Wolfowitz Admits Iraq War Planned Two Days After 9-11

[joeunderdog]

The Truth according to President Halfowitz:

On September13, 2001, during a meeting at Camp David with President Bush, Rumsfeld, and others in the Bush administration, Wolfowitz said he discussed with President Bush the prospects of launching an attack against Iraq, for no apparent reason other than a "gut feeling" Saddam Hussein was involved in the attacks, and there was a debate "about what place if any Iraq should have in a counter-terrorist strategy."



"On the surface of the debate it at least appeared to be about not whether but when," Wolfowitz said during the May 9 Interview with Vanity Fair's Sam Tannenhaus, a transcript of which is posted on the Department of Defense website and is archived on Scoop. "There seemed to be a kind of agreement that, yes it should be, but the disagreement was whether it should be in the immediate response or whether you should concentrate simply on Afghanistan first."

<snip>

In an interview with WABC-TV last week, Rumsfeld took it a step further, saying United States policy advocated regime change in Iraq since the 1990s and that was also a reason behind the war in Iraq.

"If you go back and look at the debate in the Congress and the debate in the United Nations, what we said was the president said that this is a dangerous regime, the policy of the United States government has been regime change since the mid to late 1990s . . . and that regime has now been changed. That is a very good thing," Rumsfeld said during the interview, a transcript of which can be found in Scoop's World News wire.

more...
http://www.utne.com/web_special/web_specials_2003-08/articles/10739-1.html

[dbt]

1. Meanwhile, Back In Media Land:

"Oh, isn't that gap in Arnold's teeth just the sexiest thing EVER?"

"Absolutely, Rudi! And, hey, speaking of sex, (titter, titter) let's get an update on the Kobe Bryant case."

Fuck TV,
:argh:
dbt

[whosinpower]

30. Why does this not get more

mainstream news coverage????? They all but admit that the public was deliberately misled in regards to the war in Iraq. And how the Bushco. can still enjoy any sort of support after such an enormous lie is beyond my comprehension. Why is this story buried? This should be front page news..... WAKE UP PEOPLE!!!!!

[PROGRESSIVE1]

38. TO dbt:

"FUCK" American TV only. The foreign news such as the BBC and CBC are respectible! But yes, still, "Fuck" American TV! Better yet, don't!

[Dulcinea]

2. I hope the new Iraqi govt. nationalizes all the oil fields.

Then Boy George, Cheney, & the PNACers will get left with NOTHING.

That's what they deserve.

[molly]

3. Is there going to be a new Iraqi government?

seems to me they are caught between a rock and hard place right now.

[dusty64]

4. Sure there will be,

handpicked by our regime.

[primavera]

27. Well, you don't think all of those Iraqi defectors

...can just hang out at Langley forever, do you? :eyes:

[Dulcinea]

5. I think that was the original plan

Establish a "Western-style" democracy

[Zero Gravitas]

11. New American Style Democracy

With the "President" picked by political partisans on the "Supreme Court".

[alfredo]

34. Zappa had it right

"The illusion of freedom will continue as long as it's profitable to continue the illusion. At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain, they will just take down the scenery, they will pull back the curtains, they will move the tables and chairs out of the way, and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theatre."
~ Frank Zappa, 1977

[goobergunch]

45. New American Style Democracy for a New American Century! (n/t)

[Kolesar]

21. I think the Shiites in the east are going to take Iraq eventually

The US is still in the process of destroying the Shiites main rival, the Bath Party. The Shiites already have a structure (Islamic revolution) that they can put into place. It is just a matter of time and events.

[Nihil]

6. Not quite

No, they'll get left with an excuse for another massacre
(sorry, "war") - this time to defend the investments that their
friends (and the US taxpayer) made this year.

I think everyone over there knows it would be just too risky to
contemplate nationalisation of Amerika's resources.

