(Bush) Avoiding attacking suspected terrorist mastermind (MSNBC)

[joeunderdog]

With Tuesday’s attacks, Abu Musab Zarqawi, a Jordanian militant with ties to al-Qaida, is now blamed for more than 700 terrorist killings in Iraq.

But NBC News has learned 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.

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.

snip

‘People were more obsessed with developing the coalition to overthrow Saddam than to execute the president’s policy of pre-emption against terrorists.’


more...http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4431601/

Wow. President Terror Alert didn't protect effectively :(

[MO_Dem]

1. Them damn windmills

keep getting in Duhbya's way.

[TankLV]

3. If we could harness all bushco's spinning to a power generator,

we could probably power a small country!

[MO_Dem]

10. Yes, you're right

although I was thinking more along the lines of Duhhb's jousting at said windmills

Either way, he's a liar, a disgrace, and dangerous. Words of Kris Kristofferson keep echoing in my mind "He's a walking contradiction, partly truth and partly fiction" (I would revise to say mostly fiction in this case)

[Voltaire99]

2. Bush not living up to the action-packed ethos of NBC News, eh?

Come on, Georgie-boy. Tom Brokaw wants to write another Greatest Generation doorstopper.

Let us take anything "reported" by NBC News - sabre-rattler, war champion, imperial goad - with a grain of salt.

[Just Me]

29. Imagine a "public service" commercial tying Bushies' fortune to terrorism.

Similar to the red-tie guy pot smoker being linked to supporting a cartel,...except,....Bushies' money-making ties are SOOOOOOO much more direct (along with all the other political whores) to the Saudi government which has poured masses of dollars into terrorist groups.

[proud patriot]

4. Well

I'm surprised this is being reported .

[krkaufman]

5. He didn't worry about Osama...

... so why would he worry about Zarqawi?

It was all about Saddam from day one.

[w4rma]

6. Bush is toast. GE appears to have turned on Bush.

And there is no way he can win without alot of help from big media.

It wasn't very long ago that an article that damns Bush so precisely and accurately would be allowed coverage on a major network.

[TacticalPeek]

11. They also did an astonishing bit way back, when Rummy pulled

our special operators, Arabic-speakers etc out of Afghanistan and moved them to Iraq, off of Bin Laden's trail. It was a really devasting report, named some of the units and so forth, but it quickly sank from view, no follow-up. MSNBC I think.

[w4rma]

18. I didn't catch that article. I hope this one gets some follow ups. (n/t)

[Beetwasher]

7. I Don't Know What To Say

This is fucked up on so many levels...

[TacticalPeek]

8. Their presence was widely known and reported in the press

long prior to the kickoff of the war, and constituted a perfect target for aerial annihilation (northern no-fly zone), or special ops raid if you wanted prisoners.

But that would have been an effective national security measure, and eliminated one of their excuses for war.

And more than likely, that ricin, etc. was probably intended for Saddam and the bathtub gang.

[DrWeird]

9. Why would Al Qaeda be targeting Shi'ites?

Anybody got a decent explanation?

[TacticalPeek]

12. Al Qaeda is pretty much Sunni, it is said.

But any trouble serves their end. They in fact kill al Qaeda when they do suicide missions, but they are religous fanatics, so it's all good with them.

[bpilgrim]

17. stir up a civil war

would make it even more difficult and $$$ to manage.

peace

[Zero Gravitas]

24. Civil War

they want the inevitable Iraqi civil war to start sooner rather than later.

[GreenGreenLimaBean]

13. If this doesn't knock monkey-boy off for all eternity, then were F*@k-ed

How much clearer can it be than this folks?

bush* claims his fighting a war on TERROR but refuses to go after
the TERRRORIST!!!!!

[darkstar]

14. kick

(he said bitterly)

[slinkerwink]

15. whoa....

[54anickel]

16. Dang, NBC just blew one of the Oct surprises - Shrub was gonna find

those ricin and cyanide labs at Kirma and blame them on Saddam!

[DoYouEverWonder]

19. This is the same weapons lab

that W and Colin Powell kept saying was evidence of Saddam's connection to al Qaeda. Only problem, the lab was located in Kurdish held Iraq and well within the no fly zone. Plus it was down the road from the base we set up in Northern Iraq as one of the launching points before the war. We could have easily taken this lab out, but of course getting Saddam was more important.

[ladjf]

22. riacin on the INTERNET

At about the same time the "labs" were discovered in Iraq, it was discovered that instructions on how to make riacin were available on the INTERNET as a publication of the U.S. Dept of Agriculture. That was removed after the publicity.

[ithacan]

20. CIA revenge?

wonder if this was "leaked" by insiders still pissed at Bush's betrayals?

[hatrack]

21. Gosh, what a shocker!

ChimpCo chose to bang the drum against Saddam and his "WMD" capability rather than go after al-Qaeda? I'm shocked, SHOCKED.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

23. Another thread on this...

I posted this yesterday:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=396347&mesg_id=396347

Glad someone else found it. It's not like NBC is going out of their way to call attention to it. Has this popped up anywhere but on NBC's web site and this board?

[TacticalPeek]

25. On Imus this am, NBC Pentagon correspondent, Jim Miklaszewski

went on at length about it. The Shrub line is that they were afraid of alienating allies, thus making a war coalition more difficult to form, going after Saddam. ROFLMAO!

[northzax]

33. alienating allies?

they werwe afriad of annoying the Kurds, but didn't give a shit about Germany or France? We'd rather be friends with the freaking KURDS, than a nation we have fought 5 wars alongside in the past 200 years? typical.

[northzax]

34. alienating allies?

they werwe afriad of annoying the Kurds, but didn't give a shit about Germany or France? We'd rather be friends with the freaking KURDS, than a nation we have fought 5 wars alongside in the past 200 years? typical.

[Nlighten1]

26. This is Bill Clinton's fault!

Don't you just know it?

[bushisanidiot]

27. The Question Is, Why Did This Guy Become A Terrorist?

what was it that led him to this type of life?? when is anyone going to figure that out? we can kill every terrorist who we know is a terrorist right now, but more are created with every death because those terrorist have families and friends (others who are loyal to them) who will try to avenge them.. it's an endless cycle.

'course.. president shithead will never figure that out, nor does he want to. it's more politically convenient to have an endless supply of enemies to get the repukes all whipped up in a patriotic frenzy over.

[Just Me]

28. YEAH, duhhhh,...'cause money in the Bushies' pockets took front seat!!!

God forbid they actually go after the real nation supporting terrorism, Saudi Arabia. NO! No! No! They took on an oil rich nation that had no defense against the greedy evil corporate doers linked to this corrupt administration!!!

[reprehensor]

30. *bump* n/t

[matcom]

31. why isn't Drudge running with this?

with his sireen going off? :shrug: </sarcasm>

that asshole

[wicket]

32. I just submitted it to him

Let's see if he posts it, I won't be holding my breath though, he hates to print anything that hurts Repukes.

[Poiuyt]

35. This is HUGE!

Homeland security plays second fiddle to bush's obsession.

[w4rma]

36. Looks like MSNBC decided not to follow up on this. (n/t)

[Just Me]

37. IF ONLY the media truly valued its customers,...

,...DAMN!!! Imagine its profits!!!

Regrettably,...we have a "tank" that is killing its own support.

Oh, well,...a "tank" can only tank, *LOL*,...and learn that its customers will pick the best product,...and it ain't tainted broken bullshit.