CNN is showing a Pentagon briefing with an Army officer who is describing how the explosives at Al Qaqaa were destroyed in June 2003 after having captured it in April 2003. I'll have more as the story breaks.

UPDATE: Does the Pentagon's press conference answer the questions? Some of them, I think. First, Kerry was all wrong when he said that the Al Qaqaa site and its weapons were abandoned by the Army. By 13 April, the Army had loaded up 250 tons of explosive ordinance, including plastic explosive which could have been the RDX. The major said that the materials hauled off included crates and barrels such as those shown in the ABC video. However, ABC reported that the video was shot on 18 April, meaning that the weapons it showed were left behind, if the dates are correct.

At any rate, no one ignored warnings about Al Qaqaa, and the Army was well aware of the importance of the site. The area had been secured by the 3ID and 101st Airborne and remained pacified, making the notion that looters carted off many tons of materials extremely suspect.

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» The death knell for Kerry's campaign? from Commonwealth Conservative
Hindrocket at Powerline thinks that the emerging details about the al-Qaqaa weapons controversy could be the death knell for Kerry's campaign. Read about it here and here. [Read More]

Tracked on October 29, 2004 12:13 PM

» Kerry's campaign is full of Qaqaa from Posse Incitatus
The Pentagon news conference was damning for the Kerry campaign, though not in the way some suspected. Maj. Austin Pearson wasn't able to say authoritatively that the explosives in question were specifically destroyed by his unit. He didn't have to. [Read More]

Tracked on October 29, 2004 12:13 PM

» The death knell for Kerry's campaign? from Commonwealth Conservative
Hindrocket at Powerline thinks that the emerging details about the al-Qaqaa weapons controversy could be the death knell for Kerry's campaign. Read about it here and here. [Read More]

Tracked on October 29, 2004 12:19 PM

» The death knell for Kerry's campaign? from Commonwealth Conservative
Hindrocket at Powerline thinks that the emerging details about the al-Qaqaa weapons controversy could be the death knell for Kerry's campaign. Read about it here and here. [Read More]

Tracked on October 29, 2004 12:22 PM

» Freedom, The Press and This Election from Opinion Times
It's clear that the New York Times desired an October surprise with its errant article about missing weapons in Al Qaqaa, Iraq. The story is falling apart all around us because they took the first bit of bad information they could use against the can... [Read More]

Tracked on October 29, 2004 1:18 PM

» More Facts Contradict Kerry's Charges about Al Qaqaa from bLogicus
CNN is showing a Pentagon briefing with an Army officer who is describing how the explosives at Al Qaqaa were destroyed in June 2003 after having captured it in April 2003. I'll have more as the story breaks. - Captain... [Read More]

Tracked on October 29, 2004 2:02 PM

» US Troops Removed 250 tons of Iraqi Explosives from Ace of Trump
The latest in the missing explosives story [Read More]

Tracked on October 29, 2004 7:58 PM

» US Troops Removed 250 tons of Iraqi Explosives from Ace of Trump
The latest in the missing explosives story [Read More]

Tracked on October 29, 2004 8:24 PM