The "eyewitnesses" didn't see any of the "reported" high explosives
according to your source.
It is only those that were considered to be the major threat,
everything else including "ingredients" (which only a munitions expert
would know how to mix properly) were "NOT" high priority, nor were low
grade explosives or ammo. The entire dump had an org ~300 TON est
TOTAL, (not just high explosives, which the IEA later reduced to
something like 3 tons) which was 1/2 of 1% of what we have rounded up
and or destroyed.
Thanks to people like the UN (who org refused to destroy it) & the
French (who continued to abuse sanctions selling him more), Sadamned
had way too much, more than what we had been lead to believe was still
in Iraq. We also have them to thank for our having to go in to enforce
UN Resolution 1441, because the French had told Sadamned that there
wouldn't be an enforcement, and Sadamneds refusal to abide by the
Resolution was due to that information.
Was it wrong to take out Sadamned?
Could we have afforded to take the chance that sanctions would be
lifted?
The Oil For Food scandle tells the real story.
Corruption and abuse of power by the UN along with trusted members of
the Security Council.
As far as war goes, it NEVER goes exactly as planned. The problem
included Turkey's choice not to let us launch an attacking front from
their soil.
Only time will tell if President Bush made a correct course of action.
This AP report did not mention that these guys were NOT those who org
stormed the site, just more dust in the wind.
Stuntman
>
>
> I'm a little uneasy about this paperwork because of the number of
> eyewitnesses that saw the looting first hand as stated in this
article.
> LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Explosives were looted from the Al-
Qaqaa
> ammunitions site in Iraq while outnumbered U.S. soldiers assigned to
guard
> the materials watched helplessly, soldiers told the Los Angeles Times.
> About a dozen U.S. troops were guarding the sprawling facility in the
weeks
> after the April 2003 fall of Baghdad when Iraqi looters raided the
site, the
> newspaper quoted a group of unidentified soldiers as saying.
> U.S. Army reservists and National Guardsmen witnessed the looting and
some
> soldiers sent messages to commanders in Baghdad requesting help, but
> received no reply, they said.
> "It was complete chaos. It was looting like L.A. during the Rodney
King
> riots," one officer said.
> The eyewitness accounts reported by the Times are the first provided
by U.S.
> soldiers and bolster claims that the U.S. military had failed to
safeguard
> the powerful explosives, the newspaper said.
> Iraqi officials told the United Nations International Atomic Energy
Agency
> last month that about 380 tons of high-grade explosives, a type
powerful
> enough to detonate a nuclear weapon, had been taken from the Al-Qaqaa
> facility.
> Soldiers who belong to two different units described how Iraqis
snatched
> explosives from unsecured bunkers and drove off with them in pickup
trucks.
> The soldiers who spoke to the Times asked to remain unidentified,
saying
> they feared retaliation from the Pentagon.
> The soldiers said they could not confirm that looters took the
particularly
> powerful explosives known as HMX and RDX. One soldier, however, said
U.S.
> forces saw looters load trucks with bags marked "hexamine," which is
a key
> ingredient for HMX.
> One senior noncommissioned officer said troops "were running from one
side
> of the compound to the other side, trying to kick people out" and
that at
> least 100 vehicles were at the site waiting for the military to leave
so
> that they could loot the munitions.
> The Pentagon has offered accounts that suggest the explosives were
removed
> before the U.S.-led invasion to oust Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and
not
> during the chaos following the fall of Baghdad.
> A Pentagon statement last week said the removal of the explosives
would have
> required dozens of heavy trucks moving along the same roads as U.S.
combat
> divisions.
> The missing explosives became a campaign issue with Sen. John Kerry
claiming
> it was further evidence of the Bush administration's poor handling of
the
> war.
> Four soldiers who are members of the Germany-based 317th Support
Center and
> the 258th Rear Area Operations Center, an Arizona-based Army National
Guard
> unit, said the looting happened over several weeks in late April and
early
> May 2003.
> Asked about the soldiers' accounts, Pentagon spokeswoman Rose-Ann
Lynch told
> the newspaper: "We take the report of missing munitions very
seriously. And
> we are looking into the facts and circumstances of this incident."
>
>
> -------Original Message-------
>
> From: Stuntman
> Date: Tuesday, November 16, 2004 1:45:41 PM
> To: QuadPirate; Stuntman; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: Re: [QUAD-L] Colin Powell-A Great Soldier!
>
> That's because the likes of seeBS choose not to cover it extensively
> like they did the org "story". Remember, they had planned to run the
> story on the Sunday before the election but got scooped by NYT.
> Tens of Thousands of tons of explosives were destroyed by our troops
> and it took a little time to shift through the paper work and reports
> by all of our troops who had org passed through that weapons storage
> depote. Nobody bothered to check with those who had returned to the
> States, (some of the special teams etc) before running with the story
> designed to be an Oct surprise. It turned out to be red herring, just
> another "Rathergate". I wonder why they didn't want to eat the crow
> they tried to serve. I can not remember any time in my life that the
> media has been so blindly biased that they don't even bother to check
a
> story before running with it. This is the kind of thing which really
> worries me. Millions of Americans are being lead around by the nose
and
> don't even care. Nobody is holding the media accountable.
> Sorry but the story link I have no longer works:
> http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?
>
tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041025/ap_on_re_mi_ea/nuclear_agency_iraq_timeline&ci
> d=540&ncid=1473
>
> BTW How much have you heard of the UN Oil For Food scandle?
> Just wondering how much press this VERY important issue is getting.
> Stuntman
>
> >
> >
> > Hey Stuntman,
> > I'm not trying to restart a debate I would just like to know how we
> know
> > where the missing explosives went because I haven't seen this news.
> >
> > Mark
> >
> > -------Original Message-------
> >
> > From: Stuntman
> > Date: Monday, November 15, 2004 8:26:20 PM
> > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > Subject: Re: [QUAD-L] Colin Powell-A Great Soldier!
> >
> > France stabbed him in the back after promising to back UN
Resolution
> > 1441. The UN wasn't any help either. What happened then behind
closed
> > doors with the President can only be speculated about. The man has
> > served his country beyond the call of duty. He is ready for a well
> > earned vacation from public service. Maybe after a few years his
wife
> > will be ready to kick him back out into the world and he'd consider
> > running for the big job in 2008.
> > But to think it is all about Iraq?
> > It was only a short time ago everyone was whining about
> the "dangerous
> > explosives that could have been used to trigger a nuke".
> > OK, now we know the story about 300+ tons of the stuff missing was
> > wrong, but the O.F.F. scandle is true as were the weapons and
> munitions
> > marked "Made in France 2001".
> > The sanctions were NOT working.
> > There is strong evidence the WMD's were moved into Syria.
> > Sadamned was poised to restsrt his nuke program once sanctions were
> > lifted.
> > All of this treachery uncovered only because President Bush did
what
> he
> > thought was right.
> >
> > > It appears that Colin hasn't been a happy camper the last couple
of
> > years and
> > > has been at odd with the President's other secretaries, non of
them
> > had
> > > combat experience like Colin Powell. It was Colin who made
> > suggestions to the
> > > President which were over ruled by others who didn't have combat
> > experience. In
> > > the end Powell had to explain why we invaded Iraq when in his
> heart,
> > he knew it
> > > was wrong... at the time.
> > > Nothing on the news mentioned anything about his wife. (Just how
do
> > you get
> > > this information?lol)
> > > W
> > >
> > > In a message dated 11/15/04 5:38:22 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > writes:
> > >
> > > << He is a good man.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Mark >>
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> > --
> --
> It's not the fall that hurts.
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>
>
