White House now onto the FIRST UNIT, 3rd ID to reach Al QaQaa

[LynnTheDem]

Now that the White House's defenders have given up on the April 10th NBC visit, they've fixed on April 3rd (stretching into the 4th) arrival of units from the 3rd ID.

Fox and Larry Di Rita (Don Rumsfeld's communications guy) are now arguing that since those units that were there on the 3rd and 4th of April didn't find a "huge quantity of munitions" that the stuff had already been taken away.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/index-old.php

But as we know, Col. Robertson, commander of the 2nd brigade w 3rd ID said yesterday, they only did a very brief search. And lookie what they DID find in their brief search...

WaPo, April 5, 2003:

In the first of yesterday's discoveries, the 3rd Infantry Division entered the vast Qa Qaa chemical and explosives production plant and came across thousands of vials of white powder, packed three to a box. The engineers also found stocks of atropine and pralidoxime, also known as 2-PAM chloride, which can be used to treat exposure to nerve agents but is also used to treat poisoning by organic phosphorus pesticides. Alongside those materials were documents written in Arabic that, as interpreted at the scene, appeared to include discussions of chemical warfare.

This morning, however, investigators said initial tests indicated the white powder was not a component of a chemical weapon. "On first analysis it does not appear to be a chemical that could be used in a chemical weapons attack," Col. John Peabody, commander of the division's engineering brigade, told a Reuters reporter with his unit.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A31589-2003Apr4¬Found=true

And what was the white powder? Here's what the Associated Press was told the same day ...

A senior U.S. official familiar with initial testing said the powder was believed to be explosives. The finding would be consistent with the plant's stated production capabilities in the field of basic raw materials for explosives and propellants.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/org/news/2003/030405-chem-readiness01.htm

RDX and HMX are white powders.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/munitions/explosives-nitramines.htm

So...in a QUICK SEARCH by the 3rd ID on April 3-4, 2003, they found THOUSANDS of boxes full of EXPLOSIVES.

But DUers already knew all this. :)

[Lone_Star_Dem]

1. Finally

Now I can go to bed. I have been mailing that stuff out to the press all night. Now if they only read the links provided and decided to report on it... Great, now I can't sleep again.

[humanbeing]

3. how GODDAMNED Sad is it...

that you are doing the press' job for them? (Good job, by the way.)

I think Stewart is SO right.

I wish Stewart would personally use his clout with Comedy Central to somehow...start a new network that does the REAL NEWS and analysis that he's been talkinga bout.

[radfringe]

2. start a list of things bush* "lost" and is not concerned

Invaded Afghanistan to "git Bin-Laden", lost him, but bush* is not concerned.

Invaded Iraq to prevent WMDs from being used -- no WMD's, but plenty of other weapons -- lost those, but bush* is not concerned

[LynnTheDem]

4. lost; 1249 uniformed men, women, teenagers lives; lost tens of thousands

of men, women, teenagers limbs, eyes, brains.

bush is not concerned.

Lost; tens of thousands of Iraqi men, women, children lives; lost tens of thousands of Iraq men, women, children limbs, eyes, brains.

bush is not concerned.

Lost; any and all respect & admiration for America by the world.

bush is not concerned.

[DoYouEverWonder]

5. The part that I love

is that Bush & Co were raving about these findings back in April, 2003. Aside from the high explosives that were at this site, they claimed they found chem suits and antidotes also. Back then they said that all the stuff they found there was proof Saddam had chemical weapons and was planning to use them against our troops.

Now two years later, first they act like they never heard of the place. Then when they couldn't get away with that they tried to claim there didn't find anything when they got there. Now they are trying to say there was that much stuff there anyway.

It seems they really do make up most of this crap has they go along.

[Fluffdaddy]

6. Forgot the GOP's spin read the facts and spin it right back at em

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/