[arcane1]

33. the PNACers ARE the new Iraqi gov't

Democracy is just as much of a lie as the Imminent Threat(tm)

Iraq will be a deregulated PNAC nightmare, enriching a few white men with the resources and blood of the people who live there


Iraq will be their model for the rest of us!!!

[DeathvadeR]

36. lol hahahahahaahahahaha

hahahahahaha Nationalized Oil hahahahahahahahahaahaha
hahahahahahahahahaa now thats funny........

Actually they will disquise it under Nationalized Oil... And the first thing they are gonna need are loans(Us based of course) then some good reconstruction and new construction (US based companies can handle that), Then some form of government(Provided free by US) and then they are gonna need some national defense(US Missles on standby for trade) of course these will be misssles that are generations old... ahh taking over the world is such cake..

[Dover]

7. The Iraq invasion was planned several years in advance. MAYBE

the timing was determined after 9/11, but that too is doubtful.
Particularly if you subscibe to the theory that they either planned 9/11 or allowed it to happen. In fact it seems that they had several things ready to go right after 9/11. I'll bet the Patriot Act and Bush Doctrine were already photocopied for distribution.

So Wolfowitz is admitting to a false truth.

[NeonLX]

13. Minutes after the planes hit the WTC & Pentagon...

...our office dittohead was running up & down the halls, screaming that we had to "bomb Iraq back into the stone age" for what they had done. I remember thinking, "sheesh, how does this guy KNOW Iraq was behind it"? The guy worships Rush Limbaugh & subjects the rest of us to that gawdawful EIB network drivel from his radio day after day. But it just struck me as really odd that he was going off on Iraq so vehemently without any proof that they were behind the 9/11 tragedies...

I'm convinced that 9/11 was just the excuse they (PNAC & the BFEE) needed to go after Iraq...

[libtexan]

14. Check out this link

to William Rivers Pitt's speech to the Veterans for Peace organization last Sunday:

http://truthout.org/docs_03/081003A.shtml

I saw a repeat of it last night on C-Span 2 and was blown away by his passion and conviction. Rep. Jim McDormat (sp?) took the stage after him and did an outstanding job explaining that this war has been in the works since the late 80's. After seeing this I came away more assured that the cracks in the dyke grow larger each day.

[govegan]

26. Nice observation, libtexan

Mr. Pitt is a very inspirational writer. He will be in Seattle Aug. 21-23 to speak while the chimp pulls off one of his fundraisers. I am looking forward to the events and the chance to hear Will Pitt deliver a couple of talks.

Northwesterners not yet up on news of the visit, go to http://www.stopbushseattle.com/ for some of the latest info.

By the way, Jim McDermott is the correct spelling for our congressional representative from Seattle.

[maxsolomon]

28. rep. jim mcDERMOTT

but jim mcdoormat is pretty goddamn funny.

he's my rep., north seattle's rep. about as safe a district as exists in the US. he's in more danger from the greens.

[Sterling]

46. Exactly. He is covering the bigger lie.

nt

[Snellius]

8. Sounds like a fall guy trying to spread the blame.

Wolfowitz sure likes to talk out of school. He was also the one who confessed that the WMD argument for the war was not really the main reason but just a "compromise" position that everyone could agree on. One gets the feeling that he's trying to set up his own defense against those who want to set him up as the fall guy for their own failures and lies.

[BiggJawn]

9. He's a LIAR. PNAC had planned an Iraq action YEARS before...

I seem to recall a PNAC letter to Big Dawg that tried to make a huge case for dropping in on Saddam Hussein. Back around 1996 or earlier.

I would concede that Wolfenstein and Rumsferatu probably sat at the table and said "OK, so, can we pull the string on Baghdad now? Can we???"

[DoYouEverWonder]

10. So now we rule the world based on gut feelings?

Oh that's a comfort.

Why didn't anyone in this misadministration have an appropriate reaction to the 9-11 terrorist attack? When you examine, what each one did and said from the time the events began to unfold, not a single one reacted appropriately. Every single one of them reacted only in a way, that people who knew about and planned for these events, could possibly react.

