SwiftVets.com

[neverforget]

executive-editor@nytimes.com
_________________
US Army Security Agency
1965-1971

[shawa]

XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX MON OCT 25 2004 22:45:05 ET XXXXX

NBCNEWS: HUGE CACHE OF EXPLOSIVES VANISHED FROM SITE IN IRAQ -- AT LEAST 18 MONTHS AGO -- BEFORE TROOPS ARRIVED

The NYTIMES urgently reported on Monday how the Iraqi interim government has warned the United States and international nuclear inspectors that nearly 380 tons of powerful conventional explosives are now missing from one of Iraq's most sensitive former military installations.

Jumping on the TIMES exclusive, Dem presidential candidate John Kerry blasted the Bush administration for its failure to "guard those stockpiles."

"This is one of the great blunders of Iraq, one of the great blunders of this administration," Kerry said.

In an election week rush:

**ABCNEWS Mentioned The Iraq Explosives Depot At Least 4 Times
**CBSNEWS Mentioned The Iraq Explosives Depot At Least 7 Times
**MSNBC Mentioned The Iraq Explosives Depot At Least 37 Times
**CNN Mentioned The Iraq Explosives Depot At Least 50 Times

But tonight, NBCNEWS reported, once: The 380 tons of powerful conventional explosives were already missing back in April 10, 2003 -- when U.S. troops arrived at the installation south of Baghdad!

An NBCNEWS crew embedded with troops moved in to secure the Al-Qaqaa weapons facility on April 10, 2003, one day after the liberation of Iraq.

According to NBCNEWS, the HMX and RDX explosives were already missing when the American troops arrived.

It is not clear why the NYTIMES failed to report the cache had been missing for 18 months -- and was reportedly missing before troops even arrived.

The TIMES left the impression the weapons site had been looted since Iraq has been under US control.

[In a fresh Page One story set for Tuesday on the matter, the TIMES once again omits any reference to troops not finding any explosives at the site when they arrived in April of 2003. Attempts to reach managing editor Jill Abramson late Monday were unsuccessful.]

"The U.S. Army was at the site one day after the liberation and the weapons were already gone," a top Republican blasted from Washington late Monday.

The International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors last saw the explosives in January 2003 when they took an inventory and placed fresh seals on the bunkers.

Dem vp hopeful John Edwards blasted Bush for not securing the explosives: "It is reckless and irresponsible to fail to protect and safeguard one of the largest weapons sites in the country. And by either ignoring these mistakes or being clueless about them, George Bush has failed. He has failed as our commander in chief; he has failed as president."

A senior Bush official e-mailed DRUDGE late Monday: "Let me get this straight, are Mr. Kerry and Mr. Edwards now saying we did not go into Iraq soon enough? We should have invaded and liberated Iraq sooner?"

Top Kerry adviser Joe Lockhart fired back: "In a shameless attempt to cover up its failure to secure 380 tons of highly explosive material in Iraq, the White House is desperately flailing in an effort to escape blame. Instead of distorting John Kerry’s words, the Bush campaign is now falsely and deliberately twisting the reports of journalists. It is the latest pathetic excuse from an administration that never admits a mistake, no matter how disastrous."

Developing...

-----------------------------------------------------------
Filed By Matt Drudge

[ProudbrotherofUSSoldier]

This is what I just sent to NYT

I am writing to demand that your paper print a front page correction on the story regarding the missing explosives. I will give you the benefit of the doubt that you ran this story with no malice intended for the Bush Administration but since John Kerry has decided to use your story to slam President Bush you have an obligation to the American people to run the correction. Failure to do so will only fuel speculation that you purposely and willfully sought to provide John Kerry ammunition to discredit the President.


Sincerely,
******* ******(Name edited)
La Crosse, WI
_________________
Kerry was in Vietnam for only four months, which, coincidentally, is less than the combined airtime he's spent talking about it.

Ann Coulter

[GeorgiaBoy]

I sent this to the publisher and president of the NYT


I demand that there be a front page, above the fold retraction of the bogus story about the missing explosives. This retraction should be accompanied by an apology. It is clear that the only purpose for the story was an attempt to influence the Presidential race without regard to truth or fact. Furthermore this retraction should be delivered to all residences (such as in Florida) that received a complimentary, not solicited, copy of the Monday New York Times.

Gentlemen, I would start thinking about your future if I were you. The American public is fed up and I don't think their going to put up with this type of journalism any longer.

publisher@nytimes.com
president@nytimes.com

[truthserum]

Was over at Freeper and apparently Kerry knew about this prior to the NYT printing it. So, they were all in on it and now the whole lot of them, the skerry, NYT, all have BIG egg on their faces.

I'll be writing my letter to NYT but it won't be as curteous as yours.
_________________
Sister to a Marine vet who served in Vietnam and proud of it.

PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!

[neverforget]

Lockhart's statement makes no sense other than it is an attempt to cover-up Kerry's mistake. Pure double-speak. but exactly what one would expect from a known liar.
_________________
US Army Security Agency
1965-1971

[Schadow]

Headline: No Caca at Qa-Qaa

Schadow

[shawa]

TEEHEEHEE!!

