Gotham Notes...

Thursday, October 28, 2004


EYEWITNESS NEWS video of missing explosives in Iraq!


"FILM AT 11!"

I've officially changed my opinion re: press embeds.

From a film crew from ABC's affiliate, KSTP Channel 5 in Minneapolis, via Juan Cole comes:
EXCLUSIVE:
5 EYEWITNESS NEWS video may be linked to missing explosives in Iraq



Updated: 10/28/2004 11:50:09 AM - VIDEO (at the site)

A 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS crew in Iraq shortly after the fall of Saddam Hussein was in the area where tons of explosives disappeared, and may have videotaped some of those weapons.

The missing explosives are now an issue in the presidential debate. Democratic candidate John Kerry is accusing President Bush of not securing the site they allegedly disappeared from. President Bush says no one knows if the ammunition was taken before or after the fall of Baghdad on April 9, 2003 when coalition troops moved in to the area.

Using GPS technology and talking with members of the 101st Airborne Division, 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS has determined the crew embedded with the troops may have been on the southern edge of the Al Qaqaa installation, where the ammunition disappeared. The news crew was based just south of Al Qaqaa, and drove two or three miles north of there with soldiers on April 18, 2003.

During that trip, members of the 101st Airborne Division showed the 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS news crew bunker after bunker of material labelled "explosives." Usually it took just the snap of a bolt cutter to get into the bunkers and see the material identified by the 101st as detonation cords.

"We can stick it in those and make some good bombs." a soldier told our crew.

Soldiers who took a 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS crew into bunkers on April 18 said some of the boxes uncovered contained proximity fuses. There were what appeared to be fuses for bombs. They also found bags of material men from the 101st couldn't identify, but box after box was clearly marked "explosive."

In one bunker, there were boxes marked with the name "Al Qaqaa", the munitions plant where tons of explosives allegedly went missing.

Once the doors to the bunkers were opened, they weren't secured. They were left open when the 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS crew and the military went back to their base.

"We weren't quite sure what were looking at, but we saw so much of it and it didn't appear that this was being secured in any way," said photojournalist Joe Caffrey. "It was several miles away from where military people were staying in their tents".

Officers with the 101st Airborne told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS that the bunkers were within the U.S. military perimeter and protected. But Caffrey and former 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS Reporter Dean Staley, who spent three months together in Iraq, said Iraqis were coming and going freely.

"At one point there was a group of Iraqis driving around in a pick-up truck,"Staley said. "Three or four guys we kept an eye on, worried they might come near us."

On Wednesday, 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS e-mailed still images of the footage taken at the site to experts in Washington to see if the items captured on tape are the same kind of high explosives that went missing in Al Qaqaa. Those experts could not make that determination.

The footage is now in the hands of security experts to see if it is indeed the explosives in question.

©2004 KSTP-TV, LLC



Oh, my!

Has Bush/Cheney '04 just been hit below the water line?


posted by Gotham 2:09 PM
0 comments

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

 

Gotham Notes...
This being an ongoing stream of thoughts on issues that affect us all, from the fairest city in the land: New York, NY.

All content © 2009 Gotham Notes.

NEW!
Send e-mail to Gotham Notes...

Photobucket

Subscribe to our Site Feed

 Subscribe in a reader

Subscribe to Gotham Notes... by e-mail!
Enter your e-mail address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

The Big Apple

NYC Nightlife / Live Music

Political Reports

The First Amendment Center
Air America Radio
**The Randi Rhodes Show
The Progress Report
MSNBC's First Read
BuzzFlash
Tom Paine's Common Sense

Blogs of Note

13
Crooks And Liars
AMERICAblog
Raw Story
Huffington Post
Talking Points Memo
TPM Muckraker
TPM Election Central
Altercations
Political Animal / Kevin Drum
Joe Conason / Salon
Joe Conason / N.Y. Observer
Paul Krugman
The Writings of Greg Palast
Juan Cole / Informed Comment
Daily Kos
Eschaton
Firedoglake
Digby / Hullabaloo
David Sirota
MyDD
Swing State Project
Brad DeLong's Semi-Daily Journal
Countdown
I Blame The Patriarchy

gotham

On the Other Hand...

Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish
OpinionJournal / The Wall Street Journal
The Corner / National Review
Matt Drudge
Instapundit

Groups, Organizations

MoveOn.org
TrueMajority

News Outlets

Dailies:
The New York Times
Newsday
New York Daily News
New York Post
The New York Sun

Weeklies:
The Village Voice
New York Observer
New York Press

National:
The Hill
The Christian Science Monitor
USA TODAY

TV / Radio:
NY1 (cable news)
WCBS Channel 2
WNBC Channel 4
WABC Channel 7
WINS 1010 AM radio
(Many more coming soon!)


Here's a calculator to help you get a clearer picture of just how you'd make out under Obama's tax plan, rather than just extending the Bush tax cuts which is all that McCain is proposing.




Stop the heartbreak of catalog glut.
Click here:




Past Is Prologue (GN archives)

April 2003 May 2003 June 2003 July 2003 August 2003 September 2003 October 2003 November 2003 December 2003 January 2004 February 2004 March 2004 April 2004 May 2004 June 2004 July 2004 August 2004 September 2004 October 2004 November 2004 December 2004 January 2005 February 2005 March 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 August 2006 December 2006 February 2007 August 2007 October 2007 December 2007 March 2008 April 2008 May 2008 June 2008 August 2008 September 2008 October 2008 November 2008 December 2008 January 2009 February 2009 July 2009 August 2009 September 2009 current