Bush Continues Ignoring The Facts

So how did Bush & Co respond today to concern over the threat posed by tons of hi-grade explosives that have gone missing in Iraq?

"...both Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney fell silent about the disappearance of 377 tons of high explosives in Iraq, leaving it to aides to explain."

That's real leadership for you!

And what did their aides have to say? White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters no nuclear material was involved (the explosives can be used to TRIGGER a nuclear blast, they do not comprise the nuclear material itself). McClellan then started talking about how many weapons had been found, ignoring those that were lost.

Meanwhile, the story just gets worse:

At the Pentagon, an official who monitors developments in Iraq said US-led coalition troops had searched al-Qaeda [sic: should be Al Qaqaa] in the immediate aftermath of the March 2003 invasion and confirmed that the explosives were intact. Thereafter the site was not secured by US forces, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Bad as this story is, some analysts believe it is not as bad as the fact that Bush allowed both bin Laden and al-Zarqiwi to escape. Bush is vehemently denying the latter accusation, but today's Wall Street Journal has all the facts:

The Pentagon drew up detailed plans in June 2002, giving the administration a series of options for a military strike on the camp Mr. Zarqawi was running then in remote northeastern Iraq, according to generals who were involved directly in planning the attack and several former White House staffers. They said the camp, near the town of Khurmal, was known to contain Mr. Zarqawi and his supporters as well as al Qaeda fighters, all of whom had fled from Afghanistan. Intelligence indicated the camp was training recruits and making poisons for attacks against the West...

But the raid on Mr. Zarqawi didn't take place. Months passed with no approval of the plan from the White House, until word came down just weeks before the March 19, 2003, start of the Iraq war that Mr. Bush had rejected any strike on the camp until after an official outbreak of hostilities with Iraq.

As Tim Dunlop concludes, you can't decry the horror that is the work of the al Zarqawi faction and also support the Bush administration's approach to the "war on terror."