Monday, November 21, 2005
You mean this damn war's not over yet?
Since we're talking about the war in Iraq, I thought I would throw out some odds and ends about the war in Iraq.
Let's begin with a few quotes:
They can't say they weren't warned.
"The possibility of the United States winning the war and losing the peace in Iraq is real and serious.... [Without an 'overwhelming' effort to prepare for the U.S. occupation of Iraq] the United States may find itself in a radically different world over the next few years, a world in which the threat of Saddam Hussein seems like a pale shadow of new problems of America's own making."
-Army War College report, February 2003, about a month before the invasion began.
Bush White House logic and WMD
"I think the burden is on those people who think he didn't have weapons of mass destruction to tell the world where they are."
-Ari Fleischer, July 2003
So much for the 9/11 connection
"We urge you to turn your Administration's attention to implementing a strategy for removing Saddam's regime from power. This will require a full complement of diplomatic, political and military efforts. Although we are fully aware of the dangers and difficulties in implementing this policy, we believe the dangers of failing to do so are far greater. We believe the U.S. has the authority under existing UN resolutions to take the necessary steps, including military steps, to protect our vital interests in the Gulf."
-Letter from Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz, then private sector think-tankers, in a letter to President Clinton, Jan. 26, 1998, more than 3 1/2 years before the 9/11 bombings.
And now for some links
Ever wonder how much this war is costing us? Click here to see a running tab. Also you can find out what else we could do with that kind of money. How many teachers could we hire? How many hungry people could we feed?
So what is this Downing Street Memo, anyway? Well it's a huge embarassment to the Bush Administration, not to mention Tony Blair. Click here to find out what it is, what it says, and why it's important.
So what do Americans think of this war? Read the polls results here from all major organizations over the past couple of weeks. Of course the sentiment of most Americans means little to a president who says, "I'm not conducting diplomacy by focus group."
Here's a nice fact-check sheet that compares Bush administration claims against the facts on such issues as the WMD, cost of war, Saddam's connection to al-Qaeda.
Let's begin with a few quotes:
They can't say they weren't warned.
"The possibility of the United States winning the war and losing the peace in Iraq is real and serious.... [Without an 'overwhelming' effort to prepare for the U.S. occupation of Iraq] the United States may find itself in a radically different world over the next few years, a world in which the threat of Saddam Hussein seems like a pale shadow of new problems of America's own making."
-Army War College report, February 2003, about a month before the invasion began.
Bush White House logic and WMD
"I think the burden is on those people who think he didn't have weapons of mass destruction to tell the world where they are."
-Ari Fleischer, July 2003
So much for the 9/11 connection
"We urge you to turn your Administration's attention to implementing a strategy for removing Saddam's regime from power. This will require a full complement of diplomatic, political and military efforts. Although we are fully aware of the dangers and difficulties in implementing this policy, we believe the dangers of failing to do so are far greater. We believe the U.S. has the authority under existing UN resolutions to take the necessary steps, including military steps, to protect our vital interests in the Gulf."
-Letter from Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz, then private sector think-tankers, in a letter to President Clinton, Jan. 26, 1998, more than 3 1/2 years before the 9/11 bombings.
And now for some links
Ever wonder how much this war is costing us? Click here to see a running tab. Also you can find out what else we could do with that kind of money. How many teachers could we hire? How many hungry people could we feed?
So what is this Downing Street Memo, anyway? Well it's a huge embarassment to the Bush Administration, not to mention Tony Blair. Click here to find out what it is, what it says, and why it's important.
So what do Americans think of this war? Read the polls results here from all major organizations over the past couple of weeks. Of course the sentiment of most Americans means little to a president who says, "I'm not conducting diplomacy by focus group."
Here's a nice fact-check sheet that compares Bush administration claims against the facts on such issues as the WMD, cost of war, Saddam's connection to al-Qaeda.
