A spokesperson for the unit that first reached the Al Qaqaa military base in Iraq told the Associated Press yesterday that the unit was never given orders by the Pentagon to search for nearly 400 tons of highly explosive materials that were stored there. On Monday the New York Times revealed that the explosives went missing sometime after the U.S. invasion and some experts believe the explosives are now being used in attacks carried out by the Iraqi resistance. Missing are 380 tons of the highly explosive material RDX and HMX. The material is so explosive that one pound of RDX was enough to blow up Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie Scotland in 1988 killing 270 people. The White House continues to downplay the story. On Tuesday White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card accused Kerry of “dwelling on the past” by talking about the missing explosives. He described the story as “yesterday’s news.”