THAT TIES IT ALL TOGETHER

You know, this whole story about the missing explosives from Al Qaqaa has covered just about every aspect of how the administration has mismanaged the war effort: Insufficient troop levels, unseriousness about keeping weapons out of the hands of terrorists, lies, blaming the troops, and so on.

But since the story broke at the beginning of the week, I've felt like something was missing. Something that would have wrapped the Iraq war up in a neat little microcosmic package. And that something is: "Wouldn't it be wild if Ahmed Chalabi had something to do with this?"

Well whaddya know! (from Knight-Ridder, via Hullabaloo)

Al Qaqaa was on a classified list of Iraqi weapons facilities that the CIA provided to Pentagon and military officials before the invasion, said the U.S. intelligence official.

But when the Pentagon and U.S. Central Command produced their own list of sites that a limited number of U.S. "exploitation teams" should search, priority was given to those identified by exiled Iraqi opposition groups, he said. Al Qaqaa wasn't one of them.

Not only did we go to war partially because of the lies of an Iranian double agent, but perhaps more troops are dying now than should've because of said lies. Great.