OH OH Bush.... this story leaking out again too !!!

[Hot Water]

Looks like this is going to be a bad week for you.


http://online.wsj.com/article_email/0,,SB109866031609354178-IdjgYNhlaR3n52paIKIaKmGm4,00.html


The Pentagon drew up detailed plans in June 2002, giving the administration a series of options for a military strike on the camp Mr. Zarqawi was running then in remote northeastern Iraq, according to generals who were involved directly in planning the attack and several former White House staffers. They said the camp, near the town of Khurmal, was known to contain Mr. Zarqawi and his supporters as well as al Qaeda fighters, all of whom had fled from Afghanistan. Intelligence indicated the camp was training recruits and making poisons for attacks against the West.

Senior Pentagon officials who were involved in planning the attack said that even by spring 2002 Mr. Zarqawi had been identified as a significant terrorist target, based in part on intelligence that the camp he earlier ran in Afghanistan had been attempting to make chemical weapons, and because he was known as the head of a group that was plotting, and training for, attacks against the West. He already was identified as the ringleader in several failed terrorist plots against Israeli and European targets. In addition, by late 2002, while the White House still was deliberating over attacking the camp, Mr. Zarqawi was known to have been behind the October 2002 assassination of a senior American diplomat in Amman, Jordan.


But the raid on Mr. Zarqawi didn't take place. Months passed with no approval of the plan from the White House, until word came down just weeks before the March 19, 2003, start of the Iraq war that Mr. Bush had rejected any strike on the camp until after an official outbreak of hostilities with Iraq. Ultimately, the camp was hit just after the invasion of Iraq began.

Lisa Gordon-Hagerty, who was in the White House as the National Security Council's director for combatting terrorism at the time, said an NSC working group, led by the Defense Department, had been in charge of reviewing the plans to target the camp. She said the camp was "definitely a stronghold, and we knew that certain individuals were there including Zarqawi." Ms. Gordon-Hagerty said she wasn't part of the working group and never learned the reason why the camp wasn't hit. But she said that much later, when reports surfaced that Mr. Zarqawi was behind a series of bloody attacks in Iraq, she said "I remember my response," adding, "I said why didn't we get that <'son of a b-'> when we could."

[cubsfan forever]

1. A very bad week n/t

Professor 2

[slater71]

2. Kick

Good catch.

[Stephanie]

3. All we need now is a Bush sex scandal

Barney? Want a treat?

[jackson]

20. Look up margie schoedinger

Her lawsuit is whacked, but she died just nine months after filing it due to a gunshot wound to the head ruled a suicide.
http://www.geocities.com/jacksonthor/knowdeat.html

[Stephanie]

44. Is that you jackson t?

.

[many a good man]

21. Next.

Pictures of bush* snorting coke off Cheney's bare buttocks in the situation room.

[DuaneBidoux]

22. Yea,' of course with a Repuke that's the ONLY kind of scandal you need

Everything else from fraud, to bombing innocent children, to poisoning the water - well we can excuse that. Sex, yea' that would bring a Republican to his knees FROM the wrath of Republicans.

[in_cog_ni_to]

4. When it rains, it pours!

Let's DROWN the SOB! :bounce:

[Bad Thoughts]

5. Was Khurmal in the Kurdish region?

If so, the camp could have been attacked without toppling the regime. Saddam had no effective authority over this area, and it was part of the no-fly zone.

[Sara Beverley]

29. I believe it is under the control of the Kurds.

But Bush's objective was to get Saddam, not Zargawi or Osama.

[TheDonkey]

6. WE need to make sure TV media gets this!

WTF!?!

* is making us incredibly unsafe.

[Hot Water]

7. It's just got to make your mouth hang open

when you read this shit.

This is the guy we got in charge of the red phone.

[samtob]

8. What?

Now wait... maybe I am in the dark here, but I was under the impression that Zarqawi did not have any ties to Iraq other than having his leg operated on after being wounded.

So now he was running a training camp in Iraq? WTF?

[Bad Thoughts]

10. Outside Saddam's authority

The Kurdish areas were not controled by Saddam, and they were in the hands of American allies. There were not ties.

[Scairp]

11. Hey, don't you remember?

He was MISSING that leg, supposedly. I guess it grew back. Or something.

[Scairp]

9. Talk about an October surprise

But I don't think this is exactly what the Bushies had in mind, ya know?

