The October Surprise

[drew70]

Well, we've all been waiting for it and now it's been sprung. Every October before an election involving an incumbant Republican, the democrats spring their October Surprise. In 92 it was a rehash of the Iran Contra scandal. In 2000, it was Bush's DUI. Now, in 2004 it's the "missing weapons scandal!"

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/27/politics/campaign/27kerry.html?oref=regi

The 380 tons of HDX and RDX missing from the Alqaaqaa weapons depot south of Bagdad that are missing, and of course John Kerry pounced on this. They're treating this like it's just happened when in fact the shit was missing before our troops even arrived! Nice try, Mr Kerry. Instead of blasting your president, why don't you tell us what your qualifacations are?! Ever notice Kerry never talks about his voting record? Ever notice that Kerry has spent literally more time talking about his Vietnam service than he was actually there! And let's not forget he voted "for the war before I voted against it." :blaugh: Mr Kerry, wipe that fake goose blood off your face, and quit low-crawling to "hunt" deer. Nobody who knows what they're doing does that anyway. Give us something to vote for instead of against, Mr Kerry!

[sushi854]

How dare John Kerry make a political issue out of our glorious and omnipotent leader George W. Bush's possible ties to 380 tons of missing weapons in Iraq, and for that matter his almighty predecessor's ties to illegal arms deals. Republicans would never sink to this level of political maneuvering, wisely choosing to sidestep important issues such as these in favor of issues concerning whether or not the president got a blowjob. In this sense they proudly uphold the ethical tradition of modern Republican campaigning.

[Mitchell]

Amen sushi. Drew, you should feel fortunate that the Democrats didnt go as far as your party did to move to impeach Bush, who to me committed far more serious misconduct by misleading America about WMD's than did Clinton by misleading about sex. I guess to the Republican party, whatever you do is okay as long as you are one of them. It's pathtetic. One president gets sex and lies about it, he gets impeached, another misleads about WMD's and causes a war with 1100 dead, nothing happens to him, except hopefully one thing, the loss of his job next Tuesday on election day, which is exactly what he deserves!

Mitch

[kurchatovium]

Sigh. This stupid "scandal" raises the question that if Kerry is so worried about these missing explosives then Bush did the right thing by invading Iraq and making sure they could not be used by Saddam. Of course no one mentions all the explosives that the troops have already recovered which is probably several hundred tons already. Of course no oe mentions that if these explosives did disappear that that is where the WMD's probably went and they proabably disappeared while we were playing games with the UN. Of course the whole thing is also silly because this scandal happened as drew said before we ever entered Iraq.

[sushi854]

I'll admit that the only reason John Kerry is making a political issue out of the missing weapons is because the election is 6 days away. I'm not sure of how big a deal this is at all. The missing weapons are hardly the WMD's that the administration had us shitting our pants about in the weeks leading up to and immediately following the invasion of Iraq. But for Republicans to criticize Democrats for making political issues out of nothing is a prime example of the "pot calling the kettle black."

Also, the last I heard (6pm evening news) the Bush administration still was not sure when the weapons disappeared. Bush now accuses Kerry of jumping to conclusions before he has all the facts. Gee, does that sound at all familiar?

[redway10]

The Bush administration and their "attack dogs" have made a huge deal out of the "Mary Cheney" comment, the Teresa Heinz-Kerry comments, and made many other rabid attacks on single utterances.

The "swiftvets" (clearly a Bush proxy) have the nerve to question one of Kerry's five medals! How the heck has Bush completely avoided the "draft dodger" label that Clinton got pasted with? Bush = spoiled draft dodger who went AWOL, Kerry = one who served turned hippie protester. Which is worse?

For anyone to complain that it is wrong for Kerry to jump on 380 missing tons of the highest quality conventional explosives right in the middle of the Middle East is hypocritical to say the least. Even the Pentagon says there were 6 WEEKS where they could have been removed after the invasion. These weapons are excellent for blowing up cars, airplanes, and buildings.

It sure looks like this 80% Christian Country will get its Protestant Pope for four more years. Unfortunately, the USA is not any more "moral" after the first four (self-righteous is not the same as righteous). Could Big Oil Bush be even less moral than Slick Willie Clinton?

I guess it depends on whether you're talking about sexual morals or Machiavellian morals.

So much evil has been committed in the name of "God" over the centuries; what difference does four more years make???

[drew70]

From Mitchell
Amen sushi. Drew, you should feel fortunate that the Democrats didnt go as far as your party did to move to impeach Bush, who to me committed far more serious misconduct by misleading America about WMD's than did Clinton by misleading about sex. You mean lying about sex, don't you Mitch? hahaha!! Who are you trying to kid, pal? You know as well as I that if the democrats thought they could get away with it they'd impeach Bush in a heartbeat. They got nothing to go with. But don't worry, Mitchell. Senator Kerry already has his lawyers lined up so that when he loses the election he'll sue for a recount. You don't have to worry about a graceful defeat with him. He'll go kicking and screaming all the way.

[venray]

It wont be close enough for a recount to be needed......

As for the title of this thread an October surprise.....

The Redsox won the world series...cant be any bigger surprise than that until November.....;)

[Candlewicke]

Originally posted by kurchatovium
Of course the whole thing is also silly because this scandal happened as drew said before we ever entered Iraq.
Wrong. According to The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) they disappeared after 9 April 2003.

And the reason this theft is so inexcusable is because the US-led coalition occupying Iraq had been warned about the danger posed by the explosives on several occasions.

Coalition forces were specifically told to keep the material secured.

:rolleyes:

[drew70]

Wrong. They disappeared sometime between January and April according the CNN reports. There was nothing to guard by the time our troops got there, after waiting for the UN to pull their finger out of their collective butt.

[Cosmo_ac]

Link, Drew?

[gibby59]

These links might help cos.

http://www.abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=204304&page=1

http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20041028-122637-6257r.htm

[Candlewicke]

Thanks for the ABC news link, gibby. Don't bother with the Washington Times link - it's not a credible source as it's the right-wing mouthpiece run by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon & the Unification Church.

I got my info from the BBC news
[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3950493.stm]

[venray]

The source I followed earlier shows the report from the International Atomic Energy Agency says that the they disappeared during the time between the invasion and early May.....So dont pay attention to the biased spin that they may have been taken in January....

The problem is that we always jump in quickly to blame the administration and not those in charge of securing such things. If it wasnt an election year this would not be the case...we would be demanding some action against some military leader somewhere down the line...

The political motivation behind the attack on the administration as "incompetent" shows that Kerry is running scared......on a lighter note he tried to use his support of the Redsox to gain votes while pitcher Curt Schilling (who helped win the world series) told everyone to vote Bush today on Good Morning America......

[New2u]

venray said, "The politcal motivation behind the attack on the administration as "incompentent" shows that Kerry is running scared...."

He doesn't need to be Ray, it's Bush who's running away from his miserable record. It's like a bankrobber pointing his finger down the street as the police arrive, "officer, the robber went that away" diverting the attention away from him. Bush is trying to divert the public's attention away from his terrible record.

[Shem the Penman]

Yep, looks like the explosives were definitely not taken before the invasion. Next excuse for Bush's total lack of war planning, please?

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&ncid=578&e=3&u=/nm/20041028/ts_nm/iraq_explosives_abc_dc