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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Gosh darn-it, don't you liberals wish saddam was still alive today???????
No, I wish he had been taken out by a drone. That way little George Bush would maybe have felt he was avenging Daddy without killing over 100,000 Iraqis in the process.
Hey captian Kirk, we didn't have photon torpedos back then....
holey-@sshole,
we didn't have captain kirk either.
It is disgusting how so many men, women and children have died or been seriously wounded as a result of the blatant lies and incompetence of an American President and reprehensible sidekicks.
Today, Republicans continue to prove to be nothing more than masters at manufacturing a crisis, willing to take, ruin and devastate lives and countries for what they percive to be necessary to gain power.
This is and always have been a travesty! This was without a doubt a waste of brave young american lives, who believed in what they were fighting for. These people who perpetrated this conspiracy of lies should be brought to justice.
Our nation is stained with injustice as long as war criminals such as Cheney, a coward who never served in the military, remains free. Gen. 4:10 expresses our enduring shame. And the Lord said to Cain: "What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground."
- King James Bible "Authorized Version", Pure Cambridge Edition.
The blood of nearly 4,500 American brothers--& sisters--killed, more than 32,000 wounded, & not less than 100,000 Iraqi brothers & sisters, who, too, are children of God--& none of whom had anything to do w/September 11th--will resound in our land, & should, until justice is done.
That is the way I feel too! I feel our country is cursed until we bring to justice the monsters who perpetrated these lies and crimes against humanity. After all, how would we feel if a bully country did this to us our country and our citizens over a lie!!!
Your show is one of our favorites anyway, and we've seen all this information presented in bits and pieces in various venues. But never was it presented so succinctly and forcefully. Great work!
Could have been a little more focefull, didn't go into how those who tried to expose the truth back then were treated.
I guess I can understand the softpedeling to some extent, after all if the full truth were to actualy come out some could very well be brought up on charges that could call for the death penalty.
But then how many of our finest and bravest have already paid that penalty because of those lies?
All I have to say is that Bush, and definitely without a doubt Cheney and Rumsfeld should go to prison for MURDER. Yes, that is right, they sent many young soldiers to an unnecessary war to die and for what. I still do not understand why we were involved in this war. The three stooges killed innocent people and they got away with it at what cost? They should be considered traitors and again, murders.
Sam Cooke knew his conservatives very well........................
Don't know much about history
Don't know much biology
Don't know much about a science book
Don't know much about the french I took
Don't know much about geography
Don't know much trigonometry
Don't know much about algebra
Don't know what a slide rule is for
About sums up our conservative Goobers.
Well look here!!!! the head Kool-Aid Master has posted yet one more epic!!!
Your tinfoil hat is a little to tight there wizard.
holey-@sshole:
Says the kool-aid tinfoil hat wearing master...
Going back to the top...I too thought why are we going into Afghanistan...they creamed the Britons as they did the Russians...why in the world would we war with them. However... Afghanistan did not beat the Soviets because of their geography or their tribesman...they won the war because we gave them the ammo they needed filtering it through Pakistan. The Afghanistans were up against the Russian air power. The Russians were destroying them, the Afghanis fire power was horrendous. Check out Charlie Wilson's war. I believe he was a Senator from Texas and got members of Congress to appropriate I think 5 Mil $ to get those land to air missiles so they could take out the Soviet choppers. The United States is the reason Afghanistan won that war against the Russians...Charlie Wilson's War..Tom Hankes, Julia Roberts...check it out...its great!
Our nation is stained with injustice as long as war criminals such as Cheney, a coward who never served in the military, remains free. Gen. 4:10 expresses our shame. And the Lord said to Cain: "What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground."- King James Bible "Authorized Version", Pure Cambridge Edition.
The blood of nearly 4,500 American brothers--& sisters--killed, more than 32,000 wounded, & not less than 100,000 Iraqi brothers & sisters, who, too, are children of God--& none of whom had anything to do w/September 11th--will resound in our land, & should, until justice is done.
