On 10/18 Bush inserts foot firmly inside his mouth
President Bush came to NEW JERSEY today and told us that "senator Kerry wants to make Zarqawi a nuisance. I want to go after him!"
Yet Bush had several DOCUMENTED opportunities to go after Zarqawi and declined to do so, DELIBERATELY because the administration feared destroying Zarqawi's terrorist camp in Iraq before the war could undercut its case for war against Saddam.
So who is WEAK on terror ?
Just today, we read that Al-Zarqawi group vows allegiance to bin Laden
Zarqawi, now somewhat famous among Americans for being the alleged author of the first hostage beheading, has been creating mayhem in Iraq for quite a while...
1,000 civilians killed, 2 hostages beheaded
In attacks such as this recent one six-city offensive killing more than 100 and injuring more than 320, Zarqawi has killed and maimed so many Iraq civilians - 700 hundred as of last March - with his bombings that in a rare twist a militant IRAQI group issued a video threatening to kill him!!!
A chemical poisons attack expert
Only yesterday Jordan indicted Zarqawi and other 12 in terror conspiracy to use chemical poisoning
Authorities said al-Zarqawi had planned for suicide bombers to blow up two vehicles filled with chemicals, creating a poisonous cloud that could have killed thousands.
Surely Bush's men didn't know Zarqawi was so dangerous, right ? WRONG!
In February 2003, only months before Bush invaded Iraq to protect us from terror and WMD the State Department was already telling us, 16 months ago, BEFORE the war, US authorities already knew Zarqawi was trouble
Iraq today harbors a deadly terrorist network headed by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi an associate and collaborator of Usama bin Laden and his al-Qaida lieutenants.
More disturbing, they knew Zarqawi loved to dabble in the WMD arena...
Zarqawi... oversaw a terrorist training camp [in Afghanistan]. One of his specialties, and one of the specialties of this camp, is poisons....
Grounds for Impeachment ?
As
Crooked Timber,
Brad DeLong and Kevin Drum asked last March, isn't this Grounds for impeachment ?
TOUGH ON TERROR?... A year ago Dan Drezner asked a question: since we knew at the time that (a) Abu Musab Zarqawi and the terrorist group Ansar al-Islam was connected to al-Qaeda, (b) they had camps in the Halabja Valley in northern Iraq, and (c) the area in question was in the American-patrolled no-fly zone and not under Saddam Hussein's control, why not mount an attack on it?
Bad fumble by Bush ? It gets worse...
It is so outrageous that Zarqawi is still at large that MSNBC had an article about Bush's administration Avoiding attacking suspected terrorist mastermind
In it we learn that
.. long before the war the Bush administration had several chances to wipe out his terrorist operation and perhaps kill Zarqawi himself — but never pulled the trigger...
the administration feared destroying [Zarqawi's] terrorist camp in Iraq could undercut its case for war against Saddam.
Zarqawi + Iraq chaos + looting = Dirty bomb
A CIA report confirms the obvious: Leaving Zarqawi at large in Iraq's mess INCREASED risk of WMD attack
Zarqawi, who is blamed for numerous attacks on U.S. forces and beheadings of hostages, has long sought to use chemical and biological weapons against targets in Europe as well as Iraq.
But there were no WMD so we are safer, right ? WRONG!
LOOTED AND FOR SALE
5 out of 6 Iraq's nuclear waste facilities were looted after Bush invaded. Even
Newsmax (!!), a conservative source, voiced WH and CIA concerns about looted radioactive material ending up in the black market...
(And Zarqawi ?)
US State Department, Feb 2003
The [ZARQAWI] network is teaching its operatives how to produce ricin and other poisons
When our coalition ousted the Taliban, the Zarqawi network helped establish another poison and explosive training center camp, and this camp is located in northeastern Iraq.
They even had a picture of Zarqawi's camp!
In fact, the state department article tells us that the US authorities knew of Zarqawi's murderous actions since October 2002 or earlier
From his terrorist network in Iraq, Zarqawi can direct his network in the Middle East and beyond. We ... lost a dear friend with the cold-blooded murder of Mr. Laurence Foley in Amman, Jordan, last October... The captured assassin says his cell received money and weapons from Zarqawi
Yet, mysteriously, none of the smart bombs got Zarqawi and hit his camp only after he had abandoned it...
Could it be that arresting the bogeyman would spoil Bush's march to war ?
