Were the weapons there? or not?

[Mermaid02]

" The press, God bless 'em, don't like being played for fools."

So why didn't they jump all over Rather? He tried to play the damn country for fools- but since it was anti-Bush it's okay right? The double standards are sickening.

 

[ThAnswr]

Originally posted by peachgirl
Did you get to see the entire press conference?

It was disgraceful! There are just no limits to what Bush will do trying to cover his ***. They drag that poor guy out there who obviously was trying to be truthful but everytime he started to answer, his handler would jump in and try and take over.

The press conference was abruptly ended when it became apparent that the press smelled blood and was going in for the kill. The press, God bless 'em, don't like being played for fools.

It really makes me wonder just what we don't know about all this if they are that desperate to try and cover up what happened.

If Bush loses this election, the shredders are going to be working double overtime at the WH, the CIA, the FBI,and Pentagon.

 

[peachgirl]

Originally posted by Mermaid02
"

So why didn't they jump all over Rather?

Gee, I don't know, I would suspect it's because HE'S NOT THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES AND NO ONE IS DYING BECAUSE OF HIS MISTAKES.

Secondly, the documents were not genuine, the facts contained in them were true.

Speaking of comparing Rather to Bush...

George W. Bush vs. Dan Rather

Dan Rather, CBS News Anchor:

1. Given documents he thought were true (the facts were, the documents were not);
2. Failed to thoroughly investigate the facts;
3. Reported documents to the American people as true to make his case;
4. When confronted with the facts, apologized and launched an investigation;
5. Number of Americans dead: 0;
6. Should be fired as CBS News Anchor.

George W. Bush, President of the United States:

1. Given documents he thought were true;
2. Failed to thoroughly investigate the facts;
3. Reported documents to the American people as true to make his case;
4. When confronted with the facts, continued to report untruth and stonewalled an investigation;
5. Number of Americans dead: 1,100 (and climbing);
6. Should be given four more years as President of the United States.

 

[Mermaid02]

Do you really believe your own propaganda?

 

[peachgirl]

Originally posted by Mermaid02
Do you really believe your own propaganda?

Wow....excellent comeback!

That's ok, facts are kind of hard to argue with, aren't they?

 

[Mermaid02]

Originally posted by peachgirl
Wow....excellent comeback!

That's ok, facts are kind of hard to argue with, aren't they?

I don't think you gave me any facts- just liberal propaganda but if you're happy with it that's okay with me.

 

[Elwood Blues]

Originally posted by Mermaid02
Do you really believe your own propaganda?

Sadly, she does.

 

[dsanner106]

1. Given documents he thought were true (the facts were, the documents were not);
truth= given documents by known plagerist, facts partially true, documents bad copies.

2. Failed to thoroughly investigate the facts;
truth=ignored source background, and lied implying "unimpeachable govt. source" when no connection to govt at all

3. Reported documents to the American people as true to make his case;
True

4. When confronted with the facts, apologized and launched an investigation;
Truth=gave double talk apology to save job, that laid off blame, his bosses launched an investigation

5. Number of Americans dead: 0;
Truth=no connection to this story at all.

6. Should be fired as CBS News Anchor.
Truth=Can keep job, but not respect.

George W. Bush, President of the United States:

1. Given documents he thought were true;
Truth=agreed with MANY world leaders, Rep and Dems in our govt. on what clues pointed to.

2. Failed to thoroughly investigate the facts;
Truth=As president on must act, not spend years investigating.

3. Reported documents to the American people as true to make his case;
Truth=reported information he had and his decision.

4. When confronted with the facts, continued to report untruth and stonewalled an investigation;
Truth=re-iterated information at hand and continued course.

5. Number of Americans dead: 1,100 (and climbing);
Truth= no relation to whether Bush missed his physical in the National guard, why is this relevent?

6. Should be given four more years as President of the United
States.
Truth= Only if we elect him.

 

[momof2inPA]

Good article, Answr. I wonder what other unsecured weapons stashes were left for the insurgents. It's sad to think that the deaths of U.S. soldiers might have been prevented had these weapons locations been secured. Someone really screwed up, and it wasn't the servicemen on the ground in Iraq.



Human Rights Watch says it warned U.S. military of unsecured high explosives in Iraq
By William J. Kole, Associated Press, 10/30/2004 12:56

VIENNA, Austria (AP) Human Rights Watch said Saturday it alerted the U.S. military to a cache of hundreds of warheads containing high explosives in Iraq in May 2003, but that officials seemed uninterested and still hadn't secured the site 10 days later.

The disclosure, made by a senior leader of the New York-based group, raised new questions about the willingness or ability of U.S.-led forces to secure known stashes of dangerous weapons in Iraq.

The question became a heated issue in the U.S. presidential campaign after Iraqi officials told the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency that some 377 tons of high explosives reported missing from another site the Al-Qaqaa military installation south of Baghdad

Peter Bouckaert, who heads Human Rights Watch's international emergency team, told The Associated Press he was shown two rooms ''stacked to the roof'' with surface-to-surface warheads on May 9, 2003, in a warehouse on the grounds of the 2nd Military College in Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad.

Bouckaert said he gave U.S. officials the exact location of the warheads, but that by the time he left the area on May 19, 2003, he had seen no U.S. forces at the site, which he said was being looted daily by armed men.

Bouckaert said displaced people he was working with in the Baqouba area had taken him to the warheads. ''They said, `There's stocks of weapons here and we're very concerned can you please inform the coalition?''' he said in a telephone interview from South Africa.

After photographing the warheads, Bouckaert said he went straight to U.S. officials in Baghdad's Green Zone complex, where he claimed officials at first didn't seem interested in his information.

''They asked mainly about chemical or biological weapons, which we hadn't seen,'' he said. ''I had a pretty hard time getting anyone interested in it.''