Seriously disappointed in "Hubris". Hopefully, there'll be a Part-2 to cover all the loose ends. WHY did the Bushies want war with Iraq so bad? No mention of all the talk of Saddam having WMD's going back to Bush's first days on the campaign trail in 2000, saying he would "deal with Saddam in a way he won't like" over WMD's. Cheney KNEW he was lying because he would be the SOURCE of information he was leaking to the NYT, and then CITE the NYT on Meet the Press as having "confirmed" evidence. No mention of Hans Blix and the UN actually IN Iraq doing inspections, saying they were not being obstructed and finding nothing. Not a single slide in Powell's UN slideshow was true. Video footage of a jet "spraying simulated Anthrax" was actually from 1991 and declared a total failure anyway, yet they showed it as evidence of a CURRENT WMD program. Where was all this in your report?
"WHY did the Bushies want war with Iraq so bad?"....um, Daddy issues. Think about it...Bush has been hiding since he left office. It seemed odd to me. But not now.
yes but those were exploited by the Straussniks at PNAC and elsewhere for their own ends. Nothing makes a better tool than a turgid conservative moron.
Great work, but what impact will it have? Investigate why these a$$holes are not behind bars.
I'm still waiting for all these Vets to acknowledge that the liar George the Bush used them totally so he could play war, and that their efforts were totally in vain.
Then I want them to acknowledge me and people like me as the REAL HEROES of the Iraq conflict for fighting so hard to stop the war from happening, to stop the killing of Americans in a pointless, useless, evil war. To stop their buddies from being killed and wounded.
But no, they still worship the Liar George the Bush, and threaten me and my friends with beatings and shootings. They are disgusting and degenerate people, who need to be separated from decent, common-sense people. We don't need their like in Amerikkka.
Look, I was out there shouting my heart out to stop us from starting this war as well, however, I never want our Vets, those who actually put boots on the ground, to ever feel their efforts weren't appreciated. They were merely the gun the murderous politicians used to further their agenda. Too many have made that acknowledgement in the dark of night and have committed suicide as a result. Our vets were doing the job they were told to do as they were told to do it and they have paid and keep paying with their lives and their nightmares.
That's the Nuremberg Defense, and it still doesn't wash.
When they have their "Come to Jesus" moment, and acknowledge the truth of what they did, and acknowledge the REAL HEROES as their heroes, I'll forgive them on an individual basis.
Let the ones who maintain and defend the lies, and attack those who told the truth and tried to keep them from harm keep on burning, until all the encrusted decay is burned away from them.
I would rather spend my energy going after those who actually led us into this war. We were jailed, big deal, we still have our lives, our limbs, our peace, our sanity and our knowledge that we were and still are on the right side of history. Those soldiers who were actually there...they have no reason to answer to us. and we have no business demanding them to.
By the way, REAL HEROES, don't need public acknowledgment to feel legitimate.
I refer to the ones who focus their hate on those who tried to keep them from harm. The ones who still revere the Fascist s**ts who caused them so much suffering. The ones who are so brainless they can't even see their best defenders right in front of them.
And REAL HEROES do demand public acknowledgment, which they accept graciously as they retire from public life, so that society and history can be corrected and brought into moral balance by their presence and their stories. (Very old idea--Greco-Roman, in fact. Though in my case, primarily (American) Indian.)
I think this is why so many vets are screwed up because they were made to murder people over a lie and they know it. That would be a tough one to live with for a decent human being. They thought they were doing the right thing. Unfortunately they were taking orders from a liar and mass murdering administration!! Too bad! They need justice for this and so does the world. Reminds me of Germany in about 1942...
Truely FIRST CLASS Journalism.
I hope the Emmy's nominate this documentary, and a PEABODY.
thank you Rachel
Thank you Rachel. It left me wanting more.....'cause we all know there is more.
The thing that sickens me to my stomach is that none of those clowns (Bush, Rice, Rumsfield, Chenney and the CIA liars) will ever be prosecuted (and they should). Look at the lives lost and destroyed because of personal agendas that had nothing to do with the American people. Was Saddam a ruthless leader with crimes against his people? Yes but it wasn't against us. We should have gone after Al Qida in Afghanistan! We (American Government) can police other countries but who polices America? The Republican Party has been and is the worst part of our Democracy!