Yes, as it turns out, that was EXACTLY the reason Zarqawi was ignored: the administration feared destroying [Zarqawi's] terrorist camp in Iraq could undercut its case for war against Saddam.
In June 2002, U.S. officials say intelligence had revealed that Zarqawi and members of al-Qaida had set up a weapons lab at Kirma, in northern Iraq, producing deadly ricin and cyanide.
The Pentagon quickly drafted plans to attack the camp with cruise missiles and airstrikes and sent it to the White House, where, according to U.S. government sources, the plan was debated to death in the National Security Council.
“Here we had targets, we had opportunities, we had a country willing to support casualties, or risk casualties after 9/11 and we still didn’t do it,” said Michael O’Hanlon, military analyst with the Brookings Institution.
Four months later, intelligence showed Zarqawi was planning to use ricin in terrorist attacks in Europe.
The Pentagon drew up a second strike plan, and the White House again killed it. By then the administration had set its course for war with Iraq.
“People were more obsessed with developing the coalition to overthrow Saddam than to execute the president’s policy of preemption against terrorists,” according to terrorism expert and former National Security Council member Roger Cressey.
In January 2003, the threat turned real. Police in London arrested six terror suspects and discovered a ricin lab connected to the camp in Iraq.
The Pentagon drew up still another attack plan, and for the third time, the National Security Council killed it.
Military officials insist their case for attacking Zarqawi’s operation was airtight, but the administration feared destroying the [Zarqawi's] terrorist camp in Iraq could undercut its case for war against Saddam.
The United States did attack the camp at Kirma at the beginning of the war, but it was too late — Zarqawi and many of his followers were gone. “Here’s a case where they waited, they waited too long and now we’re suffering as a result inside Iraq,” Cressey added.
And despite the Bush administration’s tough talk about hitting the terrorists before they strike, Zarqawi’s killing streak continues today.
Brad DeLong has the following comments on the MSNBC article:
The Strange Survival of Ansar al-Islam's Base in Northern Iraq: "The Strange Survival of Ansar al-Islam's Base in Northern Iraq
I'm going to be literally, physically sick.
From Kevin Drum:
TOUGH ON TERROR?... A year ago Dan Drezner asked a question: since we knew at the time that (a) Abu Musab Zarqawi and the terrorist group Ansar al-Islam was connected to al-Qaeda, (b) they had camps in the Halabja Valley in northern Iraq, and (c) the area in question was in the American-patrolled no-fly zone and not under Saddam Hussein's control, why not mount an attack on it?
... This would be an excellent test of where exactly the French and Germans stand...
Unfortunately, it turns out it wasn't France and Germany we had to worry about. It was George Bush:
... Military officials insist their [2002] case for attacking Zarqawi's operation was airtight, but the administration feared destroying the terrorist camp in Iraq could undercut its case for war against Saddam.
Unlike Saddam, Zarqawi really was developing poisons such as ricin and cyanide for use in terrorist attacks in the West and elsewhere. But we hesitated to take action because destroying the Ansar al-Islam camps might have been inconvenient for George Bush's speechwriters.
Zarqawi has reportedly killed at least 700 people since then. But it might be many more. We will probably never know for sure how many people died at his hands because of George Bush's uncertainty in the face of danger.
Excuse me. Back from the toilet
And the Bush apologists have been using Zarqawi as their proof of Al Qaeda involvement for months!
In February, the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq made public an intercepted letter it said was written by al-Zarqawi to al-Qaida leaders, detailing a strategy of spectacular attacks to derail the planned June 30 handover of power to the Iraqis. U.S. officials say al-Zarqawi may have been involved in some of the series of suicide bombings this year in Iraq.
And today 10/18...
Bush inserts foot firmly inside his mouth
"Bush also said that Kerry believed the hunt for Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi, the extremist behind beheadings and other attacks that have made him Iraq's most-wanted man, was 'a diversion from the war on terror.'
'Here the difference between my opponent and me is very clear. Senator Kerry believes that fighting Zarqawi and other terrorists in Iraq is a diversion from the war on terror. I believe that fighting and defeating these killers in Iraq is a central commitment in the war on terror,' he said.
Oh, and the looted WMD ? Still at large, ready to be picked up by a free, powerful and popular Zarqawi...
NUKE MATERIAL GONE MISSING ? Or found at Al Qaeda ?