[Hot Water]

12. P-L-E-E-E-E-E-E-EZE media. Do your job now !!!!!

[pk_du]

13. Yes ...and Powell even referred to the camp during his UN

"putting lipstick on the pig" session just before the war.

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/02/17/1045330538533.html?oneclick=true

..talk about gall....we HAVE to go to war because there is this camp full of terrorists ( forgot to mention - that is under our controlled airspace AND...that we've known about for years)


...there is not a shred of doubt that hundreds of American soldiers and hostages would be alive today if the Bush Admin had implemented one of the several plans they were given !

[okieinpain]

14. you know I get the feeling that there are folks in DC, that are trying

to warn us about bush.

[yardwork]

17. Oh Yeah. I think that the Pentagon and the CIA, to name just two

are full of long-time staffers who are horrified by what is happening under bushco and doing what they can to get the word out.

[MADem]

41. Ain't THAT the truth!

There are more than a few at the Pgon that cannot STAND what has been happening. Political appointees, who used to just do their job and push specific agendas, are now all powerful Wizards of Oz within their respective fiefdoms. Careerists, both military and civilian, are getting shoved to the side, and crazy bastards with NO operational experience are making serious operational decisions without any seasoned input. And over at See Eye Eh! there are many friends of Tenet who are ticked off about how he was thrown to the wolves (hmmmm, there's those wolves again!).

[Redleg]

15. This one will hurt if it has legs.

The mediawhores will of course ignore it.

[Hot Water]

16. What do we have to do to wake people up?

Get a picture of Bush screwing a pig in the oval office?

[yardwork]

18. That would be very effective! Do you have one?

[Redleg]

19. That would be nice but someone would just think he was screwing

Karl Rove.

[Perky]

23. Actually I think Bush did the right thing

You don't Bomb another country without at least consultation with the allies. It would have been seen as provocative to do so at a premature time.


This is inmy view a hindsight issues...and probably won't get played up.

But on the flip side....If Zarquawi is the new posterchild for terroris its more grist for the Bush is incompetnant message and there is proabbly little time to for it to backfire on Kerry.

I just do not think Monday Morning Quarterbacking is a good idea.

[sadiesworld]

51. No, Bush did the politically convenient thing.

Bushco's dirty little secret has ALWAYS been that the only terrorists operating in Iraq were in the no-fly zone. SH wouldn't allow them in the areas he controlled. BUT, the maladministration didn't take them out b/c they needed SOME basis for the "terrorists are in Iraq" argument. It worked with the sheeple.

I think our allies would have been perfectly happy to see actual terrorists eliminated as opposed to the bombing of Bagdad.

Old news, but nice to see it getting a little play.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

24. Are we safer now that Saddam is gone?

No, because it unleashed Zarqawi to fill the void, from the leader of a fringe element in an isolated camp beyond Saddam's reach to become one of the leaders of the Iraqi insurgency with all of Iraq as his base.

[Bandit]

25. Now why would that information be any more reliable than the other

Intelligence that was fabricated by the whitehouse? I don't believe any of it. If they had been making poison to use against us why haven't they used it? This is just more bogus information whether good for or bad for the Administration.

[rlev1223]

26. Just sent the link to 25 news orgs

They'll see the WSJ anyway, just letting them know people are reading it, too, and they should jump on it.

[bushwakker]

27. surprised this never came up in debates

[CitySky]

28. don't forget to rate the story a 5!

Wish they had a 6! Great news!

:kick:

[TexasSissy]

30. So...you think this is BAD for *? That story, if true, PROVES that Saddam

harbored terrorists, making the Iraq War justifiable and linked sort of to 9/11.

This is the REPUB October surprise. Not ours.

If this story is true....we can probably hang it up.

[Bad Thoughts]

31. It's not proof

If Zarqawi was in the Kurdish region, Saddam could neither aid him nor expel him. Kurdistan was, until Saddam was toppled, and autonomous region.

[sofa king]

47. The northern no-fly zone was de facto American territory already.

That's why we knew Zarqawi was there in the first place, through our Kurdish surrogates.

The Bush Administration has repeatedly tried to float this turd, since at least October of 2002. But unlike the conflation of Saddam and 9/11 which was so artfully hammered into the public unconscious, the press repeatedly blocked the use of the story with simple questions like, "if you knew he was there, why didn't you go get him?"

