Here's the link.
Iraqi officials may be overstating the amount of explosives reported to have disappeared from a weapons depot, documents obtained by ABC News show.
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.
Not to discount the seriousness of even 3 tons of explosives turning up missing, but several hundred thousand tons of munitions have been destroyed in Iraq. While not all of that mass is explosive (e.g. shell casings), approximately 20-50% of many weapons' mass is explosive, meaning upwards of 100 kilotons of explosive material has been destroyed. To put it into perspective, the Hiroshima bomb was in the range of 13-15 kilotons.
Current Events » in reply to Explosives Story Won't Disappear
According to ABC News, the amount of missing explosives may be 3 tons
The whole thread (9 posts)
- Explosives Story Won't Disappear
- Great thread - they all lined up. (n/t)
- Not anymore (n/t)
- Coordinated media buttmonkey attack fell flat...
- Kerrybots conceed story may not be factual but still run ads
- This October surprise has already lost its punch
- And becoming enlightened
- According to ABC News, the amount of missing explosives may be 3 tons
- Kerry will wish it would soon enough, when this blows up in his face.
- Great thread - they all lined up. (n/t)
