Posted on 10/28/2004 9:00:51 AM PDT by ambrose
Thursday, October 28, 2004. 10:50pm (AEST)
Documents cast doubt on amount of missing explosives The amount of heavy explosives allegedly missing from the Al-Qaqaa weapons depot south of Baghdad may be considerably less than the 377 tons reported by Iraqi authorities, the American Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) News reports.
The news channel says it has obtained a confidential document from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) dated January 14, 2003.
It says the document shows that IAEA inspectors reported a little more than three tons of RDX explosives at Al-Qaqaa.
That is far below the 141 tons the Iraqi Science Ministry recorded at the facility in a declaration dated July 15, 2002.
That declaration partly served as a basis for the IAEA's October 10 memo reporting that 377 tons of RDX was missing.
ABC News reports that the IAEA document could mean that 138 tons of explosives were removed from the facility long before the US-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003.
The Washington Times quotes a US Defence Department official saying that Russian special forces working with Iraqi intelligence "almost certainly" removed the explosives and other ordnance from the site.
The official says the ordinance was sent it to Syria, Lebanon and possibly Iran before the war.
The missing explosives have become fodder of the US presidential election campaign.
Democratic challenger John Kerry is accusing incumbent President George W Bush of incompetence in his handling of post-invasion Iraq.
The New York Times - which broke the story of the missing explosives - cites witnesses saying that looters stormed Al-Qaqaa after the US-led invasion.
That would at least prove that US troops did not secure the site after inducing the Iraqi forces to abandon it.
US Army Colonel David Perkins, who commanded the brigade that first entered the Al-Qaqaa site in March 2003, says that his men only conducted a cursory search of the facility because their priority was to continue the march on Baghdad.
-- AFP
3 tons, 377 tons. What's the difference? The point is BUSH LIED.
[My prediction for tonight's "Countdown" with Keith Olberman.]
Guess this proves they WERE stolen before we got there.
Pentagon officials urging caution about the Russians taking the explosives.
Caution my arse
The vents on the sides of the buildings could be removed and replaced without disturbing the front doors. So the seals are meaningless. Three tons instead of 377? Kerry is out on the limb and W has the chain saw. Kerry looks silly and intemperate.
I also don't buy the line that he hasn't criticized our officers and troops. W wasn't on the ground in Iraq.
ABC News reported this? Didn't they get the memo?
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