"Uh, we didn't lose the explosives--we just don't know where they are."

Kerry Attacks Bush Over Loss of Explosives

"Last night on this broadcast we reported that the 101st Airborne never found the nearly 380 tons of HMX and RDX explosives,'' Tom Brokaw, the NBC anchor, said. "We did not conclude the explosives were missing or had vanished, nor did we say they missed the explosives. We simply reported that the 101st did not find them.''

Well, the next time Brokaw makes use of the word "is", we might want to ask for clarification. Depends on what the meaning of "is" is, right?

Brokaw's quibble is ridiculous. He's drawing an analogy to the following situation: a boy can't find a favorite toy, which he knows is in his room somewhere. The toy isn't technically lost, because the boy knows that it's in his room. He just can't find it at the moment. This analogy is flawed, because with respect to the missing 380 tons of high explosives, there is no room. The boy doesn't know specifically where to look, but he has some idea of the general vicinity. But with the weapons, they could be anywhere in the world. Furthermore, while we're busy looking for them, someone else might be busy using them.