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Weapons Arsenal Used to Target Bush

According to Drudge, "News of missing explosives in Iraq -- first reported in April 2003 -- was being resurrected for a 60 MINUTES election eve broadcast designed to knock the Bush administration into a crisis mode."

The story of the missing weapons arsenal was reported on the front page of the New York Times with the headline,"Huge Cache of Explosives Vanished from Site in Iraq." The Kerry campaign and other media outlets immediately jumped on it and Sen. John Kerry called this a "great blunder" by President Bush and his
administration.

Now it is clear the story was bogus and the missing arsenal was missing before the U.S. invasion [see Neophyte Pundit, Jim Geraghty, Jeff Quinton, INDC, Captain's Quarters, JustOneMinute, Belmont Club, and many more].

However, the Kerry campaign continues to use the story (Captains Quarters, Kerry Press Release) and the New York times continues to report it (the story).

With the story blowing up in his face just eight days before the election it is hard to imagine how Kerry is going to recover. There seems to be a pattern in this election that follows very closely the Proverb, "He who pleads his cause first seems right; until another comes and questions him."

Update:

Kerry, quoting the discredited NY Times article, has released an ad based upon the fake missing arsenal story (Drudge via Powerline):

The obligation of a Commander in Chief is to keep our country safe. In Iraq, George Bush has overextended our troops and now failed to secure 380 tons of deadly explosives. The kind used for attacks in Iraq, and for terrorist bombings. His Iraq misjudgments put our soldiers at risk, and make our country less secure. And all he offers is more of the same. As President, I’ll bring a fresh start to protect our troops and our nation. I’m John Kerry and I approved this message.

More by the New York Times here.

Update II:

Redstate via Poliblogger reports that the Times story has not been debunked. It seems, contrary to the NBC report, the 101st airborne division arrived at the site a week after the 3rd infantry division. And, there is no documented evidence (yet), that the arsenal was not present when the 3rd infantry arrived. Instapundit notes, based upon a CBS article, "It appears increasingly likely that it went missing not only before the 101st Airborne arrived on April 10, but also before the 3rd ID showed up on April 3." Captain Ed has more.

Posted by tim at October 26, 2004 12:20 PM

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