|
Banned
|
Bush Planned to Invade Iraq in 2001,Says Former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott
Goodness....so many developments lately seem to merit their own threads...
Add Trent Lott, senator from MS, who was the Republican leader of the senate in 2001, to the growing number of people who have publicly stated that president Bush planned to invade Iraq before spring, 2002, before "the facts were made to fit the policy". He said on Sunday, Aug. 21, on NBC's
"Meet the Press",
The three quote boxes below the Trent Lott quote box, are
A.) CIA director Tenet quoted on Feb. 7, 2001, telling a congressional committee that "There are still constraints on Saddam's power. His economic infrastructure is in long-term decline, and his ability to project power outside Iraq's borders is severely limited, largely because of the effectiveness and enforcement of the No-Fly Zones. His military is roughly half the size it was during the Gulf War and remains under a tight arms embargo. He has trouble efficiently moving forces and supplies-a direct result of sanctions."
The quote is displayed on the US Embassy in Italy's website.
B.)Secretary of State Powell, also in Feb. 2001, said, "but for the purpose of keeping in check Saddam Hussein's ambitions toward developing weapons of mass destruction. We should constantly be reviewing our policies, constantly be looking at those sanctions to make sure that they are directed toward that purpose. That purpose is every bit as important now as it was ten years ago when we began it. And frankly they have worked. He has not developed any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction. He is unable to project conventional power against his neighbors"
The quote is from a webpage on the US State Dept. website.
C.)Six months later, and just two or three months before the time of Trent Lott's disclosure of Bush's comments about the "threat from Iraq", on July 29, 2001, NSA advisor Condie Rice is quoted saying the following in a transcript displayed on the CNN news website,
"But in terms of Saddam Hussein being there, let's remember that his country is divided, in effect. He does not control the northern part of his country. We are able to keep arms from him. His military forces have not been rebuilt.
This has been a successful period, but obviously we would like to increase pressure on him, and we're going to go about doing that"
D.) The quote box following the one containing the Condi Rice quote, is a May 5, 2002, report on the Time magazine website that contains the following:
"......in late March. The Vice President dropped by a Senate Republican policy lunch soon after his 10-day tour of the Middle East — the one meant to drum up support for a U.S. military strike against Iraq. As everyone in the room well knew, his mission had been thrown off course by the Israeli-Palestinian crisis. But Cheney hadn't lost focus. Before he spoke, he said no one should repeat what he said, and Senators and staff members promptly put down their pens and pencils. Then he gave them some surprising news. The question was no longer if the U.S. would attack Iraq, he said. The only question was when......Hawks like Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Deputy Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and Defense Policy Board chief Richard Perle strongly believe that after years of American sanctions and periodic air assaults, the Iraqi leader is weaker than most people believe."
E.) The second to last quote box that I've posted here is from a pre-invasion of Iraq (March 17, 2003), speech, displayed on a page on the whitehouse website that includes Bush's assurance that, <b>"the American people can know that every measure has been taken to avoid war"</b>
It is in the above context that Mr. Gregory, moderator of NBC's "Meet the Press", responded with the following to Trent Lott's disclosure,
"MR. GREGORY: He has described going to war in Iraq as the last resort that was a war of necessity. Are you suggesting here that, in fact, before much of the diplomacy had begun, that the president thought or believed in his mind that war was an inevitability?"
I invite a furtherance of our ongoing discussion on this forum as to whether or not the accumulating body of evidence has grown to the point that it is no longer possible to defend Bush's statement that "every measure has been taken to avoid war", or that the war was launched because Bush and his administration's leaders earnestly believed that Saddam suddenly posed an "imminent threat to the security of the U.S.
Quote:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8926876/
Meet the Press Transcript for August 21
...........MR. GREGORY: Let me turn to something that you wrote in your book about Iraq and put it on the screen: "In the summer of 2002...the president began lobbying for an open-ended resolution empowering him to wage war on Iraq.... <b>Bush had made clear his intentions to wage war on Iraq in several of our private meetings."
What are you speaking about precisely, Senator?
SEN. LOTT: Well, beginning in August that year and into the fall--in fact, beginning not too long after 9/11--as we had leadership meetings at breakfast with the president, he would go around the world and talk about what was going on, where the threats were, where the dangers were, and even in private discussions, it was clear to me that he thought Iraq was a destabilizing force, was a danger and a growing danger, and that we were going to have to deal with that problem.
