Al Qaqaa: great example of Bush's bullshit

Just as I was getting back to Wolfowitless and his reasons why post-war Iraq would not need several hundred thousand troops, along comes an example of why Wolfowitz was and is full of shit. That example is the Al Qaqaa facility and its now missing tons of high explosives.

For a comprehensive analysis of all the stories as they broke (and continue to break as of today), go to Josh Marshall's site, www.talkingpointsmemo.com. He has been all over this issue.

I will go into much more detail on this issue, but for now I will focus on flip-flopping and just how full of shit BushCo is.

How dare YOU blame the troops.

Let's start with good ol' George. The New York Times broke the story on October 25, and for two days Bush refused to answer any questions on the matter. On October 27, in a campaign speech at Lititz, Pennsylvania, Bush finally said something about the missing explosives:

Now, the Senator is making wild charges about missing explosives, when his top foreign policy advisor admits -- quote -- "We do not know the facts." Think about that. The Senator is denigrating the action of our troops and commanders in the field without knowing the facts.

So, according to Bush, Kerry is blaming the troops, and that's very bad. How dare Kerry do such a thing? For starters, Kerry has never said anything to that effect, but that will be shown in subsequent posts. Right now, I just want to point out that Bush accused Kerry of blaming the troops for the missing explosives. This is significant because the very next morning, Bush's #1 surrogate on the campaign trail, Rudy Giuliani, was asked about the missing explosives in an interview on NBC's Today, and here's what he had to say:

No matter how you try to blame it on the president, the actual responsibility for it really would be for the troops that were there. Did they search carefully enough or didn't they search carefully enough? We don't know.

I am SO confused. Bush says blaming the troops is bad, but Bush's top campaigner says that no matter what, the troops are to blame.

You know, I am not even going to try to come up with some witty comment for this. I am so sick and tired of the changing bullshit that comes from Bush and his supporters. Bush talks about how Kerry is on all sides of an issue, and then we get this crap?

Giuliani ≠ Bush is a non-starter

Now I know what some you Republicans are thinking...Bush did not say the troops were to blame, and it's unfair to attribute Giuliani's comment to Bush. Give me a break. Try to argue that Giuliani has not been the top campaigner and surrogate for Bush--and don't forget that he was the key-freakin'-note speaker at the Republican Convention. Whatever "America's Mayor" says on the campaign trail is the same as if George his own self said it. If that were not the case, don't you think someone from the Bush/Cheney campaign would have issued a statement to that effect? I checked the Bush/Cheney campaign site and found absolutely no mention of Giuliani's comments. I checked the "Current News" page on the White House website and found that neither Bush nor Cheney had said anything about Giuliani's comments. Then I checked the "Press Briefings" page and found the only statement on October 28 or 29 from anyone at the White House or the Bush/Cheney campaign regarding Giuliani's allocation of blame. It came from Scott McClellan during a press gaggle on October 28:

Q: Can I ask you about Rudy Giuliani, as you know, was on the "Today Show" this morning, and he said, no matter how you try to blame it on the President, the actual responsibility for it, meaning the weapons that went missing, really would be for the troops that were there -- did they search carefully enough -- did they search carefully enough? Does the President support Rudy Giuliani placing this blame on the troops?

MR. McCLELLAN: He's talking about how we don't know the facts, we don't know what happened to these explosives. We know that we have seized and destroyed more than 400,000 munitions from some 10,000 caches spread all throughout Iraq. But when you look at the regime and you look at the way they operate, it is a likely possibility that they were removed prior to our forces arriving there. We don't know -- Senator Kerry shows that he will say anything for his own political advantage. And I think this goes to an issue that the American people will be looking at very closely. And that's, who can you trust to lead this nation forward on the big priorities? A President can't jump to conclusions without knowing the facts.

This is the entirety of what the Bush administration/campaign has had to say about Giuliani's statements. Notice four points: 1) McClellan was asked point blank if Bush supported Giuliani's statement of blame; 2) his answer was basically an attempt to explain what Giuliani was talking about; 3) he did not, however, even mention--much less explain--the part about blaming the troops; and 4) he never answered the point blank question. It would have been so simple to say "The President does not blame the troops," but nothing of the sort was said.

Compare this to what Wes Clark did during his campaign. At a rally, Michael Moore called Bush a deserter, and the press was all over Clark, claiming that he essentially took that position because he did not rebuke Moore. At one of the Democratic debates Clark said 1) he had not looked at all the facts and did not consider the matter relevant, and 2) Moore had a right to express his opinion. Neither Bush nor any of his representatives have done anything like that.

Bush, through McClellan, had the chance to say that he did not agree with Giuliani, and nothing was said. Again, if Giuliani was not speaking for Bush on this matter, why has nothing been done to make that clear? Without any such effort, there is no way to credibly argue that Giuliani's statement cannot be attributed to Bush.

Bottom line

Bush and his lackeys have said all along that opposition to this war is the same as not supporting the troops. Then Bush says that Kerry is blaming the troops for the missing explosives. And then we get the Bush campaign saying that the blame for the missing explosives lies with the troops. It's like Jon Stewart said: "Finally--someone who supports the war AND blames the troops...Seriously, I think my brain is broken."

Cheer up, Jon. Your brain can recover. I don't think the brains of Bush or anyone working for him can be helped.