Al Qaqaa 10/29/04

“We will do our duty and we will protect the American people,” Bush said this morning in Manchester, New Hampshire, broadcast live, in part, on CNN. I would like to recommend that Bush BEGIN doing that and, in the process, protect the American troops on the ground in Iraq by securing what was probably the closest thing to Weapons of Mass Destruction that we actually found during our invasion of Iraq. When the 101st Airborne Division opened and entered the bunker storage facility at Al Qaqaa on April 18th, 2003, nine days after the fall of Baghdad, they should not have been surprised to find explosives and munitions there, as the facility and it’s contents had been inventoried and sealed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) the previous January, because it contained significant quantities of powerful explosives (HMX and RDX) that could be used to detonate an atomic device. A viewing of the footage provided by the team from ABC Minneapolis/St. Paul affiliate KSTP, which was embedded with the 101st, shows what appears to be an intact and unspoiled cache. In fact, it shows the opening of the IAEA seal by the troops in order to enter the bunker. Without orders to secure the facility and under orders to proceed to Baghdad as quickly as possible, after opening the bunkers, the 101st and their embedded reporters left the facility unguarded to continue on their mission. (http://www.kstp.com/article/stories/S3723.html?cat=1) The Bush administration’s heavy reliance on divine directives and their lack of ability to actually execute a cohesive and focused military strategy is what has led to this fiasco in which previously secured and IAEA monitored WMDs have been delivered into the hands of the terrorists and insurgents. The fact that the pentagon is lamely producing satellite photos of a truck parked in front of the Al Qaqaa bunker in March in no way changes what the KSTP crew filmed on April 18th, and the administration's denials seem progressively pathetic. On Wednesday, October 27th, Atrios published the following statement by General (Ret.) Wesley Clark (http://atrios.blogspot.com/2004/10/statement-from-wesley-clark.html): “Today George W. Bush made a very compelling and thoughtful argument for why he should not be reelected. In his own words, he told the American people that ‘…a political candidate who jumps to conclusions without knowing the facts is not a person you want as your Commander in Chief.’” “President Bush couldn’t be more right. He jumped to conclusions about any connection between Saddam Hussein and 911. He jumped to conclusions about weapons of mass destruction. He jumped to conclusions about the mission being accomplished. He jumped to conclusions about how we had enough troops on the ground to win the peace. And because he jumped to conclusions, terrorists and insurgents in Iraq may very well have their hands on powerful explosives to attack our troops, we are stuck in Iraq without a plan to win the peace, and Americans are less safe both at home and abroad.” “By doing all these things, he broke faith with our men and women in uniform. He has let them down. George W. Bush is unfit to be our Commander in Chief.” - Wesley Clark (*Sophmom scratches her head in disbelief*) Let me get this straight. We knew where the WMDs were because the AIEA monitored and inventoried them for us prior to our going in. We found them, filmed them, the left them unguarded, and according to this morning's pentagon briefing, we broke down some of the walls that had secured the site in order to enter it, but somehow, today, Bush stands at a podium in New Hampshire and (somehow, with a straight face) tells the assembled that, “We will do our duty and we will protect the American people!” When our ground troops had no orders to secure the dangerous materials we DID find, materials that were dangerous enough to have been under the oversight of the IAEA prior to our arrival, Bush failed in his duty as Commander In Chief, as did every political advisor related to his administration and every military officer between him and the commanding officer on the ground in Iraq who had anything to do with the 101st Airborne Division opening and abandoning the bunker at Al Qaqaa. The core of leadership lies in taking responsibility. President Bush doesn’t do his duty and doesn’t protect the American people when he puts 350 tons of previously-secured explosives into the hands of insurgents and terrorists, and he doesn’t take responsibility for any of it. The buck stops with us, the voters, on Tuesday. The beauty of this democracy is that we have the chance to fire George Bush and replace him with someone more responsible, more thorough, more aware of what really happens on the ground during combat. We need John Kerry, now.