CBS News Report, April 3, 2002 - Page 5

catzmeow · #41 (**permalink**) 10-28-2004, 11:29 AM

March 4 was the date of the IAEA's last inspection at Al Qaaqa, per their records.

HOWEVER...breaking news.

Have you now followed the breaking story on ABC News that suggests, based upon the IAEA's records, that 138 tons of RMX disappeared on the IAEA's watch, and thus, wasn't counted in their certification of the materials at Al Qaaqa, dated January 14, 2003, in which they noted there were only 3 tons of this material present?

Further, that they acknowledge that their seals may have been breeched on the other materials, and the materials removed due to problems with the seals?

hm.

http://www.abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=204304&page=1

The Iraqi interim government has told the United States and international weapons inspectors that 377 tons of conventional explosives are missing from the Al-Qaqaa installation, which was supposed to be under U.S. military control.

But International Atomic Energy Agency documents obtained by ABC News and first reported on "World News Tonight with Peter Jennings" indicate the amount of missing explosives may be substantially less than the Iraqis reported.

The information on which the Iraqi Science Ministry based an Oct. 10 memo in which it reported that 377 tons of RDX explosives were missing — presumably stolen due to a lack of security — was based on "declaration" from July 15, 2002. At that time, the Iraqis said there were 141 tons of RDX explosives at the facility.

But the confidential IAEA documents obtained by ABC News show that on Jan. 14, 2003, the agency's inspectors recorded that just over three tons of RDX were stored at the facility — a considerable discrepancy from what the Iraqis reported.

The IAEA documents could mean that 138 tons of explosives were removed from the facility long before the United States launched "Operation Iraqi Freedom" in March 2003.

The missing explosives have become an issue in the presidential campaign. Sen. John Kerry has pointed to the disappearance as evidence of the Bush administration's poor handling of the war. The Bush camp has responded that more than a thousand times that amount of explosives or munitions have been recovered or destroyed in Iraq.

Another Concern

The IAEA documents from January 2003 found no discrepancy in the amount of the more dangerous HMX explosives thought to be stored at Al-Qaqaa, but they do raise another disturbing possibility.

The documents show IAEA inspectors looked at nine bunkers containing more than 194 tons of HMX at the facility. Although these bunkers were still under IAEA seal, the inspectors said the seals may be potentially ineffective because they had ventilation slats on the sides. These slats could be easily removed to remove the materials inside the bunkers without breaking the seals, the inspectors noted.

catzmeow · #42 (**permalink**) 10-28-2004, 11:29 AM

Whereas, ABC news has definitively squashed YOUR CLAIM that the IAEA had secured these materials before we arrived.

Game, set, match.

Catz

barney-fife · #43 (**permalink**) 10-28-2004, 11:58 AM

Further evidence of why you never want to mess with Catz!

Now, repeat after me, "Yes, dear." Keep practicing it. When you think you have it down good, you may repeat it in your next post to Catz.

catzmeow · #44 (**permalink**) 10-28-2004, 12:20 PM

haven't you, Barnster?

glowdog · #45 (**permalink**) 10-28-2004, 12:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by catzmeow";p=&quot

Quote:

Originally Posted by PI

NO ONE knows what happened to 380 Tonnes of weapons materials. All we know is that the 3rd Infiltry division saw the boxes AFTER the invasion in April 2003

No, dear, they didn't. Because the boxes would have amounted to approximately 40 semi-sized truckloads of explosives, and they would have been identified by IAEA stickers, which, btw, the soldiers were explicitly looking for.

No, the 3rd Infintry unit were not explicitly looking for those explosives. They were there for less than 2 days, part of which was spent in firefight with Iraqis who were guarding the site. The 3rd Infintry wiped them out, and moved on the next day, leaving Al Qaqaa unguarded. They did search some of the bunkers or buildings, but they did not do an extensive search and they did not look specifically for the IAEA documented explosives. They didn't know about them - that is not why they were there.

This is a fact that was well established by lunchtime yesterday. Pay attention.

catzmeow · #46 (**permalink**) 10-28-2004, 12:58 PM

Rich.

catzmeow · #47 (**permalink**) 10-28-2004, 01:03 PM

Fox News Report, April 4, 2003

Quote:

Closer to Baghdad, troops at Iraq's largest military industrial complex found nerve agent antidotes, documents describing chemical warfare and a white powder that appeared to be used for explosives.

U.N. weapons inspectors went repeatedly to the vast al Qa Qaa complex -- most recently on March 8 -- but found nothing during spot visits to some of the 1,100 buildings at the site 25 miles south of Baghdad.

[but wait! I thought they hadn't been there since JANUARY???!!!]

Col. John Peabody, engineer brigade commander of the 3rd Infantry Division, said troops found thousands of 2-by-5-inch boxes, each containing three vials of white powder, together with documents written in Arabic that dealt with how to engage in chemical warfare.

Initial reports suggest the powder is an explosive, but tests are still being done, a senior U.S. official said. If confirmed, it would be consistent with what the Iraqis say is the plant's purpose, producing explosives and propellants.
According to U.N. weapons inspectors, who spoke on condition of anonymity, the Iraqis filled warheads and artillery shells with explosives at the site and manufactured bomb casings there. The activities, for conventional weaponry, were allowed under U.N. resolutions. But the resolutions, passed after the 1991 Gulf War, ban Iraq from possessing chemical, biological and nuclear weapons and the long-range missiles to deliver them.
Peabody told an Associated Press reporter that troops at al Qa Qaa also discovered atropine, used to counter the effects of nerve agents, and 2-PAM chloride, which is used in combination with atropine in case of chemical attack.

The presence of atropine, and the discovery of gas masks and chemical suits earlier in the war, could indicate Iraq was preparing to use chemical weapons.

For years, the al Qa Qaa site has raised the suspicions of weapons inspectors who believed the facilities could be converted for the production of missiles and chemical and nuclear weapons. It was visited repeatedly during the 1990s and during the last cycle of inspections -- between Nov. 27 and March 17 -- when U.N. experts went to the complex more than 10 times.

According to a British dossier on Iraq published last September, parts of al Qa Qaa's chemical complex, destroyed in 1991, were repaired and are now operational, including a production plant for the chemical weapon phosgene.

Nuclear inspectors believe an area of the complex was involved in designing an atomic bomb before Iraq's nuclear program was destroyed by U.N. teams after the 1991 Gulf War. The facility also made lenses and other components that can be used to trigger nuclear explosions.

But wait, I thought the 3rd infantry division didn't know what was at Al Qa Qaa?

Catz
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