http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/arc..._24.php#003834

"Aaron Brown: We saw at the top of the program there is new information to factor in. Pretty conclusive to our eye. So we'll sort through this now. Take the politics out of it and try and deal with facts with former head UN weapons inspector, US weapons inspector, David Kay. David, it’s nice to see you.

David Kay: Good to be with you, Aaron.

AB: I don't know how better to do this than to show you some pictures have you explain to me what they are or are not. Okay? First what I’ll just call the seal. And tell me if this is an IAEA seal on that bunker at that munitions dump?

DK: Aaron, about as certain as I can be looking at a picture, not physically holding it which, obviously, I would have preferred to have been there, that is an IAEA seal. I've never seen anything else in Iraq in about 15 years of being in Iraq and around Iraq that was other than an IAEA seal of that shape.

AB: Was there anything else at the facility that would have been under IAEA seal?

DK: Absolutely nothing. It was the HMX, RDX, the two high explosives.

AB: OK now, I’ll take a look at barrels here for a second. You can tell me what they tell you. They, obviously, to us just show us a bunch of barrels. You'll see it somewhat differently.

DK: Well, it's interesting. There were three foreign suppliers to Iraq of this explosive in the 1980s. One of them used barrels like this, and inside the barrels a bag. HMX is in powder form because you actually use it to shape a spherical lens that is used to create the triggering device for nuclear weapons. And particularly on the videotape, which is actually better than the still photos, as the soldier dips into it, that's either HMX or RDX. I don't know of anything else in al Qaqaa that was in that form.

AB: Let me ask you then, David, the question I asked Jamie. In regard to the dispute about whether that stuff was there when the Americans arrived, is it game, set, match? Is that part of the argument now over?

DK: Well, at least with regard to this one bunker, and the film shows one seal, one bunker, one group of soldiers going through, and there were others there that were sealed. With this one, I think it is game, set, and match. There was HMX, RDX in there. The seal was broken. And quite frankly, to me the most frightening thing is not only was the seal broken, lock broken, but the soldiers left after opening it up. I mean, to rephrase the so-called pottery barn rule. If you open an arms bunker, you own it. You have to provide security. "

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I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain. - FH

So the WMD was there all along. Good work Ezra!

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"If you have the courage to begin, you have the courage to succeed." -- David Viscott

And you guys lost them. Good work, Rob.

For folks not following, this stuff was not WMD. But still made a pretty good bang. One pound (760,000 pounds are lost), brought down the Pan Am flight over Lockerbee.

So, in bad hands, this could blow up 760,000 airplanes.

And the Bush boys lost it.

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“Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody.” - Jane Jacobs

We still don't know what happened to it. But I believe the material was banned via one of the UN Resoultions. Correct me if I'm wrong about that but this would show that Saddam was in material breach of UN 1441 and/or UN 687.

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"If you have the courage to begin, you have the courage to succeed." -- David Viscott

Actually, this material was "legal" for Saddam to have (as virtually every article on the topic has reported if you had bothered to read them a little more carefully) as he claimed to be using for "mining purposes". Nonetheless, it was pretty clear he was stockpiling them in the hope, should UN sanctions ever get more lax in the future, of using them as igniters for a re-started nuke program. That is why they were at the top of the list of materials that the IAEA was monitoring before our immanent invasion forced the inspectors to evacuate.

These explosives were very, very extensively documented by the IAEA - thats what makes the screwup all the more glaring. Its not like the Bush administration didn't have complete information about this site or material. It was available to the public in numerous UN reports. Nonetheless, somehow securing the known WMD supplies wasn't apparently as big priority as securing the oil fields or searching for a bunch of "hidden" WMD's by the Bush administrations's own admission turned out to be non-existent.

As far as "not knowing" what happened to the materials - the current (US appointed) Iraqui energy minister says they were looted and since, as the NYT article which broke the story pointed out, looters TO THIS DAY have free access to the site to scrounge for pipes, light fixtures, etc. - its a pretty safe guess that he is right.

As I said elsewhere. Does anyone really think that during the weeks leading up to the invasion, forty trucks could have picked up this material and driven across barren land without being seen by satelites and fly overs.

There was maximum surveillance during this period.

To expect us to believe this balderdash just defies reason.

And doncha just love Rob spending all his time trying to argue whether it was legal or illegal under some UN Resolution. Talk about obfuscation.

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“Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody.” - Jane Jacobs

Rob

Do you really still believe that he had WMDs. I mean everyone but Bush and Cheney have basically admitted that there were no weapons. Tony Blair even apoligized to his country for the intellegence being wrong. Colin Powell is real pissed about the last report showing that there were no weapons, and that the sanctions were working.

Please stop pretending that Iraq was a threat to attack us or give weapons to someone else to attack us. Its been proven that they didn't have them.

This dangerous threat, that hated us for our freedom, had to bury himself in a hole as his only means of defense when our army showed up. Yep he was a threat to country. Bin Laden , you know the real threat that actually did attack us, is still free and planning to attack.

You like Bush, we understand, but he made a very large mistake. It's time to admitt that.

Republican Handbook Strategy # 52: Admit nothing.

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I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain. - FH

He if admits anything, then he has to admit everything. Pretty soon, he won't believe the moon is made of cheese.

Easier to take the Corporal Schultz route: "I know nothink"

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“Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody.” - Jane Jacobs