I had blogged about this earlier here, here and here. From the last entry in that list:
bq. The unraveling thread...
The reports that the US blundered and let several hundred tons of high explosives disappear is turning could well turn out to be a fraud from Mohammed El Baradei � the report �leaked� to the MSM in order to make President Bush look bad.
Anyway, B.C. - The Imperial Torturer at The Idiotarian Rottweiler ran into an excellent analysis of the whole event over at Drink This:
bq. On October 12, 2004, the International Atomic Energy Agency�s Mohamed El Baradei submitted a letter to the UN Security Council stating concern over missing explosive material, material capable of nuclear proliferation. There weren�t a lot of details about specific locations or the nature of the materials. Three days ago, On October 25, 2004, El Baradei and the New York Times filled in the some of the blanks. Apparently, CBS hoped to hold on to this story for this Sunday's airing of 60 Minutes but elected instead to let the equally partisan New York Times run the story.
bq. Since the NYT story broke, John Kerry has jumped head long into this issue like a dung beetle into a steaming mound of Kangaroo manure. This scatological approach to campaigning is perilous at best. Rolling this turd into the center of the political stage and handing out forks to willing voters assumes too much.
bq. As Kerry sticks his thumbs in his ears and waves his hands back-and-forth at the President, intelligent voters recognize that the facts do not suggest that highly specialized nuclear materials were stolen on the President�s watch. To the contrary, the facts are evidence that Saddam was building and preparing to use Weapons of Mass Destruction.
She goes into great detail -- I'm going to quote a couple paragraphs from the middle of the article. It would be very worth your time to follow the link and read the entire thing (hint hint):
bq. When: (excerpted -- there are entries dating back to 1991) On 18 November 2002, Hans Blix lead UN weapons inspectors back to Baghdad to resume their mission. Shortly after their arrival, weapons inspectors discovered that 35 tons of HMX could not be accounted for. Officials in Saddam�s government explained that the materials had been used in �civilian programs.�
bq. In January 2003, the IAEA placed seals on a number of Al Qaqaa bunkers.
bq. In early March, 2003, IAEA inspectors verified the presence of the sealed materials for the last time.
bq. On 3 March 2003, the U.S. commenced Operation Iraqi Freedom.
bq. Who: The first U.S. military force to arrive at Al Qaqaa was the Army's 3rd Infantry Division. They arrived at Al Qaqaa on 3 April 2003. (According to erroneous MSM reporting, the 101st Airborne was the first U.S. force to arrive at Al Qaqaa).
bq. According to the Department of Defense (DOD),
bq. According to Perkins, after the enemy had been neutralized, soldiers of 3rd did an initial assessment of the depot to determine the quantity and �capability of the munitions� at the complex. Again, according to the DOD,When his [Army Col. David Perkins] battalion arrived at Al Qaqaa April 3, it engaged several hundred enemy soldiers and the paramilitary Fedayeen Saddam in the area. The unit killed or captured all who were there, with the battle lasting through April 5.
Very good stuff...Perkins soldiers concentrated on looking for weapons of mass destruction, especially chemical weapons. They found suspicious white powder and reported that through the chain of command. A chemical unit arrived, tested the powder and determined it was safe. The soldiers did not find the IAEA- sealed explosives.
