The Gang That Can't Shoot Straight

Is the gang in charge one that can't shoot straight or simply one that will not be straight with the American people?

President Bush’s reaction to a Washington Post story charging him with not speaking truthfully when he announced that the coalition forces in Iraq had found the weapons of mass destruction is very troubling. On Wednesday, April 12, 2006, a Reuters’ story recapitulated an earlier Post story and reported on the White House reaction.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/12/AR2006041201059.html?referrer=emailarticle

On May 29, 2003, the president announced that WMDs – in the form of two mobile biological weapons laboratories – had been found. The Post reported that an American and British team of experts had examined these trailers and after an exhaustive study of the facilities unanimously concluded that they were not connected in any way with WMDs. A comprehensive report to that effect was sent to the Pentagon two day prior to the presidential statement on coalition success in finding these weapons manufacturing facilities.

White House press secretary Scott McClelland reacted angrily to the story and charged the Post with reckless reporting saying that the report from the field was preliminary and that the president was unaware of the team’s findings when he made his famous statement.

The interchange leads to many questions. Was the president so desperate for a success story in Iraq that he couldn’t wait for the final report of the military which was studying the mobile labs? Were those responsible for getting this vital bit of information to the president so incompetent that they sat on this significant – and now embarrassing – intelligence for two days while the president prepared to speak to the press and the nation? Why after this intelligence was circulated to key spokespersons did the administration continue to insist for many months that WMDs had been found? These questions and dozens more must be answered; until they are, the president’s personal credibility and the competence of the intelligence, DOD, and White House staffs are clearly in question.

Every day with every announcement and every denial the competence and the truthfulness of the highest officials in the land becomes more uncertain. And these folks have more power in their command than all of the governments of all of the nations in the history of the world combined. Scary, eh?

Blog on!

Wild Bill