Original KSTP feed on Explosives

KSTP ^

[KFAT]

Updated: 10/28/2004 11:50:09 AM - VIDEO

A 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS crew in Iraq shortly after the fall of Saddam Hussein was in the area where tons of explosives disappeared, and may have videotaped some of those weapons.

The missing explosives are now an issue in the presidential debate. Democratic candidate John Kerry is accusing President Bush of not securing the site they allegedly disappeared from. President Bush says no one knows if the ammunition was taken before or after the fall of Baghdad on April 9, 2003 when coalition troops moved in to the area.

Using GPS technology and talking with members of the 101st Airborne Division, 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS has determined the crew embedded with the troops may have been on the southern edge of the Al Qaqaa installation, where the ammunition disappeared. The news crew was based just south of Al Qaqaa, and drove two or three miles north of there with soldiers on April 18, 2003.

During that trip, members of the 101st Airborne Division showed the 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS news crew bunker after bunker of material labelled "explosives." Usually it took just the snap of a bolt cutter to get into the bunkers and see the material identified by the 101st as detonation cords.

"We can stick it in those and make some good bombs." a soldier told our crew.

Soldiers who took a 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS crew into bunkers on April 18 said some of the boxes uncovered contained proximity fuses.

There were what appeared to be fuses for bombs. They also found bags of material men from the 101st couldn't identify, but box after box was clearly marked "explosive

[KFAT]

The original KSTP story is actually well reported and DOES NOT conclude that the barrels pictured are the HMX in question. Nor does it indicate amount of material found. Daily KOS, the usual aces of evidence they are, have concluded that GWB personally handed the 380 pounds of explosives to terrorists ...

[dawn53]

You're right there is a liberal use of the word "MAY" in that article.

[God luvs America]

Daily KOS, the usual aces of evidence they are, have concluded that GWB personally handed the 380 pounds of explosives to terrorists ...

You lost me on that, please explain.

[babydubya1981]

OMG, this is not what ABC implied. They don't even know if they were at Al KA KA nor do they know whether it was the HMX. UNBELIEVABLE, well not really I guess. I HATE MSM!!

[ironman]

ABC is reporting "The barrels were found inside locked bunkers that had been sealed by inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency just before the war began, ABC reported."
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1260712/posts
But I've yet to read or see anywhere that any IAEA seals were found on any bunker.

[Izzy Dunne]

drove two or three miles north of there with soldiers on April 18, 2003. During that trip, members of the 101st Airborne Division

Trouble is, the 101st was in Al Qaqaa on April 10.

For 24 hours.

And then on to Baghdad.

By all accounts.

[AHerald]

DOES NOT conclude that the barrels pictured are the HMX in question.

How is that ABC made such a conclusion? Disclaimer: I'm a ding-a-ling layperson. Still, I can't see how ABC was able to sound so definitive in their conclusions.

[jwalsh07]

IOfficers with the 101st Airborne told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS that the bunkers were within the U.S. military perimeter and protected. But Caffrey and former 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS Reporter Dean Staley, who spent three months together in Iraq, said Iraqis were coming and going freely.

"At one point there was a group of Iraqis driving around in a pick-up truck,"Staley said. "Three or four guys we kept an eye on, worried they might come near us."

SO what we have here is that inside a perimeter manned by airborne soldiers, a couple of hinky lookin dudes with a pickup truck managed to load 380 tons of something into the pickup truck and take it to the "insurgents" that had not yet insurged yet.

[jwalsh07]

IOfficers with the 101st Airborne told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS that the bunkers were within the U.S. military perimeter and protected. But Caffrey and former 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS Reporter Dean Staley, who spent three months together in Iraq, said Iraqis were coming and going freely.

"At one point there was a group of Iraqis driving around in a pick-up truck,"Staley said. "Three or four guys we kept an eye on, worried they might come near us."

SO what we have here is that inside a perimeter manned by airborne soldiers, a couple of hinky lookin dudes with a pickup truck managed to load 380 tons of something into the pickup truck and take it to the "insurgents" that had not yet insurged yet.

[Rippin]

bump

[KFAT]

Check out Daily KOS. They have a story saying this is final proof that the claimed material was there when the 101st airborne arrived. Then they misleading show a IAEA seal, implying this was "found" at the site, when it is just a sample of what one looks like. If you read the KSTP news links suggested by Daily KOS they hardly amount to the definitive proof KOS claims. They do seem to suggest from eyewitness accounts that some pick ups could have hauled away some materials -- and the US has Already acknowledged minor looting -- but nothing suggests that trucks and trucks of material could have carted away. That said. We clearly did not have a batallion stationed there guarding every door -- Of course, this begs the question -- WHY would SADDAM and terrorists wait until precisely the week after the 101st airborne arrived to remove materials ??? Because they wanted to make the job that much more challenging ?? And of course, this doesn't even get to the argument that this is a fraction of the material we found and destroyed after OVER 10,000 AMMO dumps in the country (per franks today)

[Steven W.]