[LynnTheDem]

50. Zarqawi was under US CONTROL for the past 12 years before invasion

The USA was HARBORING terrorists in Kurdistan; Saddam Hussein had NO CONTROL over northern Iraq since 1991.

Zarqawi, by the way, had NOTHING to do with 911 and he is NOT a part of Al Qaeda.

[TexasSissy]

52. Oh, I see. But Zarqawi, I thought, was a known terrorist who worked

with Al Qaeda and was a sympathizer, if not AQ himself. No? Yes?

[Nicholas_J]

32. AS usual

There is more evidence that Bush wanted the real terrorists to stay free, in order to keep his fear based initiative operative

[bush equals idiot]

33. Joe Biden

made remarks about this on Zahn tonight.

This is as good as a Certs commercial. Two..two---two disasters in one.

If Bush was running Viet Nam, we'd still be there.

[milkyway]

34. Rove doesn't have enough fingers to plug all the holes springing leaks.

[bush equals idiot]

36. LOL thats funny

I was thinking along the same lines. But what came to my mind is the movie The Money Pit, with Tom Hanks.

Just everything is going to hell for Bush. One bad story after another finally getting exposed.

I can still picture in my mind when Hanks tipped that scaffold, went head first down that chute and ended up in the fountain with that boy statue pissing on him.

How appro po for Bush.

[rlev1223]

37. Plus, his thumb is busy elsewhere

[leftofthedial]

35. the mind-boggling incompetence alone

should have most of the bushturd's supporters switching to Kerry or not voting.

unbelievable. it may be the only thing less competent than the bushgang are the bushgang supporters in the electorate.

[gordianot]

38. These stories are not an accident.

Missing explosives, and other major failures of Bush crime family are being released in steady doses. This is payback time by intelligence and military assets. Just sit back and watch this one roll. The next 8 days will be fun with daily doses.

[bobbieinok]

39. if NOT on RW TV and talk shows 24/7, WHO WILL HEAR ABT THIS????

[bush equals idiot]

42. Did you happen to see ABC news tonight?

I hate that Jennings Bush freak, but he was talking to their reporter covering junior about the story with the explosives missing.

The reporter said, the Bush campaign decided it was "best just to keep Bush away from this story."

Oh, I'll bet they did. HHAAA HA HA HAH AHHHH AHHA HAHA HHAHA HA..... And now they got this Zarqawi one too.

[gordianot]

43. I've sworn off television for the next 8 days.

It raises my blood pressure. I do read Newspapers and visit websites.

I do on occasion watch Olberman (not sure of spelling) and will watch CSPAN.

That is a good one keep * away from the story. I wonder if they are keeping him away from the story developing in the Sea of Japan?

My prediction is a naval engagement with North Korea before November 2. Did you know there is a U.S. blockade of North Korea in conjunction with Japan? If I am not wrong that is an act of war. (Didn't we have a war at the turn of the nineteenth century over similar circumstances?) Bush's equal is in North Korea and has about as much grasp of reality as Bush.

[BUSHOUT]

40. This was in todays paper? Did it get any legs?? n/t

[bush equals idiot]

45. I don't know how long the legs are yet

but I think there was so much going on today with the explosive loss of explosives (har har), they didn't have time for this one to filter down yet. Hopefully this one will catch fire tomorrow too.

If you put the string of these mind boggling blunders together, it almost seems like you'd have to be making it up.

Biden talked about this Zarqawi blunder explicitly on Paula Zahn tonight though. So let's sit back and ride the wave.

[MsMagnificent]

46. *kick*

[liberal N proud]

48. And the F*%KING pollsters keep pumpin this chimp up

WHY?

[LynnTheDem]

49. bush refuswed 3 times to taking Zarqawi out coz it would "diminish"

his "justification" for invasion. By keeping Zarqawi alive in Kurdistan, Powell could go to the UN and say we KNOW there are Al Qaeda ops in Iraq.

Unfortunately for bushCartel, the UN just LAUGHED; they knew Zarqawi was in Kurdistan, which was under US CONTROL and totally out of Hussein's control for the past 12 years,a nd that zarqawi was NOT part of Al Qaeda.

But Americans do like their "enemy of the month", so leaving Zarqawi alive to enter Iraq and kill off US troops gave (gives) bush his historical revisionist "justification" for ignoring OBL and war in Iraq.

And NO there was NO "POISON CAMP" in Northern Iraq; troops found NOTHING whatsoever except a lot of very poor people when they searched the entire area.