Still Bush's fault, no matter when HE moved....

All of this talk about whether the high explosive stockpiles were moved before or after the American invasion is moot. It's still Bush's fault. You've got the two possible scenarios put forth by the media and Pentagon officials:

1) The explosives were looted after we invaded. (not favored)

2) They were moved by Saddam just before we invaded. (favored)

The ramifications of scenario #1 are obvious, but look at #2, which the Pentagon and the media prefer because ostensibly it lets Bush off the hook... but it does not!

If the materials were removed from those bunkers just before the U.S. led invasion, it was in direct response to the imminent threat of Bush's aggression that it happened. Saddam probably never would have moved them unless he thought his country was about to be attacked.

So, either way, it is Bush's fault. We need to push this fact!

to the IAEA, and they ought to know.

The time lines are out there. bush* & Co. can spin it anyway they want, their amazing incompetence is responsible for this.

but even if it were so, it just wouldn't have happened if Bush hadn't invaded Iraq, period!

but at that point, we were trying to claim that this site was proof that Saddam had chemical and weapons of mass destruction. Now that it is coming out that we didn't even bother to guard these known stockpiles, we are trying to pretend we didn't see anything there. What a crock of bull.


April 05, 2003

<snip>

Closer to Baghdad, troops at Iraq's largest military industrial complex found nerve agent antidotes, documents describing chemical warfare and a white powder that appeared to be used for explosives.

UN weapons inspectors went repeatedly to the vast al Qa Qaa complex, most recently on March 8. But they found nothing during spot visits to some of the 1,100 buildings at the site 40 kilometres south of Baghdad.

Col. John Peabody, engineer brigade commander of the 3rd Infantry Division, said troops found thousands of five-centimetre by 12-centimetre boxes, each containing three vials of white powder, together with documents written in Arabic that dealt with how to engage in chemical warfare.

A senior U.S. official familiar with initial testing said the powder was believed to be explosives. The finding would be consistent with the plant's stated production capabilities in the field of basic raw materials for explosives and propellants.


http://www.globalsecurity.org/org/news/2003/030405-chem-readiness01.htm

At that time they were looking for chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. Explosives were still there as of April 4th. The Bush administration should have ordered that the site be secured.


U.S. Searches 'Suspicious' Iraqi Site

NEAR BAGHDAD, Iraq, April 4, 2003


"It is clearly a suspicious site."
Col. John Peabody, engineer brigade commander of the 3rd Infantry Division...

The facility had been identified by the International Atomic Energy Agency as a suspected chemical, biological and nuclear weapons site. U.N. inspectors visited the plant at least nine times, including as recently as Feb. 18.

The facility is part of a larger complex known as the Latifiyah Explosives and Ammunition Plant al Qa Qaa....

"In that particular site, we believe that was the only sample," Brooks said. "That's why we believe it was a training site. Our conclusion is that this was not a (weapons of mass destruction) site ... it proved to be far less than that."

more



"Far less than that"?
So now it's only our soldiers who are the victims of the lack of planning by this administration? Sending them to war without body armor to be riding in virtually doorless Hummers adds to the negligence.

And they had planned the date of the invasion more than 5 months in advance?

Shame!

Saddam moved them or they were looted. It really does not matter. Here we have 760,000 pounds of the worlds most highly explosive material. That we KNEW were there were told by the IAEA. We ran units by the place that were not even tasked to look for this stuff. Then they left it unguarded and unchecked. The whole point of this story is WE DO NOT KNOW AND WE ARE JUST NOW LOOKING FOR THEM. Thats the story, the total complete incompetence of this whole war. The we do not know proves that point. Do not get bogged down in where when or how they were moved. The point is we are now just starting to worry about it

It doesn't matter where or when they were moved, but rather, that their disappearance is BUSH'S FAULT no matter.

You are right, it's crazy that we are just now "worrying about it". But bear in mind, WE wouldn't be worrying about it at all if it hadn't been leaked. It would have been just another of the Bushies' dirty secrets otherwise, and they wouldn't have given it a second thought. Bush - "What, me worry"?

You got it EXACTLY right.

Bush chose to invade with a number of troops too small to do the job properly. We should've had enough troops going in so that one unit could stay behind and guard al Qaaqs from looting. Bush ignored and willfully dismissed all the planning that told him he needed more troops. This is most profoundly an example of how sending troops in based on a fantasy -- that we'd be showered with flowers and candy -- instead of preparing for the worst is a gross breach of responsiblity and an example of his arrogance and incompetence making the world a more dangerous place.

Saxby went first and gave the standard Rethug spin on it, saying it was just a cynical move on Kerry's part right before the election, Bush not to blame, blah, blah, blah.

However, Joe Biden came on an blew it all out of the water. He did really well, just amazingly well. He had dates for everything and when the administration had been contacted by the IEAE, that General Abazaid had come to Congress to say and how he had spoken of 650,000 tons of explosives throughout the country that needed to be guarded, but weren't, and he went on and on with REAL FACTS. Soledad tried to trip him up a time or two, but he put her in her place really quick. He told her, "Come on, give me a break, let's get real here." She shut up and listened at that point, and boy did he have a lot tosay.

I was so glad Joe got the last word, because he flat out said that the fiasco was indeed Bush's fault and that Kerry only learned about it when everyone else did, and that it was in no way a political ploy on his part. In effect, he took the thing completely from the "political arena" and placed the emphasis on just how grave the matter was, who is in charge, and who is ultimately responsible. Joe did a great job! GO JOE!!!!

the country. Bush kicked out weapons inspectors just before the invasion. Bush is to blame for his strategy decisions. This war was about money and vengence, it is more clear by the day.

BUSH'S FAULT.

Period.