380 tons of boom-boom...

[MichiganMat]

... DISAPPEAR!!!

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/10/25/iraq.explosives/index.html

The UN guarded the explosives before the war.
Paul Bremer was warned at the beginning of the war
Condi was told of the disappearance a month ago
And today the world finds out.

The facility wasn't a secret:

She described Al Qaqaa as "massive" and said it is one of the most well-known storage sites. Besides the 380 tons, there were large caches of artillery there.

My favorite quote:

"In the grand scheme -- and on a grand scale -- there are hundreds of tons of weapons, munitions, artillery, explosives that are unaccounted for in Iraq," the official said. "And like the Pentagon has said, there is really no way the U.S. military could safeguard all of these weapons depots or find all of these missing materials."

"Its hard work, I mean...there are so many weapons..." {whine}

So let me guess, its the fault of Liberals, the French, and John Kerrys anti-war actions from 30 years ago....

[island911]

Fault!? . .. UN guarded!?

The UN is so good at helping.

[Overpaid Slacker]

This "explosives powerful enough to detonate nuclear warheads" is a pretty transparent scare tactic, no? You don't need exceptionally powerful explosives to detonate nuclear weapons -- you need exceptionally accurate arrangement of such explosives, combined with state-of-the-art triggers, fuses and switches. Well, at least to do it right. If you just want to blow up nuclear material, you could probably do it with PETN, RDX or garden-variety plastiques.

I don't think this was any Liberal's fault -- but the inference that the IAEA never lost anything under its watch is honest-to-god-wet-yourself-laughing ridiculous. There was a lapse, and a bad one. What's most interesting to me is the timing of the disclosure. What, is Kerry not getting enough traction by blaming flu vaccine shortages on Bush?

JP

[cool_chick]

This article goes into much more depth about the subject.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/25/international/middleeast/25bomb.html?hp&ex=1098763200&en=fd35fdf4b6d46d61&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[lendaddy]

Wasn't this back in early '02?

[304065]

And yet, JP, this article about the IAEA was effective in convincing at least ONE person (see above).

Somehow I think the world according to John Heinz Kerry is going to get a WHOLE lot worse in the next couple weeks. But it just doesn't feel right to "short" the USA.

[Beethoven]

The stuff got lost under US watch. I can't believe the incomptence of this administration. And the blidness of those whose only reaction to this is that Kerry would be worse? There is no place to go on the worse end of the scale.

[350HP930]

The report also stated these are the very same explosives that are being used to kill our soldiers and iraqis on a daily basis.

Its just another reminder how our current regime only appears to be good at killing people via their incompetance.

[cegerer]

"there are hundreds of tons of weapons, munitions, artillery, explosives that are unaccounted for in Iraq,"

Hmmmm .... could 100's of tons of weapons be considered weapons capable of mass destruction? Depends on the meaning of "is" I suppose ......

[cool_chick]

I agree beethoven and and 350HP930. And this administration says we'll only be "safe" if he's in charge? What a joke.

These are not considered WMDs. These would be considered what those in the know call "conventional" weapons.

[turbo6bar]

Bush and co. screwed up with this one. If the US didn't have enough troops there to secure zones, they should have. 380 tons of high explosives / 100 pounds per bomb = lots and lots of attacks.

[350HP930]

I guess if you put them all one one place it could rise to the level of a wmd but I think they are all well distributed by now.

[fintstone]

I guess this just proves the liberals were all wrong when the claimed that there was no way that a few hundred pounds of chemicals (WMD)could be hidden in Iraq...if we could not find them by now....Well, where exactly is this 380 tons?

[Beethoven]

That's why the Bushies lost the ammo? To prove the liberals wrong? You guys are incapable of admitting anything, aren't you? Babies

[cool_chick]

Powell himself said it is unlikely we'd find stockpiles:

"I think it's unlikely that we will find any stockpiles," Powell told lawmakers when asked about the intelligence behind his Feb. 5, 2003, U.N. Security Council speech laying out U.S. arguments for the war with Iraq that began six weeks later.

Yet the US had known all along about these:

The International Atomic Energy Agency publicly warned about the danger of these explosives before the war, and after the invasion it specifically told United States officials about the need to keep the explosives secured, European diplomats said in interviews last week. Administration officials say they cannot explain why the explosives were not safeguarded, beyond the fact that the occupation force was overwhelmed by the amount of munitions they found throughout the country.

So, I'm led to believe that these were not considered WMDs. Unless someone else has an explanation for this?

[red-beard]

Do you have any clue just how big 380 Tons of anything is?

Do you know how many truckloads this is? This was not "lost" or stolen recently. It was moved before the US invaded. The article even implies this! It happened before May, 2003.

And all of you fell for it.

[cegerer]

Let's see here, I'm just a lowly engineer who had a few math classes in college but according to my calculations, and seeing that our guys have destroyed and/or secured for destruction 405,898 tons of munitions ......... the 380 tons missing represents a whopping 9/100ths of 1 percent!!!!

And as so kindly pointed out in this thread already, these are "conventional weapons" available anywhere.

What was that saying about molehills and mountains.

[350HP930]

Wow, too bad the US doesn't have the technology to track truck convoys in the cloudless desert then.

[cool_chick]

Ok, the weapons inspectors knew what was there when they were told to leave....

We were warned on the dangers this...

We invaded in March, 2003...

We find out earlier this month (2004)

Officials in Washington said they had no answers to that question. One senior official noted that the Qaqaa complex where the explosives were stored was listed as a "medium priority" site on the Central Intelligence Agency's list of more than 500 sites that needed to be searched and secured during the invasion. "Should we have gone there? Definitely," said one senior administration official.

"medium priority" site on the CIA list.

C'mon already...

[cool_chick]

Originally posted by cegerer
What was that saying about molehills and mountains.

ya, no big deal. How many semiloads worth? Here boys...let me help you kill more of our soldiers.

It's ok...we're safe.