In other words: A discussion of The Bush Administration
The Big Story of The Week: Bush Incompetence and Greed Handed Over Explosives to the Terrorists - Explosives Which Are Now Being Used to Kill Our Soldiers
(okay, I admit... I'll never make it at the New York Post... I'm horrible with headlines)
Because Bush wanted to guard the oil we knowingly left extremely dangerouse explosives unguarded... and now... surprise they are missing.
Before the war the IAEA kept watch over them... we didn't, and now these same explosives are killing Americans and who knows how many world wide.
380 tons of explosives are missing, one pound of explosives like these is what took down the jet over Scotland in 1988. We've just handed over material to allow terrorists the opportunity to take down 760,000 jets.
We knew the explosives were there... Everyone knew the explosives were there... and Bush's folks couldn't be bothered to guard them?
Here's a rundown of coverage:
Huge Cache of Explosives Vanished From Site in IraqBAGHDAD, Iraq, Oct. 24 - The Iraqi interim government has warned the United States and international nuclear inspectors that nearly 380 tons of powerful conventional explosives - used to demolish buildings, make missile warheads and detonate nuclear weapons - are missing from one of Iraq's most sensitive former military installations.
The huge facility, called Al Qaqaa, was supposed to be under American military control but is now a no man's land, still picked over by looters as recently as Sunday. United Nations weapons inspectors had monitored the explosives for many years, but White House and Pentagon officials acknowledge that the explosives vanished sometime after the American-led invasion last year.
The White House said President Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, was informed within the past month that the explosives were missing. It is unclear whether President Bush was informed. American officials have never publicly announced the disappearance, but beginning last week they answered questions about it posed by The New York Times and the CBS News program "60 Minutes."
...
American weapons experts say their immediate concern is that the explosives could be used in major bombing attacks against American or Iraqi forces: the explosives, mainly HMX and RDX, could produce bombs strong enough to shatter airplanes or tear apart buildings.
The bomb that brought down Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988 used less than a pound of the same type of material, and larger amounts were apparently used in the bombing of a housing complex in November 2003 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and the blasts in a Moscow apartment complex in September 1999 that killed nearly 300 people.
The explosives could also be used to trigger a nuclear weapon, which was why international nuclear inspectors had kept a watch on the material, and even sealed and locked some of it. The other components of an atom bomb - the design and the radioactive fuel - are more difficult to obtain.
Vast explosives cache missing in Iraq, U.N. says
Nearly 380 tons of ‘dual-use’ explosives said to have vanishedThe Iraqis told the nuclear agency the materials had been stolen and looted because of a lack of security at government installations, said Fleming, who said the IAEA feared “that these explosives could have fallen into the wrong hands.”So get this we went there, saw the explosives were there and said "hey... shouldn't we be guarding the oil ministry?" and ran off?
At the Pentagon, an official who monitors developments in Iraq said U.S.-led coalition troops had searched Al-Qaqaa in the immediate aftermath of the March 2003 invasion and confirmed that the explosives, which had been under IAEA seal since 1991, were intact. The site was not secured by U.S. forces, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Not surprisingly: Kerry demands answers about missing explosives (don't we all?)"Today, the Bush administration must answer for what may be the most grave and catastrophic mistake in a tragic series of blunders in Iraq," senior Kerry advisor Joe Lockhart said in a statement dispatched before sunrise.
"How did they fail to secure nearly 380 tons of known, deadly explosives despite clear warnings from the International Atomic Energy Agency to do so? Why was this information unearthed by reporters -- and was it covered up by our national security officials?"
"These explosives can be used to blow up airplanes, level buildings, attack our troops and detonate nuclear weapons.
"The Bush administration knew where this stockpile was, but took no action to secure the site."
The International Atomic Energy Agency on Monday confirmed a report in The New York Times that the interim government of Iraq had voiced concern over the disappearance.
An IAEA spokeswoman added that the agency feared the powerful explosives may have "fallen into the wrong hands, terrorists'."
- rob 5:42 PM - [PermaLink] -
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