The Mysterious Missing Munitions

Conservative websites and columnists are pointing to an NBC report claiming that the 380 tons of missing explosives in Iraq didn't disappear on the US watch. But the reporter they cite, doesn't appear to agree with them.

An editorial on The National Review Online has this statement:

"Indeed, NBC Nightly News reported Monday that NBC was embedded with the Army’s 101st Airborne when they searched the site three weeks into the war and
confirmed that none of the powerful explosives were found."

Other conservative sites are quoting the NBC report or reporter out of context. Townhall.com, CNS.com, and Human Events Online among other sites claim the embedded NBC reporter reported seeing no high explosives when US troops took Al-Qaqaa in April 2003.

But check out this from NBC's website:

Reporter Lai Ling Jew, who was embedded with the Army's 101st Airborne, Second Brigade, said Tuesday on MSNBC TV that the news team stayed at the Al-Qaqaa base for about 24 hours.

"There wasn't a search," she said. "The mission that the brigade had was to get to Baghdad. That was more of a pit stop there for us. And, you know, the searching, I mean certainly some of the soldiers headed off on their own, looked through the bunkers just to look at the vast amount of ordnance lying around.

"But as far as we could tell, there was no move to secure the weapons, nothing to keep looters away."

(MSNBC)