IAEA Says It Warned U.S. About Explosives

[maddezmom]

By WILLIAM J. KOLE, Associated Press Writer

VIENNA, Austria - The U.N. nuclear agency said Thursday it warned the United States about the vulnerability of explosives stored at Iraq (news - web sites)'s Al-Qaqaa military installation after another facility — Iraq's main nuclear complex — was looted in April 2003.


Melissa Fleming, a spokeswoman for the International Atomic Energy Agency, told The Associated Press that U.S. officials were cautioned directly about what was stored at Al-Qaqaa, the main high explosives facility in Iraq.


Some 377 tons of high explosives are now missing from the facility, said by Iraqi officials to have been taken by looters. Questions have arisen about what the United States knew about Al-Qaqaa and what it did to secure the site.


Fleming did not say which officials were notified or exactly when, but she said the IAEA — which had put storage bunkers at the site under seal just before the war — alerted the United States after the Tuwaitha nuclear complex was looted.

more: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=535&ncid=535&e=2&u=/ap/20041028/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_weapons_iaea

It's time to start naming names......accountablity for pete's sake!!!

[Gregorian]

1. What!?

OK. I'm not smart enough to connect the dots, but this is way too obvious. August 6th PDB; IAEA warning on the exact objects and their location. Just those two things show GROSS negligence on the part of this MISadministration. There is no way they could have done this on accident. It is worse than negligence. Furthermore, an orangutang could have done better.
Are these people so high up in the political chain that there is no justice for them. Because they all should be put behind bars. I have never ever seen a better reason for jail than these people. They are the biggest hazard to our society. Not pot smokers, not heroine addicts, not burglers, not bank robbers, not even rapist are as bad as this gang. But they have hidden behind the presidency and a republican congress, and media, to escape punishment. We have a serious threat to this country amongst us.

[Nicholas_J]

12. This proves Kerry's points about the administrations "Rush to War"

The way these events unfold are indicative that Bush wanted tovgo into Iraq so fast that they did not take the time to plan at all. Whether Saddam moved them earlier or not, the administration did not plan for this ahead of time, and this gives either terroirsts, insurgents, or Saddam himself the means to extend the post war killing for years.

[Rageneau]

2. The IAEA is a Eurasian organization

Oceana has always been at war with Eurasia.

Amazing, these Republicans. They put politics ahaead of EVERYTHING -- truth, patriotism, conducting a war -- EVERYTHING!

[orangeotter]

3. start spreading the news

http://www.kstp.com/article/stories/S3723.html?cat=1
News from Minnesota with pics and video of weapons in APRIL!

[sherilocks]

4. The talking heads keep beating up

on Kerry, ignoring everything. Except AAR, of course.

[thecrow]

5. I rated the story a FIVE

and you can too!

[Judi Lynn]

9. Good idea! It should STAY high.

I just "voted," as well. Very high marks at the time: Avg Rating: 4.57, 35 votes - Your Rating: 5

From the end of the article:

In June 2003, inspectors investigated reports of widespread looting of storage rooms at Tuwaitha, and they returned in August 2003 to take inventory of several tons of natural uranium that had been stored there. They have not been allowed back to Al-Qaqaa.

[central scrutinizer]

6. 377 tons is small potatoes compared with ...

this - "another facility — Iraq's main nuclear complex — was looted in April 2003." Excuse me, but the invasion started in March, 2003. We didn't send enough troops to secure the main-fucking-nuclear-fucking-complex from the get-go? How incompetent is that? It's not like we didn't know where the fuck it was - it was on the IAEA's map. Who needs conventional explosives when you can steal some nuclear material and make a radioactive bomb with a truck full of fertilizer?

[dqueue]

7. well, you see...

Actually, IAEA alerted Kerry, via the NYTimes. Because he was so busy being the most liberal Senator, while not actually participating in the Senate due to his campaigning, the message was lost.

</sarcasm>

[pinniped]

8. Ya but did they warn the Russians?

:crazy:

[maddezmom]

10. this puts the nuclear looting back on the front page, too

IAEA needs to name the person they warned, either on the record or off.

[maddezmom]

13. anyone got any comments from Condi on this issue...besides she

didn't know if the president knew about it????

[Green Mountain Dem]

11. Limpballs claiming today.....

that it is 3 tons not 300...does Oxycontin make you count funny ?? BTW he did not cite ANY source for this change...maybe Kagan told him. I think the Kerry Administration should request the new AG to expedite his impending indictment.

