Larissa
13th January 2004, 16:33
>
> BERKSHIRE EAGLE: THE BIG LIE MADE CLEAR
> =======================================
> <http://www.berkshireeagle.com/Stories/0,1413,101~6267~1887548,00.html>
>
> The Berkshire Eagle sums up the effect of the latest revelations
> regarding the Bush administration's push for war in an editorial today:
> The study by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
> <http://www.ceip.org> stating that the Bush administration
> "systematically misrepresented" the threat of Iraqi weapons of mass
> destruction doesn't break new ground but, combined with assertions by
> former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill that the White House was plotting
> a pre-emptive invasion of Iraq before September 11, 2001, the picture of
> a White House spoiling for war and willing to misrepresent the truth to
> justify it is cast in even sharper relief. The administration
> intentionally misled the American people in embarking upon a strategy
> that has done perhaps irreparable harm to long-held American principles.
>
> The administration's case for a pre-emptive invasion of Iraq was poor
> from the beginning, but with congressional Democrats afraid to speak out
> against it in an election year and the media in full flag-waving mode,
> it went essentially unchallenged. It was only after the fact that it
> became apparent, as the Carnegie study makes clear, that the White House
> didn't use intelligence evidence to build a case for invading Iraq, but
> instead manipulated and misrepresented intelligence to justify an
> invasion it was long determined to launch.
>
> The record is clear and cannot be disputed. Iraq had no biological
> weapons, let alone the "massive stockpile" the administration claimed it
> had. The White House claimed Saddam Hussein had seven biological agents
> factories -- he had none. The administration said the Iraqi leader had
> huge chemical weapons stockpiles, including mustard and sarin gases --
> he had no chemical weapons. The White House claimed Iraq had restarted
> its nuclear weapons program, buying uranium from Africa and procuring
> enrichment equipment. In fact, Iraq had no nuclear weapons program, no
> equipment, and no uranium.
>
> The president continues to link the invasion of Iraq to the war on
> terrorism even though there is no evidence that Iraq was a threat to
> anyone outside its borders and no evidence of a link between Mr. Hussein
> and al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, who, in fact, was a sworn enemy of
> the Iraqi dictator. According to Mr. O'Neill, who was in a position to
> know, White House neoconservatives began plotting an invasion of Iraq
> shortly after the president took office in 2001, which means the White
> House cynically exploited the tragedy of September 11 to advance its
> schemes. While the administration squanders time, money, soldiers' lives
> and America's prestige on the Iraqi misadventure, al-Qaida continues to
> engage in terror, and has now taken advantage of postwar Iraqi chaos to
> move into that country.
>
> The sanctimonious Washington Republicans who asserted that President
> Clinton deserved impeachment not because of his affair with Monica
> Lewinsky but because he lied about it are predictably silent about the
> lies that emanated and continue to emanate from the White House. No one
> died in Monicagate, and Monicagate did not give comfort to our enemies
> while alienating our allies. America will not soon recover from the Iraq
> war and the shameful deceit that preceded it.
> BERKSHIRE EAGLE: THE BIG LIE MADE CLEAR
> =======================================
> <http://www.berkshireeagle.com/Stories/0,1413,101~6267~1887548,00.html>
>
> The Berkshire Eagle sums up the effect of the latest revelations
> regarding the Bush administration's push for war in an editorial today:
> The study by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
> <http://www.ceip.org> stating that the Bush administration
> "systematically misrepresented" the threat of Iraqi weapons of mass
> destruction doesn't break new ground but, combined with assertions by
> former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill that the White House was plotting
> a pre-emptive invasion of Iraq before September 11, 2001, the picture of
> a White House spoiling for war and willing to misrepresent the truth to
> justify it is cast in even sharper relief. The administration
> intentionally misled the American people in embarking upon a strategy
> that has done perhaps irreparable harm to long-held American principles.
>
> The administration's case for a pre-emptive invasion of Iraq was poor
> from the beginning, but with congressional Democrats afraid to speak out
> against it in an election year and the media in full flag-waving mode,
> it went essentially unchallenged. It was only after the fact that it
> became apparent, as the Carnegie study makes clear, that the White House
> didn't use intelligence evidence to build a case for invading Iraq, but
> instead manipulated and misrepresented intelligence to justify an
> invasion it was long determined to launch.
>
> The record is clear and cannot be disputed. Iraq had no biological
> weapons, let alone the "massive stockpile" the administration claimed it
> had. The White House claimed Saddam Hussein had seven biological agents
> factories -- he had none. The administration said the Iraqi leader had
> huge chemical weapons stockpiles, including mustard and sarin gases --
> he had no chemical weapons. The White House claimed Iraq had restarted
> its nuclear weapons program, buying uranium from Africa and procuring
> enrichment equipment. In fact, Iraq had no nuclear weapons program, no
> equipment, and no uranium.
>
> The president continues to link the invasion of Iraq to the war on
> terrorism even though there is no evidence that Iraq was a threat to
> anyone outside its borders and no evidence of a link between Mr. Hussein
> and al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, who, in fact, was a sworn enemy of
> the Iraqi dictator. According to Mr. O'Neill, who was in a position to
> know, White House neoconservatives began plotting an invasion of Iraq
> shortly after the president took office in 2001, which means the White
> House cynically exploited the tragedy of September 11 to advance its
> schemes. While the administration squanders time, money, soldiers' lives
> and America's prestige on the Iraqi misadventure, al-Qaida continues to
> engage in terror, and has now taken advantage of postwar Iraqi chaos to
> move into that country.
>
> The sanctimonious Washington Republicans who asserted that President
> Clinton deserved impeachment not because of his affair with Monica
> Lewinsky but because he lied about it are predictably silent about the
> lies that emanated and continue to emanate from the White House. No one
> died in Monicagate, and Monicagate did not give comfort to our enemies
> while alienating our allies. America will not soon recover from the Iraq
> war and the shameful deceit that preceded it.