This is not the way people react, who claim they never thought our enemies would fly airplanes into buildings. Maybe because it wasn't our 'enemies' who did it?

So why does the Wolfman do and say these things. Because he knows he can get away with it and it's his little way of desensitizing the public. You let little bits and pieces of the truth out, so that people accept this info has common knowledge and will believe that all their crimes are perfectly okay becasue they where doing what they felt was best at the time.

[ewagner]

12. Remember that line

From High Fidelity?

"If you think with your guts you have shit for brains."

Further, Wolfie was a signatory to the PNAC manifesto. Somebody help me out here, wasn't the original in 1998?

So this is a lie about a lie?

[alaine]

37. yes, that and "darn good intelligence".

Why is he being set up to take the fall for this?

"It was my idea, based on a gut feeling." When the rest of us would pop a rolaids, he gets to invade and occupy a country.

I guess they worked out a deal, over a few million bucks, that he would take a dive for it.

I liked Joe Wilson's answer on C-span the other day about the quagmire in Iraq, when he said the debacle of post war Iraq was due to the decade old plans of "a certain group" and their "hubris" in thinking it would go much smoother.

[Fovea]

43. He must really love Rummy

to fall on his sword for him...
Like a second Alcestis... Touching, in a nauseating sort of way.

[snippy]

49. Wolfowitz recently claimed the intelligence was "murky."

Which to Bush may be the same as "darn good."

[wtmusic]

15. YEAH! The Lynch Mob is Back!

Justice was just an illusion folks, and an unwieldy one at that. We're rolling up our sleeves and getting something done NOW!!

[wtmusic]

16. Tasty followup to his "sea of oil" line

"The decision to invade Iraq was simple. Iraq swims on a sea of oil." -Wolfowitz

[Tracer]

17. I Don't Get It About Wolfie.

He seems to have the loosist lips on the ship. Everyone else in the administration hews to the talking points, but this guy lets fly with stuff that comes very close to the truth.

"Bureaucratic reasons" for going into Iraq. Planning on 9/13 to go into Iraq.

What's up with him?

[colorado_ufo]

19. The answer probably lies within the man -

and his personal needs/weaknesses/failings. Is it a bid for being the center of attention? Guilt? A subconscious way of setting himself up for failure? A feeling of superiority, that he can get away with something that others can't? Jealousy - that deep down he thinks he should be the one being flown around in Air Force One? A compulsion to gossip?

It might be all part of a plan, but I think that it is more likely a human thing.

[CBHagman]

18. HOLY CRAP!

Did anyone catch Wolfowitz trying to dodge Sen. Lincoln Chafee's (R-RI) questions on thsi very issue?

[snippy]

20. When was the decision made to market the invasion of Iraq with a

campaign of lies? And who made that decision? That decision seems to mark the beginning of a criminal conspiracy justifying the appointment of a special prosecutor.

[Poiuyt]

22. I agree, but

Wasn't the special prosecutor law dissolved when everyone became disgusted with Ken Starr?

[snippy]

23. That was the Independent Counsel Act. It expired and was not reenacted.

A special prosecutor can still be appointed. The Whitewater investigation of Clinton began under a special prosecutor and was transferred to Starr as Independent Counsel.

[Poiuyt]

24. Thanks for the correction n/t

[Zero Gravitas]

31. No decision needed

Lying and distorting come naturaly to these people. It would never have occured to them to tell the truth.

[snippy]

48. You are right. However, they did form the White House Iraq Group in

August, 2002. I think they discussed what lies to tell, who would tell them and when in those WHIG meetings.