Today we have the Three Stooges: Moe - Paul Ryan, Larry - Rand Paul and Curly - Marco Rubio. Then some of the circus clowns like John McCain, Newt Gengrich and others. Our politicians are an American embarrassment!
Thank you Rachel and MSNBC for what you report.
Especially McCain! Maybe he should go after this issue as much as Bengazi but he won't. He may have been a Viet nam war vet but his credibility is zero. What a way to go. This is how you will be judged by the American people John!! Pretty hard to change popular opinion and your Legacy at this point. Thank you for your service John but it in no way justifies your actions and what spews from your mouth these days!!
I would like to see families of vets killed and maimed in Iraq have a class action lawsuit against Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, Powell, Wolfowitz, and Bush.
I think I see the invisible hand of Obama's White House giving a SHOVE BACK at Cheney, that he should stop flapping his gums, or they will de classify documents that will DESTROY him.
And a run up to a Colin Powell run in 2016 taking back his Republican party, you know, the ones we used to disagree with but respect.
I think the cat is out of the bag now!!!
Thank you, Rachel, for doing this documentary. It made me absolutely sick to see it, and be reminded of all the lies and deceptions that lead to the deaths of so many people, mostly Iraqis, and the plunder of our country's treasure, to feed the ambitions and egos of a handful of men (and Secy. Rice), as well as line the pockets of such as Halliburton and Blackwater. I wish that Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, Wolfowitz, et al could all be hauled before the International Criminal Court for war crimes -- but of course, we didn't subject ourselves to its jurisdiction expressly because of this possibility. I weep for my country.
Me too! Until these people are tried for their crimes against humanity our once beloved country will be cursed. And why shouldn't we?
Actually, India, it's with liberty for some and justice for those who can afford it.
We have all known for some time now that the Bush administration's "justification" for the Iraq War was a pack of lies. But those guys were not stupid - they badly wanted a war for some other reason(s). What I want to know is what were those actual reason(s) for the war in the minds of that administration. Why was it necessary for so many people to die?
Cherchez la money.
Even the vile trollers cannot rebut this disgusting piece of Republican history. They only come out to criticize Obama wanting to educate our kids or God forbid reduce poverty levels.
Great special on the Iraq War. But I think you went too light on Colin Powell because surely he knew that George Tenet, the Administration's funky on the war, was giving him a line of bull when Tenet said there was real evidence linking Saddam Hussein to weapons of mass destruction. To assert that Powell believed Tenet, as was done by Lawrence Wilkerson, does not pass the smell test. Also, why didn't Powell ask to examine all of the evidence? Wilkerson otherwise appears to be a truth teller. Too bad he cannot bear to tell the truth about his former boss, Powell. In addition, oddly missing from the special was the Wilkerson 2011 MSNBC interview quote that the War was really about oil. That was very important to include. Without it, your Iraq War special leaves the viewer wondering about the real motive or motives for the war. Let's face it, it was about more than a bunch of crazy Neocons not liking Hussein.
Cheney was looking for a connection between Al-Qaeda and Iraq "ON" 911. That very day? Really? Could he have been expecting an attack?
I'm anti war, have always been anti war, but husband served in Vietnam and we have such respect for the military. How they could be used, as nothing more than a chess piece is reprehensible to any american. Many paid the ultimate price, many will suffer for the rest of their lives, this is not okay by any standards. It's shameful, disgraceful and the ppl who lied us into war should be behind prison walls. They made a mockery of our government, they ran the tables, and they got away with everything. Shameful.
Rachel -- Good news/bad news. Powerful story...tragic story. For the first time in U.S. history, we started a war. And now we find out it was based on sewage. So many lives lost or marred forever -- for what? "We, the People" and we're paying GW's pension. For what? Malfeasance? Would really like to know if we can't bring the former president, the VP and others up on criminal charges, can we at least stop writing the checks? I'm so enraged to learn we were so duped, and now? No recourse. No way to return the dead to life. No way to ever take it back. We went to war and all we got was a stupid deficit. I am saddened, but am even more committed to taking an active role in the mid-terms. Republicans...here we come.