Oct 28, 2004
More "Wild Charges" about Al Qa Qaa
Click to enlarge pictures, video at the 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS link
Just as the images from inside the Abu Ghraib prison forced the Bush administration to deal with the previously stonewalled allegations of torture in US detention facilities it seems the same thing may happen with the missing explosives controversy.
"The senator is making wild charges about missing explosives when his top foreign-policy adviser admits, quote, 'We do not know the facts,'" he [Bush] said at a rally aimed at enlisting Democratic support, with Sen. Zell Miller of Georgia at his side.
"Think about that: The senator is denigrating the actions of our troops and commanders in the field without knowing the facts."
Actually, we pretty much know how the US takeover of sensitive Iraqi sites went, but Bush is just blowing smoke here. Maybe Kerry's people don't know certain facts, like how long the Bushies have been trying to keep the Iraqis quiet about the Al Qa Qaa incident, or where the explosives are or whether any are known to have been used in any of the car bombs exploding all over Iraq, but the fact that the US military not only had no instructions to take over and secure sensitive sites, often they didn't even know what they were looking at when they arrived at even the most famous ones is indisputably well documented. See this post for a look at the looting of Al Tuwaitha, for an example: True Believers and the Looting of Iraq
UPDATE: IAEA seals being broken by US troops at Al Qa Qaa.
Just as the images from inside the Abu Ghraib prison forced the Bush administration to deal with the previously stonewalled allegations of torture in US detention facilities it seems the same thing may happen with the missing explosives controversy.
Using GPS technology and talking with members of the 101st Airborne 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS determined our crew embedded with them may have been on the southern edge of the Al Qaqaa installation, where that ammunition disappeared. Our crew was based just south of Al Qaqaa. On April 18, 2003 they drove two or three miles north into what is believed to be that area.
During that trip, members of the 101st Airborne Division showed the 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS crew bunker after bunker of material labelled explosives. Usually it took just the snap of a bolt cutter to get in 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."
"The senator is making wild charges about missing explosives when his top foreign-policy adviser admits, quote, 'We do not know the facts,'" he [Bush] said at a rally aimed at enlisting Democratic support, with Sen. Zell Miller of Georgia at his side.
"Think about that: The senator is denigrating the actions of our troops and commanders in the field without knowing the facts."
Actually, we pretty much know how the US takeover of sensitive Iraqi sites went, but Bush is just blowing smoke here. Maybe Kerry's people don't know certain facts, like how long the Bushies have been trying to keep the Iraqis quiet about the Al Qa Qaa incident, or where the explosives are or whether any are known to have been used in any of the car bombs exploding all over Iraq, but the fact that the US military not only had no instructions to take over and secure sensitive sites, often they didn't even know what they were looking at when they arrived at even the most famous ones is indisputably well documented. See this post for a look at the looting of Al Tuwaitha, for an example: True Believers and the Looting of Iraq
UPDATE: IAEA seals being broken by US troops at Al Qa Qaa.