Posted on 10/27/2004 11:47:02 PM PDT by West Coast Conservative
The chances that enemy forces moved 377 tons of heavy ordnance out of the Al Qaqaa arms facility after U.S. forces arrived in the area are nearly impossible, said Army Col. David Perkins, who commanded the American troops who took the area during major combat operations in Iraq in 2003.
Perkins commanded 2nd Brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division. A unit under his command, the 3rd Battalion, 15th Infantry, entered the depot on April 3, 2003, and defeated the enemy forces there in a two-day battle.
The U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency had tagged the explosives at the site and departed before hostilities started. On May 27, 2003, experts with the 75th Exploitation Task Force confirmed the IAEA-sealed explosives were missing.
Perkins, now assigned to the Joint Staff, said it is "highly improbable" that the enemy was able to take the explosives out any time after U.S. forces arrived in the area. It would require "that the enemy sneaks a convoy of 10-ton trucks in and loads them up in the dark of night and infiltrates them in your convoy and moves out," he said. "That's kind of a stretch too far."
When his battalion arrived at Al Qaqaa April 3, it engaged several hundred enemy soldiers and the paramilitary Fedayeen Saddam in the area. The unit killed or captured all who were there, with the battle lasting through April 5.
"This site was open," Perkins said. "(Enemy) forces were moving in and out. We didn't know what was there."
At the same time, Perkins said, the soldiers of the unit did an initial assessment of the depot. "The concern was what's the capability of the munitions, rather than how much was there," he said
His soldiers concentrated on looking for weapons of mass destruction, especially chemical weapons. They found suspicious white powder and reported that through the chain of command. A chemical unit arrived, tested the powder and determined it was safe. The soldiers did not find the IAEA- sealed explosives.
Iraq was one of the most heavily armed countries on Earth. Perkins said it is important to remember that in its push to Baghdad, the brigade passed many depots containing thousands upon thousands of tons of arms and armaments. The brigade had no indication that the Al Qaqaa depot was anything special. "It was just another cache of weapons like the dozens we had passed," Perkins said.
The unit left the area April 5. "The mission was to quickly defeat the enemy and cause the collapse of the regime," Perkins said. "So what we did then was continue to push down the east side of the Euphrates because there was a whole brigade of the Medina division facing them."
After the 3rd Infantry Division left the area, the 2nd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division, took up residence through April 11.
The 75th Exploitation Task Force visited the facility May 7, May 11 and May 27. They found no IAEA material during any of these visits.
The depot is located at the intersection of two major roads. Both are major convoy routes for American supplies going into Iraq, and they were jammed with U.S. vehicles at all times. There is no evidence, Pentagon officials said, that there was any large-scale movement of explosives – or anything else for that matter – from the facility.
But...but...but.... The Pentagon is not supposed to comment on our Political lies (so say the Rats)
The only way for Kerry to spin himself out of this, is to call Army Col. David Perkins a liar. Knowing Kerry though...I wouldn't be surprised.
Paul Bremmer was interviewed, Fox I believe, stating low probability such explosive cches were present when our troops came to the particular area.
He also stated how much explosives WERE found by troops.
Paul Bremer estimated that Saddam had a million tons of weapons.
Only 400,000 tons have been destroyed so far.
But hey!!!...In the radical left playbook....anything is possible!....
But I thought al-Q'erry's extensive military background made him MORE qualified than our President on ALL THINGS MILITARY?
Must be the Intelligence Committee experience. Yeah, that's the ticket....
</sarcasm> </duh>
Look, the 480 tons is not real but it doesn't matter if it is real or unreal, all that matters is the perception of reality.
So far the Rats are winning the perception game, not on the net but in living rooms. Fault Bush for slow response.
The state polls are not encouraging since the NYT article. Why was there no response team in place?
Americans want George Bush to be right and true and to keep him. But when the whole appüartus is asleep at the crunch, they will be led astray.
Every Mosque, village, school yard,......etc. is a potential ammo-dump,.....this is 'peaceful' post 1991 Iraq.
......their 'guards militia' was EVERYWHERE.
Remember,.....this is/was a entire country steeped in armed DICTATORSHIP.
There are MORE ammo dumps in Iraq than WE LEFT in VIETNAM.
I generally agree. Every R talking head or representative on TV and radio needs to hammer home the idea that the facts are now coming out that totally dispute the NYT article and for Kerry to state with certainty shows his rush to judgement mentality -- and this is a quality we don't want in our leadership. And don't forget, we're just not voting about changing Presidents, were voting about changing the entire government apparatus.
"Look, the 480 tons is not real but it doesn't matter if it is real or unreal, all that matters is the perception of reality. "
This really is the issue, isn't it? And I have been screaming for more than a year that the real enemy is not the Dems, it's the press. If the press were fair and balanced, the Reps would kill the Dems on issues. Bush is reluctant to attack the press, but I would have been doing it all along... the NYT, CBS and others certainly have given him the ammo this year.
Sould be the headline in every major paper in the US but the story gets swept away. The liberal Pravda continues its hypnosis of America.
Imagine this man in charge of anything other than the hamster population.
Here you come as usual with doom and gloom.
The majority of the battleground states polls favor President Bush, including Florida, Ohio, Iowa, New Mexico, Wisconsin, and now Minnesota. He is very close in Michigan and Pennsylvania.
This is so very sad news for you. The President can afford to lose Ohio and New Hampshire if he wins Wisconsin and Iowa, or Wisconsin and New Mexico, or Minnesota and Iowa, or Minnesota and New Mexico.
This thing has not worked for the Dems and it hasn't even hit the backlash yet.
Today is the first day the public will hear about there possibly being 3 tons not 380. It's the first day they will hear about the Russian trucks hauling it all away. It will be driven home TODAY NO LESS that there was loads of activity caught on satellite before the war.
This has only begun to fester for Kerry. By the time it's done he will be forced to pull the commercial. Not because he's got a conscience, but because it's hurting him in the polls.
Oh yes, I would not doubt Saddams' munitions stockpile exceeded many million tons. Bremer gave you a conservative estimate.
Saddam gave many hints before the war started that he would disperse his munitions throughout Iraq.
And some people wonder why it seems the terrorists in Iraq have an inexhaustible supply to attack our troops with. Let alone how easy it is to hide WMDs.
Good article.
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