Breaking News?

This is apparently what the New York Times considers "breaking news".

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Oct. 24 - The Iraqi interim government has warned the United States and international nuclear inspectors that nearly 380 tons of powerful conventional explosives - used to demolish buildings, make missile warheads and detonate nuclear weapons - are missing from one of Iraq's most sensitive former military installations.

The huge facility, called Al Qaqaa, was supposed to be under American military control but is now a no man's land, still picked over by looters as recently as Sunday. United Nations weapons inspectors had monitored the explosives for many years, but White House and Pentagon officials acknowledge that the explosives vanished sometime after the American-led invasion last year.

If this were true, it would be a major blow to our efforts in Iraq.

However, this is false. This is a story that happened over 18-months ago, BEFORE American troops got there. It is an 18-month old story, conviniently reported as current (notice the dateline, notice the implication of American negligence) the week before a presidential election.

What actually happened?

Matt Drudge sums it up:

XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX MON OCT 25 2004 22:45:05 ET XXXXX
NBCNEWS: CACHE OF EXPLOSIVES VANISHED FROM SITE IN IRAQ BEFORE TROOPS ARRIVED...

The NYTIMES
urgently reported on Monday in an apprent October Surprise: The Iraqi interim government and the U.N. nuclear agency have warned the United States that nearly 380 tons of powerful conventional explosives are now missing from one of Iraq's most sensitive former military installations.

[The source behind the NYT story first went to CBSNEWS' 60 MINUTES last wednesday, but the beleaguered network wasn't able to get the piece on the air as fast as the newspaper could print. Executive producer Jeff Fager hoped to break the story during a high-impact election eve broadcast of 60 MINS on October 31.]

Jumping on the TIMES exclusive, Dem presidential candidate John Kerry blasted the Bush administration for its failure to "guard those stockpiles."

"This is one of the great blunders of Iraq, one of the great blunders of this administration," Kerry said.

Again, Kerry would be right, if the report were true. Notice, though, just how quickly (you might even say "coordinated") Kerry was ready with a sound bite to exploit the NYTimes article. Almost as if he had advanced notice?!?

In an election week rush:
**ABCNEWS Mentioned The Iraq Explosives Depot At Least 4 Times
**CBSNEWS Mentioned The Iraq Explosives Depot At Least 7 Times
**MSNBC Mentioned The Iraq Explosives Depot At Least 37 Times
**CNN Mentioned The Iraq Explosives Depot At Least 50 Times

Ah, the dutiful partisan media (who has promised to give Kerry 5 points in the election via their biased coverage), reporting the news then transcribing Kerry's canned response, verbatim, just in case you weren't listening, they'll mention it over and over and over (especially for those of us stoopid folk in fly-over country).

But tonight, NBCNEWS reported: The 380 tons of powerful conventional explosives were already missing back in April 10, 2003 -- when U.S. troops arrived at the installation south of Baghdad!

An NBCNEWS crew embedded with troops moved in to secure the Al-Qaqaa weapons facility on April 10, 2003, one day after the liberation of Iraq. According to NBCNEWS, the HMX and RDX explosives were already missing when the American troops arrived.

"The U.S. Army was at the site one day after the liberation and the weapons were already gone," a top Republican blasted from Washington late Monday.

But, wait, that was a long time ago, you might say. We couldn't be blamed for that, you might add. The news media's answer would be to just play the story again, until you believe it.

Well that's the media, right? They are irresponsible sometimes. Surely a statesman like Kerry and/or Edwards will realize that and just let this issue slide. Right? Right?

Yeah, right.

The International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors last saw the explosives in January 2003 when they took an inventory and placed fresh seals on the bunkers.

Dem vp hopeful John Edwards blasted Bush for not securing the explosives:
"It is reckless and irresponsible to fail to protect and safeguard one of the largest weapons sites in the country. And by either ignoring these mistakes or being clueless about them, George Bush has failed. He has failed as our commander in chief; he has failed as president."

Edwards must be taking lessons from Gore. Couldn't you just see Gorebaby frothing at the mouth and spewing out these lines like a Southern Holy Roller Preacher gone horribly wrong? "He beeeeetraaaaayed this country...he lieeed to us...reeeepennnt and be baptized!"

A senior Bush official e-mailed DRUDGE late Monday: "Let me get this straight, are Mr. Kerry and Mr. Edwards now saying we did not go into Iraq soon enough? We should have invaded and liberated Iraq sooner?"

Well, it actually WAS one of Kerry's positions, back in the late 90's, that we should have invaded Iraq then. But, you know, he's such a big improvement over Bush...

Top Kerry adviser Joe Lockhart fired back Monday night: "In a shameless attempt to cover up its failure to secure 380 tons of highly explosive material in Iraq, the White House is desperately flailing in an effort to escape blame. Instead of distorting John Kerry’s words, the Bush campaign is now falsely and deliberately twisting the reports of journalists. It is the latest pathetic excuse from an administration that never admits a mistake, no matter how disastrous.

Joe Lockhart has no moral or ethical center. He has no credibility or statesmanship. "Deliberately twisting the reports of journalists"???? The only candidates guilty of that are YOUR candidates, Joe! Have you lost all sense of reality?!?

"Why is the U.N. nuclear agency suddenly warning now that insurgents in Iraq may have obtained nearly 400 tons of missing explosives -- in early 2003?

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."

The UN is not our friend.
The UN is not our friend.
The UN is not our friend.

All of this shows the underlying lack of ethics, lack of a moral compass, and a "do anything, say anything, be anything for power" mindset that has been the backbone of the Democrat party since Bill Clinton rose to power. Joe Lockhart and the Clintonistas who have taken over the Kerry campaign are the lifeblood of that philosophy, and hopefully the American people can see through it.