Bouckaert said he eventually was put in touch with unidentified U.S. officials and showed them on a map where the stash was located, also giving them the exact GPS coordinates for the site.

But he said he never saw U.S. forces at the site when he returned to the area for daily interviews with refugees, and that the site still was not secured when he finally left the area.

''For the next 10 days I continued working near this site and going back regularly to interview displaced people, and nothing was done to secure the site,'' he said.

''Looting was taking place by a lot of armed men with Kalashnikovs and rocket-propelled grenades,'' Bouckaert said. He said each of the warheads contained an estimated 57 pounds of high explosives.

''Everyone's focused on Al-Qaqaa, when what was at the military college could keep a guerrilla group in business for a long time creating the kinds of bombs that are being used in suicide attacks every day,'' he said.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said Monday that Iraq had reported 377 tons of high explosives missing from al-Qaqaa ''due to a lack of security'' at the vast site 30 miles south of Baghdad.

Iraqi officials told the agency the explosives which can be used to make the kind of car bombs that insurgents have used in numerous attacks on U.S.-led forces went missing amid looting after the April 9, 2003 fall of the Iraqi capital.

The Pentagon has suggested the explosives, which can be used to make the kind of car bombs that insurgents have used in numerous attacks on U.S.-led forces, may have been removed before U.S. forces moved into the area.

U.S. Army Maj. Austin Pearson said Friday that his team removed 250 tons of plastic explosives and other munitions from al-Qaqaa on April 13, 2003. But those munitions were not located under U.N. nuclear agency seal as the missing high-grade explosives had been, and the Pentagon was unable to say definitively that they were part of the missing 377 tons.

Bouckaert, who last year criticized U.S. officials for not acting on important information about mass graves in Iraq, said he estimates there were between 500 and 1,000 tons of high explosive warheads at the war college site in Baqouba.

The site also included anti-tank mines and anti-personnel mines, he said.

Car bombs require only about 6.5 pounds of explosives, meaning that each warhead potentially could have yielded enough material for nine bombs, Human Rights Watch said.

 

[Rokkitsci]

Originally posted by momof2inPA

Human Rights Watch says it warned U.S. military of unsecured high explosives in Iraq
By William J. Kole, Associated Press, 10/30/2004 12:56

VIENNA, Austria (AP) Human Rights Watch said Saturday it alerted the U.S. military to a cache of hundreds of warheads containing high explosives in Iraq in May 2003, but that officials seemed uninterested and still hadn't secured the site 10 days later.

Car bombs require only about 6.5 pounds of explosives, meaning that each warhead potentially could have yielded enough material for nine bombs, Human Rights Watch said.

PERHAPS the US military already knew that, and were TRULY disinterested in the opinions of the "human rights watch" located in NYC. I could warn the US military that it is hot in IRAQ during summer months and I doubt they would stop any planning they had to consider my warning = they might even act disinterested = Later when some soldier succumbs to heat exhaustion, then I could yell = "I WARNED YOU!!!!" = <yawn>

PERHAPS the US military were busy securing not only this site but was destroying 400,000 tons of explosives at other sites as well.

PERHAPS the US military removed whatever was left of the explosives before they left.

in other words = PERHAPS the US military did their job - professionally, efficiently, promptly, just as they always do, and still fell short of the KERRY standard of post-action perfection.

PERHAPS this is a non-story dredged up in the final days of a campaign to further disguise the fact that Kerry has no plan, nor anything in his past to suggest that he is capable of making a plan, nor anything in his past to suggest he has the guts to act on a plan if he had one.

PERHAPS you should find out how many 6.5 pound car bombs could be made from 400,000 tons of explosives.

 

[dmadman43]

Originally posted by peachgirl
Gee, I don't know, I would suspect it's because HE'S NOT THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES AND NO ONE IS DYING BECAUSE OF HIS MISTAKES.

Secondly, the documents were not genuine, the facts contained in them were true.

Speaking of comparing Rather to Bush...

George W. Bush vs. Dan Rather

Dan Rather, CBS News Anchor:

1. Given documents he thought were true (the facts were, the documents were not);
2. Failed to thoroughly investigate the facts;
3. Reported documents to the American people as true to make his case;
4. When confronted with the facts, apologized and launched an investigation;
5. Number of Americans dead: 0;
6. Should be fired as CBS News Anchor.

George W. Bush, President of the United States:

1. Given documents he thought were true;

The difference being the documents weren't proven to be FORGERIES.

2. Failed to thoroughly investigate the facts;

Incorrect, but you keep believing that. The left still never explains why even the "coalition of the bribed", and the UN believed Saddam had WMD. Just a minor detail, I guess

3. Reported documents to the American people as true to make his case;

Nope, reported the facts as did every other nation in the coaltion, and the UN
4. When confronted with the facts, continued to report untruth

It wasn't an "untruth" but you go on believing that.

and stonewalled an investigation;

5. Number of Americans dead: 1,100 (and climbing);
6. Should be given four more years as President of the United States.

 

[ThAnswr]

Originally posted by momof2inPA
Good article, Answr. I wonder what other unsecured weapons stashes were left for the insurgents. It's sad to think that the deaths of U.S. soldiers might have been prevented had these weapons locations been secured. Someone really screwed up, and it wasn't the servicemen on the ground in Iraq.

Thank you.

Have you ever noticed that for some, no amount of evidence is enough to prove the utter incompetence of the Bush administration. They've got a million and 1 reasons why Iraq is a mess except one: The Bush administraton screwed this one up royally.

Btw, I don't believe Giuliani said what he did about the troops by accident. I would not be a bit surprised if Giuliani was floating an administraton trial balloon. Wrong! Oooops, they did it again. Another miscalculation.