Last night it was widely reported that the Bush administration lost track of 380 tons of high explosives. They were in an Iraqi weapons depot that we were told to secure by the IAEAbefore the war. But we just neglected to, and the depot was looted and the explosives stolen.
This is a sign of serious incompetence by the Bush administration. As is Condi Rice's sitting on this news for a month. It also something we need to do something about, something we need to act on. We need to find out where the explosives went and get as much back as we can. We need to act.
But instead of acting, the Bush administration's first move is to... claim that this justifies the war, that these explosives were WMDs. Why not tell us you are going to find them? Why not come clean about how this was a mistake that won't happen again?
This is the central problem with the Bush administration. It's all about politics and perception and not policy. It's about shifting blame and never ever admitting a mistake or taking responsibility. Wouldn't it have been easier to simply do the job? To secure the weapons. As opposed to doing the whole blame game after the fact?
Rove Herring Response: As to the WMDs issue, they aren't WMDs. C4 precursors are not WMDs. These high explosives are nasty, but they don't fall into the category of biological, chemical or nuclear weapons. They are standard military explosives that have been in use since the first world war.
Posted by jherr at October 25, 2004 07:14 AMThanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)