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bacasper
Joined: 26 Mar 2007
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 Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 12:30 am Post subject: O'Neil: Bush was planning Iraq from day 1, 8 mos before 9/11 |
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...and totally in contrast to what he was saying on the campaign trail.
The video employs clips from a 2004 "60 Minutes" Interview with 2001-2003 Secretary of the Treasury, Paul O'Neil. O'Neil, a Permanent Member of the then formed NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL (NSC), was eventually FIRED in 2003, for what he OPPOSED and witnessed in the early days of the JUST elected 2001 Bush White House.
He was appalled at the Secrecy and Contradictions in the George Bush he thought he knew. It was apparent a new agenda was rolling...and he wanted NO part in it. War plans were in the works, long BEFORE the 911 World Trade Center attack. Far from a tragedy, 911 was an OPPORTUNITY for the Bush/Cheney White House to proceed with Plans.
Watch video at link. |
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Joo Rip Gwa Rhhee
Joined: 25 May 2003
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| Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 2:56 am Post subject: |
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Oneil said his comments were taken out of context.
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O'Neill: 'Frenzy' distorted war plans account
Rumsfeld: Idea of a bias toward war 'a total misunderstanding'
WASHINGTON (CNN) --Former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill said Tuesday his account of the Bush administration's early discussions about a possible invasion of Iraq has been distorted by a "red meat frenzy."
The controversy began last week when excerpts were released from a book on the administration published Tuesday in which O'Neill suggests Iraq was the focus of President Bush's first National Security Council meeting.
That started what O'Neill described to NBC's "Today" show as a "red meat frenzy that's occurred when people didn't have anything except snippets."
"People are trying to make a case that I said the president was planning war in Iraq early in the administration," O'Neill said.
"Actually, there was a continuation of work that had been going on in the Clinton administration with the notion that there needed to be regime change in Iraq."
The idea that Bush "came into office with a predisposition to invade Iraq, I think, is a total misunderstanding of the situation," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told reporters at the Pentagon.
Bush administration officials have noted that U.S. policy dating from the Clinton administration was to seek "regime change" in Iraq, although it focused on funding and training Iraqi opposition groups rather than using military force. (Full story)
Retired Army Gen. Hugh Shelton, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he saw nothing to indicate the United States was close to attacking Iraq early in Bush's term.
Shelton, who retired shortly after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, said the brass reviewed "on the shelf" plans to respond to crises with the incoming Bush administration.
But in the administration's first six months, "I saw nothing that would lead me to believe that we were any closer to attacking Iraq than we had been during the previous administration," Shelton told CNN.
O'Neill, former CEO of aluminum producer Alcoa, sat on the National Security Council during his 23 months as treasury secretary.
He was pushed out of the administration in December 2002 during a dispute over tax cuts and growing budget deficits, and was the primary source for author Ron Suskind's book, "The Price of Loyalty: George Bush, the White House and the Education of Paul O'Neill."
"From the start, we were building the case against Hussein and looking at how we could take him out and change Iraq into a new country," O'Neill is quoted as saying in the book.
"And, if we did that, it would solve everything. It was about finding a way to do it. That was the tone of it -- the president saying, 'Fine. Go find me a way to do this.'"
But Tuesday O'Neill said, "I'm amazed that anyone would think that our government, on a continuing basis across political administrations, doesn't do contingency planning and look at circumstances."
Several Democratic presidential candidates seized on O'Neill's comments to argue that the Bush administration misled Americans about the drive to war with Iraq, where nearly 500 American troops have been killed since March.
Democratic front-runner Howard Dean used them as a jumping-off point to attack three rivals -- Rep. Dick Gephardt and Sens. John Kerry and John Edwards -- who supported a congressional resolution authorizing Bush to act against Iraq.
"I would remind Iowans and others that a year ago, I stood up against this war and was the only one to do so of the individuals I have mentioned," said Dean, whose opposition to the war helped propel him to the top of the pack.
Bush repeated his position Monday that his administration turned to war with Iraq only after the September 11 attacks changed the way U.S. officials viewed Baghdad's suspected weapons programs.
That Iraq was a concern before that time was evident in July 2001, when national security adviser Condoleezza Rice told CNN that Saddam "is on the radar screen for the administration," and senior officials met at the White House two days later to discuss Iraq.
