Chad and Phil are jumping on the NYT/CBS bandwagon on this breaking non-story from April of 2003. They have some questions that they want President Bush to answer... Now, I don't speak for the White House, but I thought I'd give it a shot:
1. Why did the Administration assign such a low priority to securing explosives, munitions and weapons in Iraq?The administration did NOT assign such a low priority to securing explosives or any other kinds of weapons. The FACT is that these explosives were gone BEFORE the 101st Airborne got there.
2. The Bush Administration says that it ordered the Iraq Survey Group to look into what happened to the 380 tons of missing explosives (during October 25 briefing, Scott McClellan said it four times) but the head of the unit, Charles Duelfer, says he has not received any orders to do so. What are the facts?Show me where Charles Duelfer said that? I didn't find it ANYWHERE via Google... Would Chad and Phil manufacture Duelfer quotes? I dunno...
3. What is the chronology of action taken by the Bush Administration after being informed that the explosives had gone missing? Who knew what when? When was the civilian leadership at the Pentagon told about the missing explosives? When did Secretary Rumsfeld learn that the explosives had gone missing? When was the President's National Security Council informed? When National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice briefed on this? When was the President told? And what action was taken?I'd venture a guess that all of the above were informed in April of 2003 when the rest of us were...
4. Why did the Bush Administration deny the International Atomic Energy Agency's request to back into Iraq to verify the status of the stockpile?Because the IAEA had it's own agenda. That's how I'd answer the question. There were enough cooks in the kitchen with the ISG in there...
5. What action did Paul Bremer take after reportedly being warned in May 2004 that the explosives had gone missing?Well, if Bremer was informed a YEAR after the explosives went missing, I'd say that was a problem. Somehow, I don't think that was the case. I can't speak to what actions Bremer may have taken after bieng informed a YEAR after the event took place. I'd have to think he'd have had nothing to do with it...
6. The 380 tons of missing explosives are the tip of the iceberg. Duelfer reportedly said he wasn't concerned about al Qaqaa because that Iraq is awash in hundreds of thousands of tons of explosives. Is there an estimate of the total amount of munitions, weapons and explosives that have gone missing in Iraq?No one knows that Chad/Phil... Here's what we DO KNOW: U.S. forces have destroyed more than 243,000 tons of munitions since the end of major combat and have almost 163,000 tons more marked for destruction. (Source - registration required)
7. Since 2003, how many attacks on our troops in Iraq or terrorist bombings in Iraq, Egypt or elsewhere have been carried out using HMX, RDX or PETN -- the same kind of explosive that went missing from al Qaqaa?The allegation here is that the missing explosives have been used in attacks against American troops (no reports of these kinds of explosives have been reported against coalition troops - at least none that I have found) or in terrorist bombings around the world. No one knows that either. Not Chad. Not Phil. And not John Kerry. NO. BODY. KNOWS. Politics is the motive behind these questions, not concern. And it smells. BAD.
These two hacks are among the worst of the bunch at Kerry/Edwards...the American people, the Democratic Party, and John Kerry are not being served by this kind of nonsense.
Mark's Remarks
I have some questions for Kerry/Edwards. 1. Why, if intel is so important, has Sen. Kerry missed over 3/4 of the committee meetings? 2. Why is it that, if being on the ball is important, that Senator Edwards is known as Senator Gone by his own hometown paper? 3. Why is it that Sen. Kerry talks about former military men supporting him, who, if he had his way, would never have conducted the first Gulf War? 4. Why is it that, if Sen. Kerry cares so much about soldiers, that he continues to destroy their integrity by bogusly talking about the explosives that WERE ALREADY GONE when the military arrived? 5. Why is it that he hasn't recanted his testimony, especially when all investigations into Winter Soldier have shown them to be bogus allegations?
Just some thoughts....let's see if Chad and Phil can bumble their way through this one...Maybe it would help to give them some balloons....
