WMD Search Team Withdrawn

Their entry into Iraq immediately after "major combat operations ended" was trumpeted by BushCo. Their mission: to find the massive stockpiles of "weapons of mass destruction" the administration was convinced were hiding all over Iraq.

Today, in the New York Times, we find out that the team of 400 has been very quietly withdrawn.

The Bush administration has quietly withdrawn from Iraq a 400-member military team whose job was to scour the country for military equipment, according to senior government officials.

The step was described by some military officials as a sign that the administration might have lowered its sights and no longer expected to uncover the caches of chemical and biological weapons that the White House cited as a principal reason for going to war last March.

"Quietly withdrawn." Why quietly? Because to do so under the full glare of media attention - oh, wait, never mind that part (what liberal media?) - any way, because to admit to doing so would force the public to see that the entire rationale for going to war in the fist place was a bald faced lie.

This revelation comes after yesterday's report in the Washington Post that claimed Iraq's WMD destroyed in the first Gulf War and that sanctions and the no-fly zone prevented Hussein from rebuilding and testing his programs.

Just how goddamn difficult is it for the media and the public to connect these dots? Why is this not front page news and blaring out of TV sets across America? Where is our free press?

NOTE: Thanks to Hesiod for the heads up on the NYT article.