Josh Marshall is making the claim that NBC’s debunking of the Times story (that explosives were looted from Al Qaqaa after the U.S. seized it) is “now officially no longer operative.”
His basis for that is a subsequent NBC story saying that “it’s not clear that those troops from the 101st were actually anywhere near the bunkers that reportedly contained the HMX and RDX.”
Not clear, eh? Not clear to whom?
Even the NYT story on Monday quotes “I.A.E.A. experts” saying that they “assume that just before the invasion the Iraqis followed their standard practice of moving crucial explosives out of buildings, so they would not be tempting targets.”
Wanna bet they moved them more than a stone’s throw away?
And count me dubious that the 101st Airborne didn’t know what to do when it reached a major weapons site.
And count me astonished that if the 101st didn’t know what they were doing that should be an issue from which one candidate would dare attempt to take partisan advantage.