Among the new revelations in tonight's documentary about how the Bush administration convinced the American people to go to war in Iraq are newly declassified talking points and handwritten notes from November, 2001 in which can be seen then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's team trying to find the most compelling reason to justify war.
Hubris co-author Michael Isikoff explains:
By late November, Rumsfeld was meeting with Gen. Tommy Franks, Centcom commander, to plot the “decapitation” of the Iraqi government, according to the now declassified talking points agenda from the sessions (shown on television for the first time in the documentary). The talking points suggest that Rumsfeld and his team were grappling with a tricky issue: “How [to] start?” the war. In other words, what would the pretext be? Various scenarios were outlined: “US discovers Saddam connection to Sept. 11 attack or to anthrax attacks?” reads one of them. “Dispute over WMD inspections?” reads another. “Start now thinking about inspection demands.”
See the documents yourself after the jump.
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Sickening. I recall at the time asking a co-worker why on earth we were invading Iraq, that they had nothing to do with anything. Her response was adamant that Sadaam, if he didn't arrange the 9/11 attaches, financed them. The fact that I questioned made my patriotism suspect, in her eyes. People are easily duped - it's very easy to convince people that the enemy is something "other" than what they are, that they're subhuman. I've seen this tactic used in marketing and in regards to a company's competition. "They're not nice people, I've met them, it's a horrible environment."
I was shocked as well. but as a good demo I did not vote in the mid term 2010 local state voting. Was that a vote ? No I only go for the big important stuff.
It really bothers me that "supposedly" smart, objective reporters parrot the absurdity that the War in Iraq had popular support. I can remember attending anti-war protests in the SF Bay Area that had over 200,000 participants, and that was just one of dozens nationwide! Wake up, Chuck Todd, the nation was not fooled by the lies and deceit perpetrated by the "masters of war" as Congress and so many news agencies were!
They make Gobbles look like an amatuer.
Even Bill Clinton bears some blame here !..
I believe the year was 1996 or 1997 ?.. am not sure.. but the C.I.A. had OSAMA BINLADEN on it's radar and they requested permission to kill BINLADEN and Bill Clinton turned them down !..
The rest as they say... is History !...
Yeah, that nasty Clinton. Starting all those lies about going to war. Not to mention how he had Bin Laden given to him on a silver platter and wouldn't take him. Let's not forget that old standby to blame Gore, too. You know that one don't you? Where Ollie North told Gore at the Congressional Committee hearings how North was on Bin Laden's hit list and he was so fear of his life he had to beef up security at his home?
Stop watching Faux and listening to Limpbrains. You're IQ will go up by 10 in 24 hours.
Oh my !.. you mean Bill Clinton who along with Alan Greenspan is responsible for the repeal of the Glass/Steagal act of the 1930's , which then led to the Total Collapse of the U.S. Economy in 2008 followed by the Great Recession that is still with us ?..
Thats the same Bill Clinton I am talking about.. and if you do your research, you will discover that one of Bill Clintons greatest regret admited by HIMSELF , was NOT having taken out Osama Binladen when he had the chance to do so !..
And by the way I am not a fan of Bill Clinton , But I like very much his wife Hillary Clinton and I do hope she runs for president in 2016.. I believe History will be made that year should she decide to run..
I'm not a fan of Clinton nor of Obama and I do recall Clinton saying he wished he could have taken Bin Laden out. I don't recall where he had the chance to do so except in the minds of the teapubs when Clinton was supposedly given Bin Laden on a platter, which in reality, wasn't the case.
Back in those days, it was not a good idea to openly go around the world to kill people that the US government didn't like. And I don't like Obama doing it either. He's only gathering more terrorists to come after us by doing so.
Now I understand the whole issue with the Repubs wanting to know so much about the Beghazi talking points memo. They know from their own past cover ups that they were sure there was something more nafarious going on. Wrong!
The biggest difference (and one I feel needs to be made over and over again very loudly) in Benghazi we were attacked, in Iraq we did the attacking.
