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F R I D A Y , O C T O B E R 2 9 , 2 0 0 4Bush Screw-ups -- Those Missing ExplosivesAre Just The Latestby Michael in New York on
10/29/2004 02:43:00 AMPaul Krugman of the New York Times does a nice roundup of recentBush screwups, reminding everyone that the massive pile ofexplosives Bush let fall into the hands of terrorists (who likely turnedaround and used it to attack our sons and daughters) is just thelatest sign of incompetence.He covers letting Osama get away, letting Zarqawi get away andneeding to request another $70 billion but waiting till after theelection.Jon Lee Anderson has an even better opinion column in the LA Timesdepicting the looting and chaos he observed in Iraq after the fall ofBaghdad. It's clear the missing cache of explosives in Al Qaqaa aremerely the tip of the iceberg and far, far from the only example ofincompetence in this area."For myself and other reporters who were on the ground in Baghdadduring those days, this oversight does not seem surprising.Coinciding with the arrival of the Americans, Baghdad succumbed toan orgy of looting and, eventually, to wholesale sabotage, all of whichtook place under the tolerant and overwhelmed gaze of the newlyarrived U.S. soldiers," writes Anderson in the LA Times."That U.S. troops could have visited Al Qaqaa, inspected theexplosives and then moved on without securing them — evidentlyunaware of the high-level importance of the site — seems completelyin keeping with the extraordinary lack of coordination between seniorcommanders and their troops in the field that we witnessed on a dailybasis." It's filled with fascinating, horrifying detail.But even Krugman and Jon Lee Anderson fail to bring up the scandalfrom just two weeks ago: insurgents stripped clean NUCLEARFACILITIES in Iraq, taking away equipment that -- much like the tonsof explosives now missing -- took days to dismantle and cart off withheavy trucks to do the lifting. This needs to be repeated again andagain. Those missing tons of explosives are just the tip of theiceberg. Because Bush refused to listen to his generals, there weren'tenough troops to secure the many, many sites where we knewdangerous equipment and explosives were located. And there weren'tenough troops to secure the borders so terrorists came into thecountry, teamed up with local insurgents and carted off equipmentthat had been under the watchful eye of the UN but was now missingand likely to cause havoc somewhere in the world.The VERY REASON we invaded Iraq -- Bush claimed (It was reasonnow #17 I believe) was the danger of WMDs. And yet the basicmaterials that we knew about have been carted off on Bush's watch.
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AMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth: Bush S...http://www.americablog.com/2004/10/bush-screw-ups-those-mi...
1 of 64/7/09 12:54 AM
10/29/2004 02:43:00 AMPaul Krugman of the New York Times does a nice roundup of recentBush screwups, reminding everyone that the massive pile ofexplosives Bush let fall into the hands of terrorists (who likely turnedaround and used it to attack our sons and daughters) is just thelatest sign of incompetence.He covers letting Osama get away, letting Zarqawi get away andneeding to request another $70 billion but waiting till after theelection.Jon Lee Anderson has an even better opinion column in the LA Timesdepicting the looting and chaos he observed in Iraq after the fall ofBaghdad. It's clear the missing cache of explosives in Al Qaqaa aremerely the tip of the iceberg and far, far from the only example ofincompetence in this area."For myself and other reporters who were on the ground in Baghdadduring those days, this oversight does not seem surprising.Coinciding with the arrival of the Americans, Baghdad succumbed toan orgy of looting and, eventually, to wholesale sabotage, all of whichtook place under the tolerant and overwhelmed gaze of the newlyarrived U.S. soldiers," writes Anderson in the LA Times."That U.S. troops could have visited Al Qaqaa, inspected theexplosives and then moved on without securing them — evidentlyunaware of the high-level importance of the site — seems completelyin keeping with the extraordinary lack of coordination between seniorcommanders and their troops in the field that we witnessed on a dailybasis." It's filled with fascinating, horrifying detail.But even Krugman and Jon Lee Anderson fail to bring up the scandalfrom just two weeks ago: insurgents stripped clean NUCLEARFACILITIES in Iraq, taking away equipment that -- much like the tonsof explosives now missing -- took days to dismantle and cart off withheavy trucks to do the lifting. This needs to be repeated again andagain. Those missing tons of explosives are just the tip of theiceberg. Because Bush refused to listen to his generals, there weren'tenough troops to secure the many, many sites where we knewdangerous equipment and explosives were located. And there weren'tenough troops to secure the borders so terrorists came into thecountry, teamed up with local insurgents and carted off equipmentthat had been under the watchful eye of the UN but was now missingand likely to cause havoc somewhere in the world.The VERY REASON we invaded Iraq -- Bush claimed (It was reasonnow #17 I believe) was the danger of WMDs. And yet the basicmaterials that we knew about have been carted off on Bush's watch.
MORE POSTS ABOUT: PAUL KRUGMAN
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Show All
AMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth: Bush S...http://www.americablog.com/2004/10/bush-screw-ups-those-mi...
1 of 64/7/09 12:54 AM