MR. GREGORY: He has described going to war in Iraq as the last resort that was a war of necessity. Are you suggesting here that, in fact, before much of the diplomacy had begun, that the president thought or believed in his mind that war was an inevitability?</b>
SEN. LOTT: How can I say what was in his mind? But I..
MR. GREGORY: Based on your conversations.
SEN. LOTT: I think he was very much concerned about Saddam Hussein and the--what he was doing to his people and to his neighbors and the threat of, you know, weapons of mass destruction. And, by the way, the intelligence that he was getting, I was getting much of the same. So if there were errors there, we should look to the--you know, where that intelligence came from. But I--but the short answer to your question--I think that he felt like we were going to have to deal with the problem before some of the diplomatic efforts occurred, and I don't mean that critically. But it was my impression.
MR. GREGORY: Was there a singular focus on weapons of mass destruction in all of your conversations?
SEN. LOTT: It was clearly a part of the discussions, you know, both in leadership meetings and intelligence briefings and in meetings with the president. We had every reason to believe that they had weapons of mass destruction. There were other factors. I mean, we did feel like, and he felt like, they were being counterproductive, certainly, you know, destructive in the Middle East, when he's giving awards to suicide murderers, you know, they're killing innocent men, women and children in the Middle East and Israel and Palestine. Some...
MR. GREGORY: But it's clear that the focus of the lobbying of you and others had to do with weapons of mass destruction and not terrorism or not the goal of democracy.
SEN. LOTT: I think that there are--obviously those other things were discussed, the concern that terrorism would be fed directly or indirectly over a period of time by Iraq and Saddam Hussein. But weapons of mass destruction clearly was a focus, not in lobbying, but intelligence. The briefings we had- -and I remember from the CIA and from the administration officials, we looked at evidence that we had. We were concerned about a number of things. And it wasn't just that you would do it on the basis of this, evidence of that. The collage was extremely scary, frankly. ...........
|
Quote:
http://www.usembassy.it/file2001_02/alia/a1020708.htm
07 February 2001
Text: CIA's Tenet on Worldwide Threat 2001
.............IRAQ
Mr. Chairman, in Iraq Saddam Hussein has grown more confident in his ability to hold on to his power. He maintains a tight handle on internal unrest, despite the erosion of his overall military capabilities. Saddam's confidence has been buoyed by his success in quieting the Shia insurgency in the south, which last year had reached a level unprecedented since the domestic uprising in 1991. Through brutal suppression, Saddam's multilayered security apparatus has continued to enforce his authority and cultivate a domestic image of invincibility.
High oil prices and Saddam's use of the oil-for-food program have helped him manage domestic pressure. The program has helped meet the basic food and medicine needs of the population. High oil prices buttressed by substantial illicit oil revenues have helped Saddam ensure the loyalty of the regime's security apparatus operating and the few thousand politically important tribal and family groups loyal.
There are still constraints on Saddam's power. His economic infrastructure is in long-term decline, and his ability to project power outside Iraq's borders is severely limited, largely because of the effectiveness and enforcement of the No-Fly Zones. His military is roughly half the size it was during the Gulf War and remains under a tight arms embargo. He has trouble efficiently moving forces and supplies-a direct result of sanctions. These difficulties were demonstrated most recently by his deployment of troops to western Iraq last fall, which were hindered by a shortage of spare parts and transport capability........
|
Quote:
http://www.state.gov/secretary/forme...s/2001/933.htm
Press Remarks with Foreign Minister of Egypt Amre Moussa
Secretary Colin L. Powell
Cairo, Egypt (Ittihadiya Palace)
February 24, 2001
(lower paragraph of second Powell quote on the page)
.............but for the purpose of keeping in check Saddam Hussein's ambitions toward developing weapons of mass destruction. We should constantly be reviewing our policies, constantly be looking at those sanctions to make sure that they are directed toward that purpose. That purpose is every bit as important now as it was ten years ago when we began it. And frankly they have worked. He has not developed any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction. He is unable to project conventional power against his neighbors.................
|
Quote:
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIP.../29/le.00.html
...........KING: Still a menace, still a problem. But the administration failed, principally because of objections from Russia and China, to get the new sanctions policy through the United Nations Security Council. Now what? Do we do this for another 10 years?
RICE: Well, in fact, John, we have made progress on the sanctions. We, in fact, had four of the five, of the permanent five, ready to go along with smart sanctions.
