Russians May Have Taken Iraq Explosives( Kerry Camp Concedes Saddam May Have Moved Them Before War)

FT.com ^ | October 28 2004 | Demetri Sevastopulo, Guy Dinmore,James Harding

[MisterRepublican]

The campaign controversy over high explosives missing in Iraq intensified on Wednesday as President George W. Bush accused John Kerry of making “wild charges”, while a senior Pentagon official claimed that Russian troops might have been involved in removing the munitions.

Mr Kerry told a rally in Iowa on Wednesday that Mr Bush had allowed 350 tonnes of explosives to fall into the hands of the insurgents, even as his campaign conceded that the former regime of Saddam Hussein might have removed them before the invasion.

The Pentagon is investigating what happened to the explosives, which the International Atomic Energy Agency said this week had disappeared from a former Iraqi weapons depot. Mr Bush said the explosives might have been removed before US troops arrived at the al-Qaqaa site.

[Question Liberal Authority]

Don't worry. I'm sure they took the nuclear, biological and chemical material as well.

[Peach]

"...even as Kerry conceded..."

[vbmoneyspender]

In the leadup to the war I heard that there were Russian advisors in Iraq, but I never heard there were Russian troops in Iraq. Is that just a typo?

[beckysueb]

Well. guess Mr. Ed will wind up with egg on his horseface again.

[Virginia]

How can he concede that they may have been moved before the war, and still blame Bush for allowing them to be taken? This house of cards is going down!

[True Capitalist]

While the candidates sparred over the issue, a senior Pentagon official alleged that “Russian units” might have transported the explosives and other weapons out of Iraq into Syria.

[eagle11]

The Russians took the explosives? They keep showing up in the strangest of places....

[OldFriend]

This man must be driving himself crazy with all his positions on every issue.

Flip flop is an understatement.

[Principled]

I am going to be ALL ABOUT this place (FR) on Tuesday night.

We'll capture quotes from DU and laugh about them for years!

(Fingers crossed - not counting chickens pre-hatch)

[jennyjenny]

Yes, the slow, miserable death at the very end for Mr. Kerry.

[raynearhood]

Maybe we should just ask Putin if Russia has the explosives. He'll be honest... he's our friend.

[blackdog]

I'm sure that much of the weaponry sold to Iraq pre American invasion by Russia, France, and Germany was being rounded up and moved for diplomatic reasons quite obvious to everyone but Kerry.

Why has nobody from the media asked who sold them the stuff? From what I understand much of it was solid rocket propellant.

[True Capitalist]

In an interview with the Financial Times, Mr Shaw said: “For nearly nine months my office has been aware of an elaborate scheme set up by Saddam Hussein to finance and disguise his weapons purchases through his international suppliers, principally the Russians and French.

“That network included a major effort employing various Russian units on the eve of hostilities to both orchestrate the collection of munitions and assure their transport out of Iraq via Syria.”

[VA40]

"...even as Kerry conceded..."

Music to my ears

[Chief_Illinewek]

I wouldn't be surprised of Putin agreed to ship some new weapons to Iraq in exchange for the HDX/RDX, then stiffed Saddam as soon as the explosives were out of Iraq. 380 tons of it has got to be worth quite a pretty penny.

[blanknoone]

It isn't hard to figure out. This high explosive was part of Saddam's WMD programs. Some of the huge amount of stuff our intelligence told us he had, that we don't know where it went. Find the stockpiles of chemical weapons (most likely in Syria, Lebanon) and you'll find the explosives.

The NYT managed to figure out just this week that we don't know what happened to the WMD we knew Saddam had.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

CNN just did their 6:00 PDT version of the explosives story with Paul Zahn. They are several hours behind the curve of new developments. They still have the 380 tons moved or "looted" during the initial phases of the war. Then they got expert analysis from the left and right in the persons of Randi Rhodes of Air America and Michael Reagan. I'm sure Michael is a good man with a lot of fans, but I sure wouldn't want him arguing my case in an important matter. Someone like Hugh Hewett, Michael Medved, or Rush would have demolished the rat spin in the allotted 30 seconds.

The MSM has mastered the technique of letting truth out in teeny little pieces over a long period in order to suit their purposes. In this case that means working to minimize the damage to the Kerry campaign from the fallout from this blatant fraud.

[Just mythoughts]

Seen this...

[tall-eagle]

I just read that the Russians denied taking the explosives.