Pentagon spokesperson Larry DiRita held a press conference this afternoon with Major Austin Pearson, assigned to the 101st Airborne Division to inspect bunkers at al Qaqaa on April 13.
Pearson made the claim that they removed around 200 tons of amunition and other explosives that day and searched multiple bunkers, but never saw the IAEA seal on any of the explosives there. What this means is that they did not remove any of the 377 tons of explosives that the IAEA had marked prior to the US invasion.
Fox News has the story (unfortunately it is the only site with it up right now) and is already spinning it as the DoD wants it put out there–that there still isn’t enough information to make any claims at all. The Pentagon is continually putting forth any story that can somehow exonerate the White House, or at least do what Rudy Guillian did and blame the troops.
From the story:
“The Pentagon believes the disclosure helps explain what happened to 377 tons of high explosives that the International Atomic Energy Agency said disappeared after the U.S.-led invasion.
Pentagon spokesman Larry DiRita acknowledged the Defense Department did not have all the answers and could not yet account for all of the missing explosives, but stressed that the major’s disclosure was a significant development in unraveling the mystery.”
However, Maj. Pearson’s report seems like a dandy tool from the DoD to try and manipulate the news cycle on this particular issue. KSTP in Minnesota has footage and photos from April 18 clearly showing the IAEA seal at al Qaqaa in Iraq. Clearly what we are seeing is the amount of information lacking in this particular area and the conflicting reports from the government and what is continually being uncovered by journalists acros the country and the world.
Numerous international officials (from the IAEA and from Iraq) have said that it was IMPOSSIBLE to remove that amount of weapons prior to the war and the fall of Baghdad without it becoming clearly evident in satellite imagery from the United States.And clearly since the IAEA seal was not on anything the major’s unit removed (according to him) 337 tons of HMX and RDX are still missing in Iraq.
For more coverage, check out Juan Cole and the Talking Points Memo.
0 Responses to “Pentagon works to spin explosives story”