CNN showed this video amongst others and Paula Zahn was actually careful to clarify that the video they showed of IAEA seals was provided SEPARATELY by the IAEA and it was then merged in with the other footage. What an outrage!

[oolatec]

The bunker KTSP went into was not sealed... I took screenshots of the video, and there is no seal. The IAEA seal is a thin wire "locked" with a circular tag... like this one: http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/Focus/IaeaIraq/iraq_gallery/iraq_gallery09/pages/001.shtml There was nothing of the sort on the bunker KTSP saw.

[Democracy In Iraq]

Wait for it...wait for it...

Officers with the 101st Airborne told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS that the bunkers were within the U.S. military perimeter and protected. But Caffrey and former 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS Reporter Dean Staley, who spent three months together in Iraq, said Iraqis were coming and going freely.

"At one point there was a group of Iraqis driving around in a pick-up truck,"Staley said. "Three or four guys we kept an eye on, worried they might come near us."

...A-HA!

Officers from the 101st Airborne say that the facility was within the military perimeter and that it was protected--but what those guys in that pick-up truck? What's to say they didn't make off with all those 380 tons of explosives?

The guys in the pick-up truck! The guys in the pick-up truck! THEY did it!!

...this is officially hysterically funny. :)

[oolatec]

Sorry... here is what an IAEA seal looks like...

http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/Focus/IaeaIraq/iraq_gallery/iraq_gallery09/pages/001.shtml

And doing a Google Image search for "IAEA seal" pulls up two photos KTSP uses in the article:

http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/News/2002/31012002_news01.shtml

http://www.sandia.gov/doe-oss/documents/e-cup-loop-seal/e-cup.html

Looks to me like they are trying to pass off stock photos as evidence to what they (didn't) find at the site.

[Yardstick]

But I've yet to read or see anywhere that any IAEA seals were found on any bunker.

I see what you mean (from your linked article):

"The barrels were found inside locked bunkers that had been sealed by inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency just before the war began, ABC reported."

Parsing this sentence closely, it says the bunkers had been sealed, which doesn't necessarily mean they were sealed at the time the ABC crew filmed them.

[KFAT]

KOS showed a picture of a link with a seal like thing on it. this is different than the screen shots you are showing.

Looking more and more like a manufactured story

[Democracy In Iraq]

I think now is a good time to take stock of this story:

1. 380 tons of explosives were apparently looted in Iraq. Why, just last week, people were looting the place--and the Americans were nowhere near it even though they were repeatedly warned by the UN to guard that stuff, since the UN itself managed to do nothing about it (but put stickers on it) when they were there.

2. American forces were nowhere near the place, except for the 101st Airborne. Oh, and the stuff was there and looted and all, but actually, it wasn't there when the Americans arrived, so the explosives that weren't there must have been looted some other way.

3. Actually, it wasn't 380 tons, but a lot less, I think.

4. The Russians visited the facility and took the explosives, which were later looted.

5. The explosives that weren't there ended up in the hands of an Iraqi terrorist group, courtesy of the CIA, who gave it to them. The explosives were then looted. Or, something like that.

6. The explosives that weren't there, but were looted, but were whisked away by the Russians, were actually stolen by a couple of guys in a pick-up truck in the middle of an American military zone.

...okay, I think I got it now.

[oolatec]

Sorry... here is what an IAEA seal looks like...

http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/Focus/IaeaIraq/iraq_gallery/iraq_gallery09/pages/001.shtml

And doing a Google Image search for "IAEA seal" pulls up two photos KTSP uses in the article:

http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/News/2002/31012002_news01.shtml

http://www.sandia.gov/doe-oss/documents/e-cup-loop-seal/e-cup.html

Looks to me like they are trying to pass off stock photos as evidence to what they (didn't) find at the site.

[Vonnegut]

What's out there appears to be actual footage of an IAEA seal.

The following link from KSTP has a screen shot of footage from April 18, 2003, with the *actual* seal shown. (It's separate from the IAEA picture of a seal -- this is from the actual footage.)

http://kstp.com/article/stories/S3741.html?cat=1

Could be a problem......