After watching the Pentagon briefing on the al Qaqaa story, a number of things seem clear.
1) The Pentagon did not ignore the site.
2) It is unlikely that the materials being discussed were there on April 13th when Maj. Austin Pearson took out 250 tons of ordinance from the site. Maj. Pearson claimed he saw no IAEA seals on the materials he removed though he did note that some of the materials were "plastic explosives." So if they weren't there on April 13th, and US forces were all over the area from the time the al Qaqaa facility was attacked by the 3rd ID, there is little chance that the material was removed in the interim given the amount of men and equipment needed to remove the 250 tons the Maj. removed on April 13th.
3) It is very unlikely that the ABC video taken on April 18th was photographing the al Qaqaa site under discussion. Maj Pearson said his orders were to remove all ordinance in the facility that was easily accessible. He also said he didn't see any material with IAEA seals. Again, this was on April 13th. He said he accomplished his mission. He admitted that ordinance remained, but it was not easily accessible. The ABC video shows easily accesible material with IAEA seals on April 18th. As a result, it can not be the same facility.
4) It is increasingly likely that if the materials under discussion were ever there to begin with (which is in doubt it seems) they were removed before US troops ever got there. Aerial photos show activity that included trucks near this facility before the war. The 2nd Brigade of the 3rd ID ecountered armed resistance at the facility when they first got there on April 3rd. The 3rd ID was in control of the area after that. Maj Pearson didn't see the material when he got there on April 13th. And even if he is wrong about that (since he claimed he wasn't specifically looking for IAEA seals), then the material wasn't ignored but was in fact destroyed.
5) A big deal is being made about material that amounts to 1/1,000 th of what was in Iraq.
6) The New York Times, CBS and subsequently Kerry have no idea what they are talking about, but continue to blame Bush and the Armed Forces anyway; for obvious political purposes.
Captain Ed has been doing some great research on this story and you should take a gander here, here, and here.
Lie to me and tell me everything is all right
Lie to me and tell me that you’ll stay here tonight
Tell me that you’ll never leave,
and I’ll just try to make believe
that everything you tell me is trueLie to me, go ahead and lie to me
-Jonny Lang
