The Buck Stops in Mesopotamia.

Giuliani must have liked Dubya's "Don't blame me, the Generals could've asked for more troops" line in the second debate so much, Rudy 's now using it on Colonels, Captains and Corporals...

ripple of hope via Atrios

The president was cautious, the president was prudent, the president did what a commander in chief should do. 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? Didn't they search carefully enough?

Today Show Video [.wmv file] of Rudy, being the selfless patriot and "supporter of the troops" that he really is.

Wait, the administration says the Russians might have taken them, pre-invasion. Aided by Colonel Mustard. In the Drawing Room. With a candlestick.

Oops, the Russians say that's, ummm, oh, what word did they use... Oh yeah, "Absurd." Damn you, Pootie-poot!

Wait, the White House says the Iraqi Coalition Government can't count explosives very accurately.

Whoops, ABC, NBC and some gnomes in the Pentagon say they count just fine. And they read a calendar better.

Hmmmm. Now, the question is, as this wends its way to ultimately land back in the lap of Bush sometime in the next few weeks, will all those people who were intially appalled, then were reeled back toward Bush by the above spin machine just in time to cast their ballot for Bush Tuesday--will they get a refund, or a do over, say middle to late November? Can they get their vote back after being hoodwinked yet once agan?

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UPDATE: Oh, dear. It seems that a Minnesota TV news crew, KSTP, embedded with the 3rd I.D. got a bit of b-roll video at Al Qa Qaa when they dropped by April 18th, 10 days after the war and and 8 days afer the 101st had a looksee. Seems the junk was still there--IAEA seals, labels, the works

Report: Video Shows Explosives Went Missing After War

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - ABC News on Thursday showed video that appeared to confirm that explosives that went missing in Iraq (news - web sites) did not disappear until after the United States had taken control of the facility where they were stored.

The disappearance of the hundreds of tons of explosives from the Al Qaqaa storage facility has become a hotly contested issue in the U.S. presidential campaign.

Democrat John Kerry (news - web sites) said it was an example of President Bush (news - web sites) bungling the Iraq war. Bush countered that Kerry was making wild accusations without knowing the facts.

Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites) said it was possible that the explosives had been removed from the site before the U.S. forces arrived there.

ABC said the video was shot by an affiliate TV station embedded with the 101st Airborne Division when members of the division passed through the facility on April 18, nine days after the fall of Baghdad.

ABC said experts who have studied the images say the barrels seen in the video contain the high explosive HMX, and U.N. markings on the sealed containers were clear.

The barrels were found inside locked bunkers that had been sealed by inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency just before the war began, ABC reported.