Bush campaign hurt by missing arms and Halliburton inquiry (& OBL)

[DoYouEverWonder]

30 October 2004

The superheated US election campaign enters its final weekend with Democrats pounding George Bush on the missing 380 tons of explosives in Iraq, and over a potentially embarrassing FBI inquiry into the controversial oil services group Halliburton ­ not to mention the sudden intervention last night of Osama bin Laden.

With polls showing the contest a statistical tie, John Kerry spent yesterday in Florida, trying to nail down that state's 27 electoral votes. The President was in New Hampshire, which Mr Kerry is threatening to capture this time, before attending an evening rally in Columbus, Ohio, with California's governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Mr Bush began the day with a speech that for once did not mention Mr Kerry by name, as his strategists aim to give a more forward-looking, upbeat flavour to his message after weeks of pouring scorn and insult on the challenger.

But, even before the emergence of the video message by the al-Qa'ida leader, events are putting the Bush campaign on the back foot. It emerged yesterday that the FBI is investigating possible violations of military procurement rules by the Pentagon, over the award of contracts to repair Iraqi oil fields to Halliburton, formerly headed by the Vice-President Dick Cheney.

more...

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=577501


Only 4 more days left to go. What's next?

[OnceAndFutureTruth]

1. Here is another explosives report, this time from Oregon

A new and similar story.
Friday, October 29, 2004
MIKE FRANCIS

"Six months after the fall of Baghdad, a vast Iraqi weapons depot with tens of thousands of artillery rounds and other explosives remained unguarded, according to two U.S. aid workers who say they reported looting of the site to U.S. military officials.


The aid workers say they informed Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, the highest ranking Army officer in Iraq in October 2003 but were told that the United States did not have enough troops to seal off the facility, which included more than 60 bunkers packed with munitions.

"We were outraged," said Wes Hare, city manager of La Grande, who was working in Iraq as part of a rebuilding program. A colleague who also visited the depot, Jerry Kuhaida, said it appeared that the explosives at the Ukhaider Ammunition Storage Area had found their way to insurgents targeting U.S. forces.

"There's no question in my mind that the stuff in Ukhaider was used by terrorists," said Kuhaida."

oregonlive.com/special/oregonian/iraq/index.ssf?/base/front_page/1099052619177610.xml

[anarchy1999]

2. The "stuff" was not used by "terrorists" but by Iraqi Freedom fighters.

Put yourself in their place. You've lost your home, your wife and children are dead, your extended family have suffered many losses. All because the US is saying some "national terrorist is holed up in your town". You know it not to be true, every night you have friends and innocent relatives being killed with "precision, smart bombs". What would you do? I know what I'd do.

I've lost my family. My husband, my four children, my sister on her wedding day, all of our family and most of her fiance's. Gone is her husband to be, his parents and his closest brother and 1st cousin along with all of their families. What would you do?

Take off your rose colored glasses america. Wake up and smell the dying roses. We have much to answer for. We Americans, seeking Democracy for Iraq and standing behind Bush and God. What God is it we know? Is it the God of Jesus? What did Jesus try to teach us all? And why does Islam respect and honor Jesus in such high regard? Most Muslims I know hold Jesus in the same high regard they hold Mohammed and Abraham along with Moses. We have much to learn in the West.

[KittyWampus]

3. There ARE Terrorists In Iraq Now... Who Are NOT "Freedom Fighters"

[anarchy1999]

6. O course there are, maybe you'd like to go and help. I think you should.

n/t

[OnceAndFutureTruth]

7. My point was that here is another report showing Bush didn't plan

effectively for this war. Obviously, they knew that there were all these munitions all over the country. I also wish Bush had not started the war, for a multitude of reasons. But those reasons aside, in taking us to war, he had the responsibility to ensure that it was done in such a way that the troops we have there, not to mention other Iraqis, were not made unnecessarily LESS safe for reasons that could have been anticipated and addressed. It shows his incompetence.

[Longhorn79]

4. I'd be more reassured if it was an American paper

The dumbasses among us are likely to take the hard weapons evidence and UBL tape the wrong way.

[TankLV]

5. The momentum is now with Kerry - the repukes have been on the defensive

all week - they are reeling from one scandal to the next.

Kerry now controls the message.

This is huge.

The repuke spin is more lame and transparent than bunkerboy's debates performance.