[UpInArms]

14. the rabid reichwingers are now circulating an email

that I was so "fortunate" to receive in my inbox this morning.

I shall post it in its entirety - please read the last paragraph for its pathetic content (the rest is just vomitous all by itself)

Sent: Wednesday, October 27, 2004 2:50 PM
Subject: Don't Close Your Blinds


> The other day, my nine-year-old son wanted to know why we were at war.
>
> My husband looked at our son and then looked at me. My husband and I were
in the Army during the Gulf War and we would be honored to serve and defend
our Country again today. I knew that my husband would give him a good
explanation.
>
> My husband thought for a few minutes and then told my son to go stand in
our front living room window. He said, "Son, stand there and tell me what
you see?"
>
> "I see trees and cars and our neighbors' houses," he replied.
>
> "OK, now I want you to pretend that our house and our yard is the United
States of America and you are President Bush."
>
> Our son giggled and said, "OK."
>
> "Now son, I want you to look out the window and pretend that every house
and yard on this block is a different country," my husband said.
>
> "OK Dad, I'm pretending."
>
> "Now I want you to stand there and look out the window and pretend you see
Saddam come out of his house with his wife, he has her by the hair and is
hitting her. You see her bleeding and crying. He hits her in the face, he
throws her on the ground, then he starts to kick her to death.
>
> Their children run out and are afraid to stop him, they are screaming and
crying, they are watching this but do nothing because they are kids and they
are afraid of their father. You see all of this son....what do you do?"
>
> "Dad?"
>
> "What would you do son?"
>
> "I'd call the police, Dad."
>
> "OK. Pretend that the police are the United Nations and they take your
call, listen to what you know and saw, but they refuse to help. What do you
do then son?"
>
> "Dad...but the police are supposed to help!" My son starts to whine.
>
> "They don't want to son, because they say that it is not their place or
your place to get involved and that we should all stay out of it," my
husband says.
>
> "But Dad...he killed her!" my son exclaims.
>
> "I know he did...but the police tell you to stay out of it. Now I want you
to look out that window and pretend you see our neighbor who you're
pretending is Saddam turn around and do the same thing to his own children."
>
> "Daddy...he kills them?"
>
> "Yes son, he does. What do you do?"
>
> "Well, if the police don't want to help, I will go and ask my next door
neighbor to help me stop him," our son says.
>
> "Son, your next door neighbor sees what is happening, but he refuses to
get involved as well. He'll not help you," my husband says.
>
> "But Dad, I NEED help! I can't stop him by myself!"
>
> "WHAT DO YOU DO SON?" Our son starts to cry.
>
> "OK, no one wants to help you, the man across the street saw you ask for
help and saw that no one would help you stop him. He stands taller and puffs
out his chest. Guess what he does next son?"
>
> "What Daddy?"
>
> "Watching you in the window, he walks over to the old lady's house, breaks
down her door and drags her out. He sets her house on fire and then he...he
kills her. He does this while he laughs at you and her. WHAT DO YOU DO?"
>
> "Daddy..."
>
> "WHAT DO YOU DO?"
>
> Our son is crying and he looks down and he whispers, "I'd close the
blinds, Daddy."
>
> My husband looks at our son with tears in his eyes and asks him..."Why?"
>
> "Because Daddy.....the police are supposed to help people who needs
them...and they won't help.... You always say that neighbors are supposed to
HELP neighbors, but they won't help either...they won't help me stop
him...I'm afraid....I can't do it by myself Daddy.....I can't look out my
window and just watch him do all these terrible things and... and..... do
nothing...so....I'm just going to close the blinds.... so I can't see what
he's doing........and I'm going to pretend that it is not happening."
>
> I start to cry. My husband looks at our nine year old son standing in the
window, looking pitiful and ashamed at his answers to my husband's questions
and he says..."Son."
>
> "Yes, Daddy."
>
> "Open the blinds, son, because that evil man.... now he's at our front
door..."WHAT WILL YOU DO NOW?"
>
> My son looks at his father, anger and defiance in his eyes. He balls up
his tiny fists and looks his father square in the eyes, without hesitation
he says: "I'LL DEFEND MY FAMILY DAD! I'M NOT GONNA LET HIM HURT MOMMY OR MY
SISTER, DAD! I'M GONNA FIGHT HIM, DAD, I'M GONNA FIGHT HIM!"
>
> I see a tear roll down my husband's cheek and he grabs our son to his
chest and hugs him tight, and says... "It's too late to fight him, he's too
strong and he's already at YOUR front door son.....you should have stopped
him BEFORE he killed his wife, and his children and the old lady across the
way. You have to do what's right, even if you have to do it alone, before
it's too late," my husband whispers.
>
> THAT scenario I just gave you is WHY we are at war with Iraq and other
terrorists. When good men stand by and let evil happen son, THAT is the
greatest EVIL of all. Our President is doing what is right. We, as a free
nation, must understand that this war is a war of humanity. WE must remove
evil men from power so that we can continue to live in a free world where we
are not afraid to look out our window so that my nine year old son won't
grow up in a world where he feels that if he just "closes" that blinds the
atrocities in the world won't affect him.
>
> "YOU MUST NEVER BE AFRAID TO DO WHAT IS RIGHT! EVEN IF YOU HAVE TO DO IT
ALONE!" BE PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN! BE PROUD OF OUR TROOPS!
>
> SUPPORT THEM! SUPPORT OUR PRESIDENT IN THE MIDST OF THIS WAR, SO THAT IN
THE FUTURE OUR CHILDREN WILL NEVER HAVE TO CLOSE THEIR BLINDS...."
>
> BOGUS AMMO DUMP STORY YESTERDAY TIMED TO DISCREDIT THE MILITARY AND
PRESIDENT BUSH...
> A bogus ammo dump story headlining the news Monday was strategically timed
to shift the vote to Senator John Forbes Kerry as individuals are filling
out and mailing in absentee ballots or voting early. Sadly, voters may have
been swayed in their presidential choice by untruths trumpeted by John Kerry
himself in speeches and interviews this week. (Sound like the Clinton days
all over again?) The fact is, the huge ammo dump was emptied and moved
BEFORE Coalition troops arrived in Baghdad (just as weapons of mass
destruction could have been moved). This was happening as President Bush
was making final diplomatic attempts encouraging the international community
to join the Coalition to oust the Iraqi dictator and murderous regime.
>
> -------------------------------------------------------
> This message is NOT from the Bush-Cheney campaign. I trust this message
won't get blocked by those who disagree with the First Amendment, which was
written specifically to protect free speech in the time of national
elections.
>
> PLEASE, GET OUT AND VOTE FOR PRESIDENT BUSH ON TUESDAY. THERE'S MORE AT
STAKE THAN WE KNOW. DON'T CLOSE YOUR BLINDS. PASS THIS ON
>

