Missed Opportunity

NBC Nightly news is reporting a disturbing story on Abu Musab Zarqawi, a Jordanian militant, who is thought to be responsible for a majority of the terrorist attacks in Iraq. Most recently the attack on Tuesday which killed hundreds.

According to NBC news, "....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.

The Pentagon quickly drafted plans to attack the camp with cruise missiles and airstrikes and sent it to the White House, where, according to U.S. government sources, the plan was debated to death in the National Security Council.

Four months later, intelligence showed Zarqawi was planning to use ricin in terrorist attacks in Europe. The Pentagon drew up a second strike plan, and the White House again killed it. By then the administration had set its course for war with Iraq.

"People were more obsessed with developing the coalition to overthrow Saddam than to execute the presidents policy of preemption against terrorists," according to terrorism expert and former National Security Council member Roger Cressey.

Military officials insisted their case for attacking Zarqawi's operation was airtight, but the administration feared destroying the terrorist camp in Iraq could undercut its case for war against Saddam.

The United States did attack the camp at Kirma at the beginning of the war, but it was too late Zarqawi and many of his followers were gone. "Heres a case where they waited, they waited too long and now we're suffering as a result inside Iraq," Cressey added.

And despite the Bush administration's tough talk about hitting the terrorists before they strike, Zarqawi's killing streak continues today."

Zarqawi's bombings are believed to have killed close to 700 men, women, and children including American soldiers.

Some may say, incorrectly I might add, that this provides evidence Saddam Hussein was supporting Al Queda and other terrorist organizations. In reality, this camp was operating against the will of Hussein in a remote region of Iraq not under the control of the Iraqi dictator. This does provide evidence that the Bush Administration was so preoccupied with overthrowing Saddam that they missed a clear opportunity to crush the efforts of REAL terrorists and save the lives of hundreds.