utterly baffled

from NYT:

To the Editor:

Re "Video Shows G.I.'s at Weapon Cache" (front page, Oct. 29):

The primary stated reason for the invasion was to remove Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction for the safety of the United States and the world. Al Qaqaa was a known W.M.D.-related site. Among the hundreds of tons of explosives - as the video shows - were some bearing the International Atomic Energy Agency seal, indicating nuclear weapons-related materials.

I'm just a citizen and not a military strategist, but I simply don't understand. How could our war plan not include a list of such sites, as well as clear orders and procedures for troops to identify and secure them? Wasn't that what the whole war was about?

How could we have had a war plan in which that was not Job No. 1? What was our plan then? I am utterly baffled.

William F. Bennett
Somerville, Mass., Oct. 29, 2004

Link