It WAS a Rove / Rope-a-dope.

WE all knew the NYT was going to run this story today.
So did the White House. They could have set the NYT straight
last night, but let it all play out today.
GOT KERRY & EDWARDS TO RUN WITH IT!

HOOHAH!!! I LOVE IT!!!

[truthserum]

[SWVTsupporter]

Here's my reply to the NYT.

Thank you for helping elect George Bush today. You managed to make Senators Kerry and Edwards look like the pathetic fools they are and you also managed to include yourself on the ignoble list of old world media elites that have been exposed as shills for the Democratic Party. Your editorials and front page news headlines are now and have been only worthy of rodent cage nesting material.

Thanks again,

Sincerely,

[jimlarsen]

I'm still trying to get straight. The U.N. put seals on the bunkers and left in January '03 and when we arrived in April the seals were broken and the good stuff was gone. Did I get that right? That means there were some BAD guys there between the U.N. and us. How could anybody, no matter how bad, have the nerve to break a U.N. seal? Don't they know that they could get a harsh talking-to for doing that? The nerve of some people. Not respecting a U.N. seal.
_________________
-I'm Jim, and I approve what I write, unless it's wrong.
Speak softly and carry a BIG STICK. -T. Roosevelt
Need some WOOD? -G. Bush

[truthserum]

SWVTsupporter,

I love your letter. I laughed out loud and I needed a good laugh.
[/quote]
_________________
Sister to a Marine vet who served in Vietnam and proud of it.

PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!

[shawa]

http://www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?id=31787

Pentagon says its unclear if explosives disappeared after Iraq site fell under US control.

AFP: 10/25/2004
WASHINGTON, Oct 25 (AFP) - A Pentagon spokesman said Monday it was unclear whether 380 tons of high explosives reported missing from a weapons facility in Iraq disappeared before or after it fell under control of US forces.

The Iraqi government this month reported the disappearance of 380 tons of HMX and RDX explosives to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which had monitored the explosives before the war because they could be used as a trigger for nuclear devices.

"This is a first report. We do not know when -- if those weapons did exist at that facility -- they were last seen, and under whose control they were last in," Pentagon spokesman Larry DiRita said.

"It's very possible -- certainly it's plausible -- that it was the Saddam Hussein regime that last had control of these things," he told AFP.

DiRita said US forces visited the Al-Qaqaa site several times after the US invasion of Iraq as part of a US-led search for Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and related material.

But he said it is unclear whether the missing explosives were at the site during those visits.

"The forces searched 32 bunkers and 87 other buildings at the facility. Some explosive material was discovered, none of it carried IAEA seals. They did find stuff there. They probably secured it or destroyed it," he said.

DiRita said Iraq was swimming in weapons and ammunition after the war. More than 500 weapons sites were identified after the war, and some 200,000 tons of ammunition have been destroyed by US forces.

"I'm told they (US forces) made several visits to that facility looking for WMD related (material), and obviously we need to learn more about exactly what it is they saw there," he said.

"There have been these reports that there is evidence this place has been looted. But I think that's something to be very careful about. That place was not in anybody's control but Saddam Hussein's from the beginning of the war until sometime in April," he said.

"It's just really difficult to say with any kind of certainty what happened to those weapons, and who were the last people who had control of them. But I think it's at least arguable that the last person who had control of them was the Saddam Hussein regime," he said.


10/25/2004 18:51 GMT - AFP

[ProudDaughterofVet]

Okay, I have now just stopped laughing. No lie, when I read this on Drudge, I busted up laughing..good be the election tension..or it could be that the time has come, the corner turned when the MSM will be DOA ..and when do I predict this..on November 2, 2004 at about ohhhhhhhhh 11:45pm est..

MSM WILL BE DOA.

I have written to the NYSLIME..CNN..as they, according to Drudge reported this 50 times today and alas, our favorite network MESSNBC..now you would think since NBC broke this story, they would at least update their website, right? wrong..and they reported the story 37 times today..

MY friends, we are witnessing a wonderful moment here..the demise of the MSM..they have no credibility, no what was that word Kerry's mama used? Oh, integrity! No value..they are nothing more than wasted paper, wasted words, wasted time. The blatent attempt this election cycle to influence the American voter is outrageous. I will be outraged and this time I am not only writing those usual suspects, but my local rag as well..they had this story on the front page above the fold..time for action..all of us, time to make a difference..it is truly a happy happy night!!

PD
_________________
"We will not tire, We will not falter, We will not fail."
-President George W. Bush

www.timetotakeastand.blogspot.com

[Kimmymac]

It is a full time job writing to these pukes.

When this election is over and the smoke clears, I will prove just how much of a compassionate conservative I am when I hire John Hairwards to represent me in in a multi-million dollar carpel tunnel suit against the OIM.

Hey! I have suffered! I need to be compensated!
_________________
The last refuge of scoundrels is not patriotism; it is finicky liberal humanitarianism.--Martin Paretz