Newsblogging

[teddywolf]

So much for public trials. Slippery slope has started...

Israel wants peace with Syria, but that may take a while...

A GWB insider says GWB wanted to go to war with Iraq pretty much since getting into office. I remember some people saying that this was the case and in consequence called "left-wing conspiracy theorists." Well, apparently left-wing conspiracy theory is actually "right wing comventional wisdom."

There's the links. Give them a look. And tell me again why we were consistently told that Iraq had WMDs?

Comments

[awfief.livejournal.com]

It wasn't just republicans that thought Iraq had WMDs. Clinton thought it too, when he was president.

I'm not surprised that GWB wanted to go to war with Iraq when he got into office. I'm not surprised they used the WMD excuse; it was only a few months in, when we didn't see any WMD, that *I* started to doubt it. We *did* have intelligence that suggested WMD in Iraq.

[teddywolf.livejournal.com]

When it comes to WMDs, well, I admit I didn't (and don't) have access to the full information the FBI had. That said, at the point the USA went in to invade Iraq our President was saying it was too dangerous for the USA to delay and let weapons inspectors finish inspections, which would have taken maybe a couple more months, because of the huge stores of WMDs that Iraq had hidden.

By every account I have heard on the news at this point, from sources that are either career intel, not part of the current Administration nor right wing pundits, what data we had was grossly misrepresented and distorted in order to make the claim that we needed to go in now.

Ehh, put it this way - I don't have smell-o-vision but I smelt not just a rat but a steenky dead feesh anytime the President said, "They have 'em, they have strong links to al-Qaeda and we know it," on TV. Then again, it could just be that the black cat hadn't brushed her teeth.

Clinton I might have believed it from while he was President because he had this habit of going over every single aspect of an issue and coming to conclusions from all the data. He was very thorough. He didn't cherry-pick and he didn't hire only yes-men. That form of decision-making I trust.

[professor-booty.livejournal.com]

It was obvious from the get-go that the Bush administrations' claims about Iraq's fearsome arsenal were bogus. Before 'Operation Iraqi Liberation' (O.I.L.) began, former U.N. weapon inspector Scott Ritter was proclaiming that all of the nasty chemicals that America sold to Saddam in the 80s (when he was an ally) would have degraded and become useless, assuming they still existed. Which he had found no proof of.

I just find it curious how the Bush team decided to stick with WMD as their rationale for the takeover of Iraq, given its' total lack of credibility. Perhaps it's because they figure no one is going to stop them. The American people sure aren't...the whole nation knows that tens of billions of dollars and dozens or lives are being squandered in Iraq, to benefit a few corporations...but they don't care.

But there's a more obvious reason why WMD was the rationale: exploiting the public's anger about 9-11. Since the culprits behind that attack remain at large (whoever they were), vengence will now be meted out on anyone who doesn't worship Jesus. Or who lives atop large deposits of oil. The war machine must be fed, after all. It's the only economic stimulus package that the Republicans have.

[gunhed.livejournal.com]

I saw a story about Paul O'Neill on the news last night and I have to say I'm not at all surprised. When I read about how the Bush administration twisted the intelligence reports to support what they wanted to hear instead of looking at what was really there and then drawing conclusions I was outraged. Paul O'Neill's revelations just serve to confirm those stories.

Is it any wonder I'm cynical about politicians?