Go to the "Project for a New American Century" Rumsfeld is one of the many NeoCons who were signatories. Go to the statement under the Section V of Rebuilding America's Defenses, about a "new Pearl Harbor" Look at the sections under the Middle East....these guys had their sights set on Iraq, no holds barred.
The family every soldier killed or injured in Iraq should join a class action suit against the former administration, the families of some of the 100,000+ dead Iraqi's should do the same.
I don't think Iraq was really the point it was about war power and a second term, no ditting President has been denied a second term during a conflict. Bush wanted to gain power through telling people we needed to protect our country (Patorit Act). Plus he ramed through his donmestic agenda while everyone was looking at Iraq.
Wag the Dog anyone?
Oh, how I relish this upcoming documentary and its signalling of the end of the Republican Party.
Take this one step further, and it isn't hard to imagine a scenario where, what most of us assume was gross negligence on the part of the Bush administration by ignoring the warnings from Clinton about Al Quada, Bin Laden, the PDbs form August, etc... was actually deliberate ignorance in order to facilitate the Iraq Invasion. Remember those eyes of Bush when he was told of the attack, sitting for 10 minutes in "disbelief".... well if you expected a 93 WTC type attack and instead that happened, wouldn't you have that "oh crap" look on your face....
I was in New York on 9/11, and I remember that even as we watched in horror from Midtown as the towers burned, a guy was saying to a group of people that he hoped Bush would finish Saddam off this time, even though his father wouldn't. A great many people were already preconditioned to accept the Saddam-9/11 link, tenuous (and, ultimately, fictitious) though it was. Very sad. So many people dead, so many lives, families, childhoods ruined forever.
Ruined over an American greedy republican lie. We will not get our credibility back as a nation until this American "Axis of Evil" is sent to the Hague!!!
I appreciated Rachel showing all of the anti-war demonstrations that took place before the US invaded Iraq. I was in the Los Angeles anti-war march - many thousands strong and there were similar marches all over the country and the world. Not everyone believed the nonsense the Bush administration was peddling, particularly about Saddam Hussein being in cahoots with Al Qaeda. The Iraq war was a failure of leadership from a whole lot of people in Congress and other governments who should have known better but were cowards. It was also a failure of the press.
As someone also in that L.A. march (and many cold nights on street corners with candles) thank you.
These men weren't politicians, they were professional lobbyists under the guise of being politicians. They sold war to America so that their companies, and they themselves, could reap profits. They will pay their dues for what they did, when they go to hell.
Rev. Al Sharpton saying that we should respect Junior Bush. I totally disagree, considering little Junior Bush has contributed way too much to the murder of people for power craving, corruption, arrogance, greed, and deceiving. I respect God, Jesus and the light way too much to even consider respecting what Bush, Chenney and their cronies have done, regardless if Sharpton wants people to respect the position of the office of the President or not. I worship God, not some government position. And allowing this issue about respect to keep coming up is wrong and keeps allowing these corrupt Presidents to get away with their crimes. No wonder we can never get any earthly justice with these bums.
I was never a supporter of the Iraq War, how the illogical leap was made from 9/11 to Sadaam Hussein is still astounding to me.
Most folks bought it hook, line, and sinker. I have the distinct embarassment of having served under Bush the Younger. He was my CinC at the time, and like a good sailor, I followed my orders.
It just sucks this is coming to light so many years after knowing what we already knew. It's too late, Bush the younger and Uncle Dick will never pay for their crime.
This contrived war of convenience to make will go down in history as a blemish on the United States. Not that we were ever perfect, but we did have a standard to uphold, and Bush the younger tarnished our image for many years to come.
That will be his legacy, if we can get it into the history books.
Nano Thermite is ? You know? It is a product NOT commercially available to anyone because it is a secret weapon developed by the U.S.
It was found in the dust from WTT's after they were demolished on 9/11/2001. How did it get there? What was the motive for the wars against Afghanistan and Iraq is the answer.