In August 2002, White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card created the White House Iraq Group (WHIG), which was to create strategy for each stage of the U.S. confrontation with Iraq, according to the Post. Regular participants in the group’s meetings included Karl Rove, U.S. President George W. Bush’s senior political adviser; national security adviser Condoleezza Rice; deputy national security adviser Stephen Hadley; and I. Lewis Libby, chief of staff for Vice President Dick Cheney.

http://www.nti.org/d_newswire/issues/newswires/2003_8_11.html

[samsingh]

25. makes a mockery out of all the people supporting the war

because of the evidence they heard that Saddam had WMDs and connections to AlQuada.

[JNelson6563]

29. Rummy acts as though they

have consistently wanted our Government to take out Saddam's regime through military methods. Not so.

In his statement of September 16, 1998, Wolfowitz ridiculed Clinton’s policies toward Iraq and said, “Administration officials continue to claim, as Assistant Secretary Martin Indyk did in testimony to the Senate last week, that the only alternative to maintaining the unity of the UN Security Council is to send U.S. forces to Baghdad. This is wrong.”

Wolfowitz then articulated how, with patience and diplomacy, a critical mass could be reached by supporting dissidents in their eventual overthrow of the Ba’athist regime. “he key lies not in marching U.S. soldiers to Baghdad, but in helping the Iraqi people to liberate themselves from Saddam,” he said.

He detailed the patient commitment that such a policy would require however, such an action would deliver much stronger international support than American militarism. He said, “Our friends in the Gulf, who fear Saddam but who also fear ineffective American action against him, would see that this is a very different American policy, one that can rid them of the danger that Saddam poses. And Saddam's supporters in the Security Council–in particular France and Russia–would suddenly see a different prospect before them. Instead of lucrative oil production contracts with the Saddam Hussein regime, they would now have to calculate the economic and commercial opportunities that would come from ingratiating themselves with the future government of Iraq.”

http://www.republicons.org/view_article.asp?RP_ARTICLE_ID=717

They had to wait till they were in power in order to seize the spoils.

Julie

[remfan]

32. Further back than the "mid" 90s, Rummy

GHWB tied the end of the sanctions to "regime change" as early as 1991. Notice that I didn't say disarmament.

[Merlin]

35. This guy's a moron. He admits he didn't connect dots on 9/11.

Can you imagine being in a meeting at the Pentagon with a bunch of generals, seeing two planes hit the WTC buildings, and going on with the meeting without grasping the fact that a coordinated attack against the country was underway?

I don't know anybody who didn't realize what was going on the instant the second plane hit.

But listen to Wolfy:

Wolfowitz: We were having a meeting in my office. Someone said a plane had hit the World Trade Center. Then we turned on the television and we started seeing the shots of the second plane hitting, and this is the way I remember it. It's a little fuzzy.

Q: Right.

Wolfowitz: There didn't seem to be much to do about it immediately and we went on with whatever the meeting was. Then the whole building shook. I have to confess my first reaction was an earthquake. I didn't put the two things together in my mind.

[Emboldened Chimp]

39. An earthquake?

In DC??? How much crack is this guy smoking?

And the fact that they went on with their meeting after seeing the second plane hit speaks volumes about how much these people just don't give a shit. They really don't.

[DoYouEverWonder]

40. Wolfie's got a bad case

of implausable deniablity.

If this mfer is supposed to be so smart, how come he acts so stupid?

[VolcanoJen]

41. Even Wesley Clark has admitted...

... that the media was ALL OVER him in the days after 9/11 to link it to Iraq.

- Jennifer

[trapper914]

42. Rumsfeld had Wolfowitz beat

There are notes from meetings taken hours after the attack in which Rumsfeld orders intel to find a Saddam connection. He and the other PNACers saw their chance...a "Pearl Harbor-type event."

[samsingh]

44. this is also when they were telling

the rest of the world to work together and forget differences.

pretty slimy - another synonym for repug.

[goobergunch]

47. The Bushies wanted war on Iraq since the early 1990s...

wasn't it obvious that * would want to finish what his father started? 9/11 was the perfect excuse...another reason why I am leaning towards a belief that they LIHOP.