[puddycat]

23. this is political glurge. the right-wing-nuts like these sappy stories

[exJW]

15. *harruuumph* That's the last time I shop at Ikea then!

[maddezmom]

16. Kick

[SoCalDem]

17. Rumsfeld and Bush TOLD us they knew EXACTLY where they were

and Colin said he knew too.. They supposedly had a 45 minute "window", remember??

How would they have even arrived at that without knowing where, and how much ??

They contradict themselves with each new statement, and yet no one dares call them on it:grr:

[byronm]

18. This is *BIG* News

shows that if we *REALLY* participated with the UN we would have known more and probably done a better job..

If the UN brought it up in January of last year, i can't believe it took ANOTHER reminder.

Rate the story +5 to get it on front page of yahoo!!!!

(Rate now on bottom of yahoo article)

[maddezmom]

19. check out this DU link:US EMBASSY SITE CONFIRMS APRIL, 5TH/ US TROOPS AT A

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=1199716&mesg_id=1199716

[BUSHOUT]

20. So far this is the best and latest news today. Still waiting for big news

5EYEWITNESS NEWS!!!

[maddezmom]

21. are they planning on showing it???

[0007]

22. junior is toast

http://www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?id=32146

The fate of the missing explosives has become a major issue in the US presidential election campaign, with Democratic challenger John Kerry accusing incumbent President George W. Bush of incompetence in his handling of post-invasion Iraq.

The ABC news network reported Wednesday that the amount of heavy explosives allegedly missing from the Al-Qaqaa weapons depot south of Baghdad might be be considerably less than the amount reported by Iraqi authorities, possibly as little as three tonnes.

In fact a total of 328 and half tonnes of powerful high explosive, that could be used by terrorists to produce massive blasts, had vanished from the area since the US victory in Iraq in April 2003, the agency said.

[Moderator]

24. Kick

:kick:

[Skittles]

25. How has Bush Inc been able to hide all this since April 2003??

???