The greatest act of treason ever committed by leaders of a nation against its own people to start a war for profit, control of oil reserves, and power over foreign populations in U.S. history... If we just posit the possibility that the explosive that burns at more than 5000 degrees F. and is ONLY in the possession of the U.S. military and or CIA (who were housed in World Trade Tower # 7 that came down the same day World Trade Towers 1 & 2 came down) have, then can we feel secure with government corruption by special interests that made this all happen? Just presume the facts are true:
Google:
Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth
Just consider who benefits from what happened, and not what you were told to believe.
War is the most profitable industrial corporate business on the planet: materialism VS Humanism. The conservatives(Rich and Powerful individuals controlling corporate profits from war, energy, manufacturing, and intellectual property to broadcasting content control benefited from 9/11. Who else?
Corruption of government by corporate control is fascism, as defined by Mussolini.
The official Bush-Cheney administration report on the collapse of WTC7 (the THIRD building that collapsed on 9/11, WITHOUT being hit by a plane) says WTC7 collapsed in a PROGRESSIVE collapse, starting at one end of the building and traveling to the other end. But video shows clearly the building collapsed simultaneously around its entire perimeter. An excellent analysis by professional architects and engineers says this collapse was clearly by controlled demolition, and "the symmetry is the smoking gun".
Google "Architects and Engineers - Solving the Mystery of WTC 7"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZEvA8BCoBw
If George W. Bush had any sort of decency left as a human being and a father, He would personally write a letter apologizing to every mother father sister brother who lost a member of their family in the U.S. War in IRAQ for their loss!..
An honorable man would do such a thing !.. But not this idiot savant...
How far did this knowlage go? What did Senator McCain know and when did he know it?
Isn't it a lie when he attacks Hagel over the Iraq war ...or is this just a trait of the neocons?
Follow the money... Iraq has one of the largest known reserves of oil, the Bush and Cheney families are invested in the oil industry. Sadam Hussien nationalized the oil industry in Iraq. Use the US military to go get it back for the American oil companies. Go figure
Maddow off the phucking rails, but what's new.
Just how do you sell a war?
I notice you are going after GWB, yet you give LBJ a free pass....
You are more phucked up than a priest in a brothel..
So big brain, just how many GI's died in both gulf wars, compared to Veitnam?
And its 1.... 2...... 3...... what are we fighting for?.......... Don't ask me I don't give a damn!
Just think, if the USA had gone into Germany in 1937.......
WE would have got our behinds on a plater. We were not ready. The pissed off Germans had reinvented Roman Gouls. Roman Eagles. Roman salutes. What could possibly go wrong........
America kissed Russias behind for weakening Germany. they got East Berlin. They got many German people as slaves. Rocket inventors as slaves. This is Rands Atlas story. It is in Russia. Not America. However Russia and Wall Street still have some disappionting simularities.
Irony -- many of the same members of Congress who have been hypercritical of Hagel, negatively speculating on his worthiness to serve as Secretary of Defense ... still sing the praises of Rumsfeld and his cronies from the Bush/Cheney regime.
This is despite the overwhelming evidence that the Bush Administration deliberately conned Congress and the American people into supporting an invasion of a foreign nation over phantom WMDs, but actually were instigating hostilities in the name of war profiteering.
I'm from Pembroke Pines, FL and the special broadcast tonight was breaking up so badly that it unintelligible. I guess there was some problem with the cable service due to the weather. I just hope the program will be recast another night.
Talk about mailing in your TV show!!!!!!!!
Here's a copy of the home game...
I was among the few thousands of a Americans who tried to speck the truth during this period. Like many of my fellow peace activists - I was illegally jailed in violaiton of my 1st and 4th Amendment Rights. I and many others have since won lawsuits against the authorities who did that - but - it is small comfort in light of the current reality in America. The media today are doing no better job questioning the military actions of the US Government than they were in the run up to The War on Iraq.
I ask two things:
1) Please somebody write about the thousands of of Americans who were illegally jailed trying to stop this war. Not everyone here sold out - some of us stood up!
2) Please somebody take a much more critical look at current US military use of torture, drones, illegal detentions, "rendering" and black ops.
I did nothing to help you. All I can say now is, Thank You. And promise to vote even in the boring mid-term election stuff, best I can do.