Let me get this straight: We invade Iraq allegedly to keep weapons out of the hands of terrorists. U.N weapons inspectors, which had been monitoring an instillation filled with explosives, warn the U.S. about the danger of said explosives. The U.S.-controlled coalition assumes responsibility for monitoring the military installation. Now it comes out that 360,00 pounds of powerful explosives disappeared from the facility months ago. This “mishap” wasn’t publicly disclosed until the Iraqi government notified international inspectors. And it’s “unclear” whether or not Bush knew about 380 tons of missing weapons?
What kind of circus do we have performing in Washington, anyway?
Honestly, how much more needs to happen for things to reach the tipping point so that even duped America will see through the smoke and realize what a sham this whole war-time leader myth is? It’s become almost mind-numbing.
Take the NYTimes report (as usual) with a grain of salt. NBC reports the missing explosives weren’t there when the US entered Iraq.
Perhaps it would be too much to expect the media not to make this into an indictment of the Bush administration’s capabilities in Iraq. Can’t we just agree that the missing explosives are bad, without assigning blame to Bush, however much of a stretch that might be?
No, of course not. Not with an election looming in 7 days.
Dave, maybe you should check out Josh Marshall
He has the full coverage you’re so desiring.
Your analysis has one big hole in it. If it was stolen before we invaded, and SINCE the IAEA had just reinspted it, then by definition, we knew it had been missing since April of 2003. That means Bush’s administration covered it up. If Scott McClellan is to be believed, then we did not know about it until October 10. That means from April of 2003 until this month, no American troops went to check up on those explosives. That would then be, by definition, a colossal blunder, and incompetence on the largest of scales! If Scott is to be believed, then the incompetance of the Pentagon to go in and check up on those explosives (we knew they were there, we had the IAEA’s report) cost American soldiers and Iraqis hundreds of lives since those explosives were subsequently used for car bombs and the like….
Sorry Dave, your whining about news coverage does not hide the plain facts of how badly Bush’s Boys screwed the pooch and created more terrorism, and not less.
It isn’t just NBC now. Contemporary reports from CBS (April 3, 2003) and Fox (April 4, 2003) also show that the site was seized and inspected by U.S. troops. The explosives weren’t there. Saddam shipped them out before the invasion.
Yes, but they all based their stories of NBC, now even NBC is backing off the story, and even the Pentagon and the Administration are all saying that not only was Al QaQaa not inspected but that “it’s a mystery” when they were taken, either before of after the war.
As for Saddam removing them, all of Iraq was under heavy surveillance. How could you consider it possible that 40 trucks loaded down with 350 TONS of explosives go unnoticed?
Again, read Josh Marshall’s following of this story.