If this is true, this is really, really awful. NBC News is reporting that the military had plans to take out one of the leading terrorist threats, Abu Musab Zarqawi, whom David Brooks described as
"one of the world's most brutal mass murderers," but that the political leadership at the White House stopped the operation because they worried that it would undercut the case for invading Iraq:
- 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.
. . .
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.
. . .
Military officials insist 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.
more
eta: I can't find the NBC News story that Yglesias appears to be quoting from, but he's not the sort to make this stuff up
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