the Iraq Survey Group concluded that Saddam had no weapons of mass destruction and documented the scope of the problem.

Threat from terrorists

 

A European diplomat told The New York Times that Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the IAEA, is "extremely concerned" about the potentially "devastating consequences" of the vanished stockpile.

 

"The immediate danger" of the lost stockpiles is its potential use by insurgents to make small, but powerful, bombs, an expert told the Times. The expert said the explosives could be transported easily across the Middle East.

 

According to the Times, the stockpiles missing from Al Qaqaa are the strongest and fastest in common use by militaries around the globe.

 

The Iraqi letter to the IAEA identified the vanished explosives as containing 194.7 metric tons of HMX, or "high melting point explosive," 141.2 metric tons of RDX, or "rapid detonation explosive," among other designations, and 5.8 metric tons of PETN, or "pentaerythritol tetranitrate."

 

Fleming said the IAEA, whose mission is to keep track of everything with potential nuclear weapons applications, had been monitoring about 100 sites in Iraq, but there were only a few of special concern, including Al Qaqaa.

 

"This is a real massive quantity of explosives that could have reached the hands of insurgents and could be used with deadly force and consequences against people in Iraq," Fleming said.

 

"One would have to assume it's been stolen by someone who has some sort of nefarious purpose for it."

 

Political fallout

 

With the U.S. presidential election eight days away, news of the missing explosives quickly became campaign fodder.

 

Democratic nominee Sen. John Kerry immediately seized on the information to accuse President Bush of incompetence in failing to secure the material, charging that "this is one of the great blunders of Iraq and one of the great blunders of this administration."

 

But in the wake of the NBC report, the Bush campaign fired off a statement saying that Kerry's criticism of the president over the missing material has "been proven false before the day is over."

 

"John Kerry's attacks today were baseless," Bush campaign spokesman Steve Schmidt said. "He said American troops did not secure the explosives, when the explosives were already missing."

 

Schmidt also said that Kerry "neglects to mention the 400,000 tons of weapons and explosives that are either destroyed or in the process of being destroyed" in Iraq.

 

But Kerry senior adviser Joe Lockhart fired back with a statement of his own, accusing the Bush campaign of "distorting" the NBC News report.

 

"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," Lockhart said. "It is the latest pathetic excuse from an administration that never admits a mistake, no matter how disastrous."

 

Lockhart did not elaborate on how the Bush campaign was distorting the NBC report.

 

CNN's Suzanne Malveaux and Elise Labott contributed to this report.

 

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Democrats = OWNED on this one.

 

I guess desperation call for radical actions. I wonder what they will come up 48 hours before election? :plain