During the same time, Iraq began dispersing aircraft and air defense capabilities in preparation for more aggressive U.S. airstrikes to enforce the "no-fly" zones over northern and southern Iraq.
A senior administration official told CNN that early Bush administration discussions regarding Iraq reviewed existing policies and plans.
Officials were particularly concerned with enforcement of the "no-fly" zones, where Iraqi air defense forces had been taking potshots at U.S. and British warplanes since late 1998.
Rumsfeld said Tuesday that Iraq was the only place in the world where U.S. forces were being fired upon "with impunity," and "clearing it was something that needed to be addressed."
Richard Perle, a leading advocate of war with Iraq and a member of the independent Defense Advisory Board that advises Rumsfeld, told CNN the review was still under way when the September 11 attacks occurred.
Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/01/13/oneill.bush |
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Zenas
Joined: 17 May 2008
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| Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 3:07 am Post subject: |
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"O'Neil: Bush was planning Iraq from day 1, 8 mos before 9/11"
Duh.
_____________________________________________ |
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bacasper
Joined: 26 Mar 2007
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| Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 6:25 am Post subject: |
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| Joo Rip Gwa Rhhee wrote: |
| Oneil said his comments were taken out of context. |
Did you watch the clip? Watch O'Neil say it himself, about how from Bush's first NSC meeting in January 2001, they were already talking about pre-emptive war against Iraq. |
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Joo Rip Gwa Rhhee
Joined: 25 May 2003
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| Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 6:31 am Post subject: |
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| bacasper wrote: |
| Joo Rip Gwa Rhhee wrote: |
| Oneil said his comments were taken out of context. |
Did you watch the clip? Watch O'Neil say it himself, about how from Bush's first NSC meeting in January 2001, they were already talking about pre-emptive war against Iraq. |
did you see his answer? |
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bacasper
Joined: 26 Mar 2007
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| Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 6:32 am Post subject: |
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| Zenas wrote: |
"O'Neil: Bush was planning Iraq from day 1, 8 mos before 9/11"
Duh.
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Maybe you know and I know the Iraq war was planned for years before 9/11, but there are a lot of people around here who still believe the lie that we went after Saddam for his WMDs, and the lie that he harbored Al-Qaida, and the lie that 19 guys with box cutters were ultimately responsible for 9/11, just like they believe that Oswald alone killed JFK and injured Connally with a single magic bullet.
You underestimate the gullibility and naivete of these people. |
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Joo Rip Gwa Rhhee
Joined: 25 May 2003
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| Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 6:35 am Post subject: |
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| bacasper wrote: |
| Zenas wrote: |
"O'Neil: Bush was planning Iraq from day 1, 8 mos before 9/11"
Duh.
_____________________________________________ |
Maybe you know and I know the Iraq war was planned for years before 9/11, but there are a lot of people around here who still believe the lie that we went after Saddam for his WMDs, and the lie that he harbored Al-Qaida, and the lie that 19 guys with box cutters were ultimately responsible for 9/11, just like they believe that Oswald alone killed JFK and injured Connally with a single magic bullet.
You underestimate the gullibility and naivete of these people. |
The policy of Bush when he came to office was smart sanctions.
Off course the US had an off the shelf plan to invade Iraq so did Clinton
WMDs were not the reason for the war but Bush thought that Saddam had them as did most of the world.
Rest assured that if Bush thought Saddam did not have WMDs he would have come up with another reason to sell the war.
However the real reason for the war was to get military bases in the mideast for several reasons. The main reason was to force Bathists , Khomeni followers and Al Qaedists to give up their war.
and I am glad you went to the conspiracy stuff cause then I don't have to answer it.
In my opinion you just sunk your own thread.
Last edited by Joo Rip Gwa Rhhee on Sun Jun 29, 2008 6:38 am; edited 1 time in total |
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bacasper
Joined: 26 Mar 2007
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| Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 6:38 am Post subject: |
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| Joo Rip Gwa Rhhee wrote: |
| bacasper wrote: |
| Joo Rip Gwa Rhhee wrote: |
| Oneil said his comments were taken out of context. |
Did you watch the clip? Watch O'Neil say it himself, about how from Bush's first NSC meeting in January 2001, they were already talking about pre-emptive war against Iraq. |
did you see his answer? |
Which one are you referring to? The one about the second NSC meeting and the top secret memo about a "post-Saddam Iraq?" |
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