WaPo vs. NY Times
Posted on 10/28/2004 9:26:14 AM PDT by pabianice
LESS THAN A POUND of the high explosive known as HMX was enough to destroy a Pan Am jumbo jet over Scotland in 1988 in one of the worst terrorist attacks against Americans before Sept. 11, 2001. So it can only be dismaying to learn that nearly 215 tons of the substance -- enough for hundreds of thousands of such bombs -- disappeared from an Iraqi weapons facility sometime after March 2003, when it was last seen by international inspectors. An additional 162 tons of the explosives RDX and PETN also are missing, according to a report to the International Atomic Energy Agency this month by the Iraqi Ministry of Science and Technology, which blamed a "lack of security" for the loss.
It's not clear whether the explosives vanished before or after invading U.S. forces reached the Qaqaa facility near Baghdad in April 2003, though it appears likely that the materiel was gone by May of last year, when the weapons-hunting Iraq Survey Group first visited the site...
It may not be fair to claim, as Sen. John F. Kerry did on Monday, that the loss represents "one of the greatest blunders of this administration." Apart from the doubts about whether the explosives disappeared before or after U.S. troops reached the site, Iraq was covered with some 10,000 weapons sites under Saddam Hussein; Qaqaa was not among those given highest priority by U.S. intelligence...
The fact that [the UN] was providing easy fodder for Mr. Kerry's campaign just eight days before the presidential election evidently did not deter [the UN]...
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
They've finally realized that the ship has pretty much sunk and all that remains is the mast above water.
Cut and run, get ready for Hillary! 2008.
Good, The media wolves are turning on eachother. Finally.
This whole thing is starting to look like those stories about the looting of the Iraqi museums. In reality most of the artifacts were hidden by museum curators and other things were being sold on the black market before we ever crossed the Iraqi border.
There's another recent thread where the AP/CBS are jumping ship, too. Today is gonna be fun, but tomorrow will be better. There may be fisticuffs on several shows on Sunday. Unraveling, unraveling, unraveling.
The Compost has been more balanced. Methinks they're resolved to a W win and don't relish the thought of not getting invited to the WH for four more years. Same for ABC. The Clymers on the NY Times know they're in the doghouse (with CBS) and are pulling out all stops....
Interesting.
They still pussyfoot around the issue, "It may not be fair to claim, as Sen. John F. Kerry did on Monday, that the loss represents "one of the greatest blunders of this administration."
???
How about:
It is dishonest of the Kerry campaign to reflexively condemn the Bush administration for this, especially when the fact are not known. This disturbing trend of using current events to criticize the President distracts voters from the real issues.
Why can't they say that?
WaPo vs. NY Times
One question that someone should ask Kerry (but won't): if this stuff (the 380 tons) was so dangerous, why didn't the U.N. destroy it when it had the chance, well before the U.S. invasion? It was the U.N., not Bush, who left the stuff in Saddam's hands for YEARS.
" . . . Mr. Kerry? Mr. Kerry? Your dockmaster is on the phone . . . "
"....this month by the Iraqi Ministry of Science and Technology, which blamed a "lack of security" for the loss."
Uh, was this person, like the Iraqi generals, unaware that the WMD program was a hoax until the war began (if not later)?
And why would a "science and technology" minister know about these weapons or their fate? If they were for traditional military use then they'd be under the defense ministry. If they were destined for nukes then we have clear proof of a WMD program.
It really sounds like he's in contact with the IEAA people, being a scientist and all, and parroting their dribble.
Is this (former?) minister one of the three unnamed Iraqis who are quoted in the CBS website of witnessing mass looting?
enquiring minds wanna know...
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