Why Do US Troops Hate America?
Rudy Giuliani and William Kristol add their two-bits to the AlQaQaa spin cycle, in a rather daring rhetorical strategy. Here are the quotes from Media Matters:

From the October 28 edition of NBC's Today:

GIULIANI: The president was cautious. The president was prudent. The president did what a commander in chief should do. And no matter how much you try to blame it on the president, the actual responsibility for it really would be for the troops that were there. Did they search carefully enough? Didn't they search carefully enough?

From the October 28 edition of FOX News Channel's FOX News Live:

KRISTOL: The Bush campaign was actually slow to respond, I think, but finally yesterday pointed out that Kerry was launching very serious charges against the president of the United States, based on a thinly sourced New York Times article, charges that really impugn the competence of the U.S. military. [President] George [W.] Bush didn't decide, you know, "skip that dump" [the Al Qaqaa military installation, where the missing explosives were supposedly housed]. That was 101st [Airborne Division] or the 3rd ID [Infantry Division], "skip that arms dump." That's not a decision made by the president, that's made on the ground. Even if there were some weapons there, this is what happens in war. You know you have to make tough decisions, leave some stuff to take care of later.

And here's how it went down according to the commander of the 101st Airborne, courtesy of the NYTimes:

The Second Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division arrived outside the site on April 10, under the command of Col. Joseph Anderson. The brigade had been ordered to move quickly to Baghdad because of civil disorder there after Mr. Hussein's government fell on April 9.

They gathered at Al Qaqaa, about 30 miles south, simply as a matter of convenience, Colonel Anderson said in an interview this week. He said that when he arrived at the site - unaware of its significance - he saw no signs of looting, but was not paying close attention.

Because he thought the brigade would be moving on to Baghdad within hours, Al Qaqaa was of no importance to his mission, he said, and he was unaware of the explosives that international inspectors said were hidden inside.

What Rudy and Billy are putting forth is a correct notion: that those boots that are on the ground have responsibilities, and if they are shirked or flouted (say, hypothetically, by "abusing" prisoners), action should be taken. But ultimately, those actions are acted upon due to policies and directives from on high. It's true, George Bush did not tell the 101st Airborne not to look for WMD at AlQaQaa, and thus shouldn't have the blame fully and completely served up to him. BUT... President Bush and the people who were in charge of putting together the plans for attacking Iraq and the aftermath of victory are responsible for setting the tone and goals of the mission and providing the resources to back them up. If securing facilities of WMD is not an important goal, that's the call that's made and the administration needs to live with it. (I won't address how wrong that is in light of the original reasoning to war--you can just infer it.) They just need to take the responsibility for it and not blame the boots on the ground for this failure.