Bush Steps in QaQaa

Bush finally spoke out about the 380 tons of missing high explosives that have gone missing from the Al Qaqaa storage facility 30 miles outside Baghdad. Not surprisingly, Bush denied that he had done anything wrong-- for example, by sending insufficient troops to Iraq to prevent raiding and looting of key facilities by insurgents. Instead, he blamed Kerry for bringing up the subject.

From the Washington Post:

President Bush took up the issue of missing high explosives in Iraq for the first time today, counterattacking Democratic challenger John F. Kerry for making "wild charges" without knowing the facts and accusing the Massachusetts senator of "denigrating" U.S. troops and commanders. . . .

[Bush] added, "Our military is now investigating a number of possible scenarios, including that the explosives may have been moved before our troops even arrived at the site. This investigation is important and it's ongoing, and a political candidate who jumps to conclusions without knowing the facts is not a person you want as your commander in chief."

In response, retired Army Gen. Wesley K. Clark, a Kerry supporter who competed with him for the Democratic presidential nomination, said Bush's words amounted to "a very compelling and thoughtful argument for why he should not be reelected."

It was Bush who "jumped to conclusions about any connection between Saddam Hussein and 9/11," Clark said in a statement released by the Kerry campaign. "He jumped to conclusions about weapons of mass destruction. He jumped to conclusions about the mission being accomplished. He jumped to conclusions about how we had enough troops on the ground to win the peace. And because he jumped to conclusions, terrorists and insurgents in Iraq may very well have their hands on powerful explosives to attack our troops, we are stuck in Iraq without a plan to win the peace, and Americans are less safe both at home and abroad."

Clark concluded: "By doing all these things, he broke faith with our men and women in uniform. He has let them down. George W. Bush is unfit to be our commander in chief."

Retired Air Force Gen. Merrill A. "Tony" McPeak said in a statement that Bush seems to believe that Kerry should not be criticizing him "since the president thinks he has never made a mistake."

McPeak continued: "Let's be perfectly clear: it is the President who dropped the ball. Senator Kerry is being critical of George Bush, not the troops. By embarking on the line of attack, George Bush is deflecting blame from him over to the military. This is beneath contempt."

The International Atomic Energy Agency officially informed the United Nations Monday that nearly 380 tons of high explosives, including some material under U.N. seal because it could be used in nuclear weapons, were missing from the vast al Qaqaa storage site 30 miles south of Baghdad.

The Iraqi Ministry of Science and Technology said the explosives disappeared after April 9, 2003, the day that Baghdad fell to U.S. forces and the government of president Saddam Hussein collapsed. The ministry blamed a "lack of security" for the loss, and officials expressed suspicion that the munitions had been looted by insurgents.

Why is the controversy over Al Qaqaa important? Because it highlights the limitations of this President and his Administration. The Administration was determined to engage in warfare on the cheap, so that it could justify its policy of preemptive war. As a result, it failed to deliver enough troops in Iraq to secure key facilities and prevent looting. Because of this bad strategic choice-- one motivated by ideological committments that blinded the Administration to the facts on the ground-- the insurgency helped itself to a large cache of high explosives that it may have used against American troops. As a result the Administration has weakened our position abroad and put our troops in harm's way.

That is reason enough, one would think, for a change in leadership.