UPDATE: An NBCNews unit, embedded with US troops on 10 April 2003, a day after the liberation of Iraq, arrived at the Al Qaqaa complex and discovered the explosives were already GONE.
NBCNEWS Jim Miklaszewski quoted one official: "Recent disagreements between the administration and the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency makes this announcement appear highly political."
Not surprisingly, the New York Times is SILENT this morning about the NBC News report.
HT: LGF
The New York Times lead article today on page A1 reads "Huge Cache of Explosives Vanished from Site in Iraq". It goes on at length to explain how 380 odd tons of dangerous high explosive disappeared from a huge armament holding facility outside of Baghdad. With impeccable timing the Kerry campaign pounced with the Senator calling it "a great blunder". (I noted with interest that CBS' 60 minutes collaborated on the story -- is Mary Mapes at it again?)
What the estimable Times article fails to mention is that Saddam secreted an estimated TWO MILLION tons of ammunition in Iraq of which 400,000 tons are under coalition control or has been destroyed.
Captain's Quarters has an excellent piece fisking the Times. Specifically, it points out that the amount in question is 0.02% of what is believed to be in Iraq. That's two one-hundredths of one percent. Also while the material disappeared after the last IAEA inspection there is no indication of when it actually disappeared - whether the area was even yet under coalition control.
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