[11]
Everyone knew [12] that Iraq didn’t have weapons of mass destruction.
Indeed, Secretary of State Colin Powell’s chief of staff – Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson – just said that Powell knew that there were no WMDs:
I wonder what will happen when we put 500,000 troops into Iraq and comb the country from one end to the other and find nothing
(starting at 6:43 into video).
But war is sold just like soda or toothpaste [13] … and so a false justification also needs to be concocted. George W. Bush [14], John McCain [15], Sarah Palin [16], a high-level National Security Council officer [17], Alan Greenspan [18] and others all say that the Iraq war was reallyabout oil.
It has been extensively documented that the White House decided to invade Iraq before 9/11 [19]:
- Former CIA director George Tenet said that the White House wanted to invade Iraq long before 9/11, and inserted “crap” in its justifications for invading Iraq. [20] Former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill – who sat on the National Security Council – also says [21] that Bush planned the Iraq war before 9/11. Top British officials say [22] that the U.S. discussed Iraq regime change even before Bush took office. And in 2000, Cheney said [23] a Bush administration might “have to take military action to forcibly remove Saddam from power.” And see this [24].
- Cheney made Iraqi’s oil fields a national security priority before 9/11 [17]. And the Sunday Herald reported [25]: “Five months before September 11, the US advocated using force against Iraq … to secure control of its oil.” (remember that Alan Greenspan [18], John McCain [15], George W. Bush [14], Sarah Palin [16], a high-level National Security Council officer [17] and others all say that the Iraq war was really about oil.)
Indeed, neoconservatives planned regime change in Iraq – and throughout the Middle East and North Africa – 20 years ago [26].
The government tried to falsely blame the anthrax attacks on Iraq [27] as a justification for war:
When Congress was originally asked to pass the Patriot Act in late 2001, the anthrax attacks which occurred only weeks earlier were falsely blamed on spooky Arabs as a way to scare Congress members into approving the bill. Specifically:
- The FBI was actually told to blame Anthrax scare on Al Qaeda by White House officials [28]
And [31]:
George Bush throughout 2002 routinely featured “anthrax” as one of Saddam’s scary weapons [32].
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, President Bush and VP Cheney all falsely linked Iraq with 9/11 … and the entire torture program was aimed [33] at establishing such a false linkage.
A new book by NBC News and Newsweek investigative reporter Michael Isikoff [34] adds details, including a memo written by Rumsfeld in November 2001 [35] – a year and a quarter before the start of the Iraq war – asking how to start a war against Iraq, and suggesting as one potential “justification” for war:
- How start?
***
US discovers Saddam connection to Sept. 11 attack or to anthrax?
The Bush administration launched the Iraq war under false pretenses … unfortunately, Obama is no better [36].