Captain's Quarters:
"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. "
"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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