Explosives stolen in Iraq

[vidcc]

BigBank_Hank, ive got a question, if this was made up to hurt bush, why not wait till a day before the election and then drop the bomb? wouldnt that do way more damage to bushes voters?

It was planned to air this coming sunday...But it got out before.

[Biggles]

From the BBC.

Since Iraq has no nuclear weapons, why would the BBC make such an inane statement. Are they to conjure one from prayer.

It seems that WMD are potentially present or definitely absent based on the agenda of the aspiring author.

The explosives were part of Saddam's defunct nuclear programme which is why the UN nuclear watch dog was involved with this particular batch of explosives. Of course one would need all the other bits to make a nuclear bomb so consequently the statement is somewhat redundant apart from the last few words. The explosives will blow a car up beautifully.

However, there were lots of munitions dumps in Iraq and it is almost impossible to verify which one the insurgents looted their explosives from. Indeed there are so many different insurgent groups there is unlikely to be one source of supply. Many of the explosives may have been looted by ordinary criminals and are being sold on the black market - a boom industry in Iraq by all accounts.

[ruthie]

Now there are tapes of when the 101 division got to the site...it plainly shows the seal on the door, and barrels of the explosive materials...it was NOT looted previously. Done deal. Just watched the tape on CNN

[BigBank_Hank]

Is that the best you can do?

You still can’t explain how they were able to move that much material with no one noticing.

You also can’t explain the satellite photos that the DOD just released of large semi transporting materials from the site.

So yes done deal.


Edit: Just to add tomorrow General Tommy Franks is going to put an end to all of this. Joe Lockhart (Kerry spokesmen) came out today and basically called the General that ran two successful wars that he was a liar. General Franks didn’t take to kindly to that.

[ruthie]

Is that the best you can do?

don't need to do better, but since you don't do your own research, perhaps I will do a bit of cut and paste. ROFL

You still can’t explain how they were able to move that much material with no one noticing.

You also can’t explain the satellite photos that the DOD just released of large semi transporting materials from the site.

"Senior Defense officials adamantly refused to speculate as to what is happening at the bunker highlighted in the photo, saying it's anyone's guess. "

Edit: Just to add tomorrow General Tommy Franks is going to put an end to all of this. Joe Lockhart (Kerry spokesmen) came out today and basically called the General that ran two successful wars that he was a liar. General Franks didn’t take to kindly to that.

poor baby

[cpt_azad]

Edit: Just to add tomorrow General Tommy Franks is going to put an end to all of this. Joe Lockhart (Kerry spokesmen) came out today and basically called the General that ran two successful wars that he was a liar. General Franks didn’t take to kindly to that.


poor baby

what a crybaby suck it up mr. general guy.

[BigBank_Hank]

don't need to do better, but since you don't do your own research, perhaps I will do a bit of cut and paste. ROFL

You do need to do better because there are still a whole lot of holes in this story.

The tape also doesn’t mention the 3rd I.D. who got there before the 101st and did battle with the Iraqis at the site. The commander noted that some looting had taken place. Plus the removal of these explosives would have had to take place on a road log jammed with traffic and with jets flying overhead. I think that someone from the 3rd I.D. or someone overhead might have noticed a convoy of trucks moving around. Just a thought.

[ruthie]

hank...the tape showed the seals still in place, and barrels of explosive materials. Were they all in the same bunker? Don't know. Meanwhile, as usual, the administration cops to NOTHING. Bush and Cheney try to say Kerry denigrates the troops by talking about the missing explosives...but guess what? It's been the darlings of the Republicans blaming the troops...

In falsely accusing Senator John Kerry of denigrating American troops, it is in fact conservatives themselves -- including one of Bush-Cheney '04's most vocal campaigners -- who are suggesting that soldiers on the ground are responsible for explosives going missing in Iraq. On FOX News Channel, both Weekly Standard editor William Kristol and conservative radio host Laura Ingraham claimed that it was the soldiers -- not President George W. Bush -- who decided not to search for the explosives. And on NBC's Today, former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani, an active Bush campaigner, placed the "actual responsibility" squarely on the troops.

[Biggles]

The tape does change things and does pose difficulties with regards this stuff being moved prior to the war.

One only has to look at the way the Iraqis looted almost every building just after the fall of Saddam to see how they could have moved this stuff. It did not have to go out in one lot or in neat bundles. The explosives are marketable, it simply could have experienced the same plague of locusts effect that everything else suffered from.

Some might have gone on trucks, some on handcarts, some simply by rolling the barrels. Nor would the explosives have had to go far. It would have simply melted into the cellars of the nearest towns and villages.

Moving 380 tonnes of explosives a distance under normal regulations would be a pain in the butt - simply grabbing a barrel and moving it a couple of miles in the hope of selling it later is a different matter. Especially if hundreds of other people have the same idea.

They stripped hospitals, schools and museums in hours doing this - removing not only portable goods but fixed assets like the plant and machinery, copper cables - everything of value!

[vidcc]

The "convoy of trucks" theory is irrelevent really and is more of a red herring than a logistical possibility. David Kay the former weapons inspector said to think of "ants" in the way they move things. He also said that one truck in a picture is meaningless...as did Powell. This site is huge...as big as manhatten by all accounts

During WW2 how did POWs move all that earth from the escape tunnels under the noses of their captors?...... Perhaps it's this way of thinking that is being used to try to dismiss this story that is why we are in trouble. If they can't see how an adaptable enemy could do such a thing how could they possibly beat them?

I do agree that any failings in Iraq are being blamed on the troops by this administration and then they try to blame Kerry for blaming the troops...but kerry is very clear on where he lays the blame, and it's with Bush.