Sunday, October 24, 2004

The 'October Surprise'?

Bada bing.

Bada boom.

George Bush just lost the oval room.

(This is unbelieveably huge, if the details are anywhere near correct. The source is Chris Nelson of Nelson Report, an exclusive Washington insider's insider scandal sheet. If a big story is in Nelson Report today, the story's likely to "break" on the New York Times front page tomorrow. People pay major big bucks to buy into his publication, and subscription is limited to a very exclusive Capitol Hill club, because it's usually right. We're not talking about Matt Drudge here. Nelson is better connected in Washington, DC than Dick Cheney. I just wanted anyone reading this to understand why I think this is so huge, and that there's more than just a whiff of drudgeness about it.)

Update - 10:50PM: This story is now "frontpaged" in the New York Times early Monday morning edition. Wow. Go read.

...The International Atomic Energy Agency publicly warned about the danger of these explosives before the war, and after the invasion it specifically told United States officials about the need to keep the explosives secured, European diplomats said in interviews last week. Administration officials say they cannot explain why the explosives were not safeguarded, beyond the fact that the occupation force was overwhelmed by the amount of munitions they found throughout the country...

...After the invasion, when widespread looting began in Iraq, the international weapons experts grew concerned that the Qaqaa stockpile could fall into unfriendly hands. In May, an internal I.A.E.A. memorandum warned that terrorists might be helping "themselves to the greatest explosives bonanza in history...."

..."Should we have gone there? Definitely," said one senior administration official. "But there are a lot of things we should have done, and didn't..."
Still working my way through the article...

Update, 11:15PM: Kos has an extensive discussion going. I need to go to bed. ;-)