Posted on 10/25/2004 10:01:44 PM PDT by hipaatwo
Despite the NBC News report that told America that its own reporters verified the HMX and RDX had been removed from the Al-Qaqaa bunker in Iraq before American soldiers ever got there, the New York Times continues to push its discredited "gotcha" on its front page:
The White House sought on Monday to explain the disappearance of 380 tons of high explosives in Iraq that American forces were supposed to secure, as Senator John Kerry seized on the missing cache as "one of the great blunders of Iraq" and said President Bush's "incredible incompetence" had put American troops at risk. ... Yet even as Mr. Bush pressed his case, his aides tried to explain why American forces had ignored a series of warnings from the International Atomic Energy Agency about the vulnerability of the huge stockpile of high explosives, which was first reported on Monday by CBS and The New York Times.
In several sessions with reporters, the White House spokesman, Scott McClellan, alternately insisted that Mr. Bush "wants to make sure that we get to the bottom of this" and tried to distance the president from knowledge of the issue, saying Mr. Bush was informed of the disappearance only within the last 10 days. White House officials said they could not explain why warnings from the International Atomic Energy Agency in May 2003 about the vulnerability of the stockpile to looting never resulted in action. At one point, Mr. McClellan pointed out that "there were a number of priorities at the end of Operation Iraqi Freedom."
Times write David Sanger never bothers to mention the fact that NBC's report earlier tonight essentially negated the entire thrust of their argument (also at Drudge):
NBC News: Miklaszewski: “April 10, 2003, only three weeks into the war, NBC News was embedded with troops from the Army's 101st Airborne as they temporarily take over the Al Qakaa weapons installation south of Baghdad. But these troops never found the nearly 380 tons of some of the most powerful conventional explosives, called HMX and RDX, which is now missing. The U.S. troops did find large stockpiles of more conventional weapons, but no HMX or RDX, so powerful less than a pound brought down Pan Am 103 in 1988, and can be used to trigger a nuclear weapon. In a letter this month, the Iraqi interim government told the International Atomic Energy Agency the high explosives were lost to theft and looting due to lack of security. Critics claim there were simply not enough U.S. troops to guard hundreds of weapons stockpiles, weapons now being used by insurgents and terrorists to wage a guerrilla war in Iraq.” (NBC’s “Nightly News,” 10/25/04) As I posted earlier, this confirms that the materials had already been moved or looted from the site before American troops arrived at Al-Qaqaa. After finding the IAEA seals already broken and no high-priority materiel on site, the Americans moved on to more pressing problems -- like combat and securing lines of communication.
The bigger question we should ask is why the Times feels the need to push this story so hard. It's not exactly like Rathergate in that no fraudulent documents have been used to rationalize the story, but it feels like the Times may be trying very hard to find anything that will embarass the President in the final week of campaigning. In this case, the Times rushed a story to its pages without doing any proper research on the underlying facts, and wound up getting smacked down by NBC.
It's not the first time the paper has gone on a political crusade, although Pinch Sulzberger assured us that the dark days of Howell Raines were long gone, along with obsessions like the Augusta Masters. It appears that managing editor Jill Abramson has indulged another obsession -- defeating George Bush. This agenda-driven journalism threatens to deflate the Paper of Record's reputation just as surely as Rathergate did CBS, fake documents or no.
The Times needs to place a moratorium on further articles on missing weapons until it does proper research, and it owes its readers and the Americans in Iraq working munitions demolitions a big apology.
Let the backlash begin!!!!!!!
NYT's contact info:
(212) 556-1234
Arthur Sulzberger Jr., Chairman & Publisher:
publisher@nytimes.com
Scott H. Heekin-Canedy, President, General Manager
president@nytimes.com
The New York Times has no interest in accuracy or integrity - - it's all about the Democrat agenda. They don't even bother pretending anymore. That "paper of record" stuff is so.... '70s.
I am sick of this. I was watching Fox (and they didn't give the NBC update) and also wanted to check who was on Lou Dobbs and there was Wolf Blitzer telling the story as uf it were the truth! This is BS. I wrote emails to all of them expressing my disgust.
Just watched the local ABC news after MNF. They too continued the false story.
Hopefully the B/C campaign will get the word out so the MSM will be forced to report it correctly.
Let's Freep these a-holes!!
YES LET THE FREEPING BEGIN!
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."
The IAEA is attempting the old HansBlix manuever on Bush, but facts are stubborn things.
Blahahahahahahahhahah! October surprise, this is the best they got. Blahahahahahahah.
Holtz
JeffersonRepublic.com
does this surprise anyone??
I'm thinking this might be the clinton's doing.
Look at the miserable attempt at a statement released by lockhart. It's pathetic - an 8th grader could do better.
This may be hillary's october surprise I've been waiting for.
They reported the NY Times story on our NBC local news as the lead story at 10 pm. The MSM doesn't want to report the truth. They have an election to sway for Kerry. They are getting desperate.
Would letters to the editor in mass do any good??
I just called the contact number, pushed the button for the newsroom and talked to a jerk there. They are standing by the story. If you want to call, they are there.
you are watching reruns of shows that taped at 6:00/7:00/8:00 EST
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