We'll work with the Russians. I'm sure that we'll come to some resolution there, because it is important to restructure these sanctions to something that work.
But in terms of Saddam Hussein being there, let's remember that his country is divided, in effect. He does not control the northern part of his country. We are able to keep arms from him. His military forces have not been rebuilt.
This has been a successful period, but obviously we would like to increase pressure on him, and we're going to go about doing that..............
|
Quote:
http://www.time.com/time/world/artic...235395,00.html
May 5, 2002
............Hawks like Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Deputy Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and Defense Policy Board chief Richard Perle strongly believe that after years of American sanctions and periodic air assaults, the Iraqi leader is weaker than most people believe. Rumsfeld has been so determined to find a rationale for an attack that on 10 separate occasions he asked the CIA to find evidence linking Iraq to the terror attacks of Sept. 11. The intelligence agency repeatedly came back empty-handed. The best hope for Iraqi ties to the attack — a report that lead hijacker Mohamed Atta met with an Iraqi intelligence official in the Czech Republic — was discredited last week...............
|
Quote:
http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/...mep.saddam.tm/
First Stop, Iraq
By Michael Elliott and James Carney
Monday, March 24, 2003 Posted: 5:49 PM EST (2249 GMT)
How did the U.S. end up taking on Saddam? The inside story of how Iraq jumped to the top of Bush's agenda -- and why the outcome there may foreshadow a different world order
"F___ Saddam. we're taking him out." Those were the words of President George W. Bush, who had poked his head into the office of National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice.
It was March 2002, and Rice was meeting with three U.S. Senators, discussing how to deal with Iraq through the United Nations, or perhaps in a coalition with America's Middle East allies. Bush wasn't interested. He waved his hand dismissively, recalls a participant, and neatly summed up his Iraq policy in that short phrase.
|
Quote:
http//www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/03/20030317-7.html.............
For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
March 17, 2003
President Says Saddam Hussein Must Leave Iraq Within 48 Hours
Remarks by the President in Address to the Nation
The Cross Hall
.................... The regime has a history of reckless aggression in the Middle East. It has a deep hatred of America and our friends. And it has aided, trained and harbored terrorists, including operatives of al Qaeda.
The danger is clear: using chemical, biological or, one day, nuclear weapons, obtained with the help of Iraq, the terrorists could fulfill their stated ambitions and kill thousands or hundreds of thousands of innocent people in our country, or any other.
The United States and other nations did nothing to deserve or invite this threat. But we will do everything to defeat it. Instead of drifting along toward tragedy, we will set a course toward safety. Before the day of horror can come, before it is too late to act, this danger will be removed.....................
................ Should Saddam Hussein choose confrontation, the American people can know that every measure has been taken to avoid war, and every measure will be taken to win it.................
|
Quote:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/relea...030131-23.html
THE PRIME MINISTER: Adam.
<h4>Q One question for you both. Do you believe that there is a link between Saddam Hussein, a direct link, and the men who attacked on September the 11th?
THE PRESIDENT: I can't make that claim.</h4>
|
Update.....this just appeared when I searched news.google:
Quote:
http://thinkprogress.org/2005/08/22/...omacy-started/
................As David Gregory (of "Meet the Press") notes, this runs completely counter to how President Bush describes the decision to invade Iraq:
“I want to share something with you. Committing troops into harm’s way is — in harm’s way is the most difficult decision a President can make. That decision must always be last resort. That decision must be done when our vital interests are at stake, but after we’ve tried everything else.” [President Bush, 8/5/04]
“The use of force has been — and remains — our last resort.” [President Bush, 5/1/03]
“But a President must always be willing to use troops…as a last resort… I was hopeful diplomacy would work in Iraq… So we use diplomacy every chance we get — believe me.” [President Bush, 10/1/04]
“As a last resort, we have turned to our military.” [President Bush, 4/16/03]
“As a matter of fact, military action is the very last resort for us… this nation is very reluctant to use military force. We try to enforce doctrine peacefully, or through alliances or multinational forums. And we will continue to do so.” [President Bush, 10/28/03]
President Bush keeps saying this because he knows Americans expect him to pursue all other options before U.S. troops are put at risk. If Sen. Lott says is right, President Bush failed to meet that basic expectation.
|
Where are the expressions of outrage?.....on this board.....in this country...or....from the families of our war dead and maimed?
Last edited by host; 08-22-2005 at 11:00 AM..
|