War Pigs
This is one of those things I want to send to everyone I know, but because I feel compelled these days to leave my poor, beloved, quasi-conservative siblings alone, and because I would be preaching to the choir were I to send it to any of my friends (assuming a stony, non-receptive choir), I am going to publish it here, where no one will read it.
What follows here is a summary of tonight's 60 Minutes, on which Mike Wallace interviewed Bob Woodward, author of a new book, Plan of Attack (and also of Bush at War, about the war in Afghanistan), about Bush & co's setting in motion of the war machine that leveled Iraq, whose path we are now trying desperately to clean up. I think this interview, and the book itself, of course, prove once and for all, that America is currently being run by a cadre of whackos--and I mean that in the most serious way possible. Woodward's credibility is unquestionable: he interviewed 75 top gov't officials, including Bush, who made all of his comments on record. Many of the other interviewees, if not all of them, asked their identities be kept confidential. 60 Minutes checked all of Woodward's research and documents to make sure they were credible. Here's a rundown, for the most part chronological, of the most salient points, all of which can be preceded with "According to Woodward's sources" also, I have marked with an asterisk those points which I find most upsetting:
-Around Thanksgiving of 2001, Bush pulls Rumsfeld aside, literally (by the cuff into a private room) after a NSA meeting and tells him to begin planning for war with Iraq.
*-Gen. Tommy Franks is told by Rumsfeld and Cheney to plan for war with Iraq and that Franks can pretty much get all the money he needs. Franks ends up asking for some $700 million, and it is appropriated to him without the Congress knowing how the money is being used. There is only one word to describe such an action: UNCONSTITUTIONAL. (Condi Rice was asked about this this morning on Face the Nation and equivocated.)
-Colin Powell described Dick Cheney as being "in a fever" for going to war, "as if nothing else existed."
-When George Tenet presented George Bush with scant evidence that Saddam had WMD, Bush was concerned the evidence would not justify war to the American people. Tenet asked Bush to reconsider, Bush demurred, then Tenet stood up and twice declared the evidence "a slam dunk" case.
-Two weeks after above meeting w/ Tenet, in Jan. 2003, Bush tells Condi Rice that they're going to war. Rice, Rumsfeld, and of course, Cheney all know, but they haven't told Powell. Bush calls Powell into the Oval Office and tells him. Powell asks Bush if he understands all the consequences of going to war. Bush is suspicious of Powell's attitude and asks "Will you be with me?" Powell says, "I'll do my best. Yes, Mr. President, I'll be with you." Bush says, "Time to put your war uniform on."
-But before Powell knew the plan, Cheney and Rumsfeld told Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia what they were going to do. Bandar didn't buy it, despite Cheney's utterance "Once we start, Saddam is toast." Still Bandar had to hear it from Bush's mouth, which he did, soon after.
*-Prince Bandar told the President that the Saudis will lower oil prices two months before the Nov. 2004 election.
-When Woodward asked Bush if he'd asked his father (GHWB) for advice, Bush said, "He is the wrong father to appeal to for advice, to go to...to appeal to for strength. There is another Father I appeal to." (capital F added by editor)
-Woodward on Bush: (a) Bush believes he has a duty to free people from evildoers; (b) Bush believes there is a world of intellectuals and he is not of it, cf. his response "You've been travelling in elite circles" when Woodward pointed out that some people are worried no WMD will be found; (c) Bush responded to Woodward's question regarding how Bush thought history would judge him with: "History? We will never know. We'll all be dead."
God help us.
What follows here is a summary of tonight's 60 Minutes, on which Mike Wallace interviewed Bob Woodward, author of a new book, Plan of Attack (and also of Bush at War, about the war in Afghanistan), about Bush & co's setting in motion of the war machine that leveled Iraq, whose path we are now trying desperately to clean up. I think this interview, and the book itself, of course, prove once and for all, that America is currently being run by a cadre of whackos--and I mean that in the most serious way possible. Woodward's credibility is unquestionable: he interviewed 75 top gov't officials, including Bush, who made all of his comments on record. Many of the other interviewees, if not all of them, asked their identities be kept confidential. 60 Minutes checked all of Woodward's research and documents to make sure they were credible. Here's a rundown, for the most part chronological, of the most salient points, all of which can be preceded with "According to Woodward's sources" also, I have marked with an asterisk those points which I find most upsetting:
-Around Thanksgiving of 2001, Bush pulls Rumsfeld aside, literally (by the cuff into a private room) after a NSA meeting and tells him to begin planning for war with Iraq.
*-Gen. Tommy Franks is told by Rumsfeld and Cheney to plan for war with Iraq and that Franks can pretty much get all the money he needs. Franks ends up asking for some $700 million, and it is appropriated to him without the Congress knowing how the money is being used. There is only one word to describe such an action: UNCONSTITUTIONAL. (Condi Rice was asked about this this morning on Face the Nation and equivocated.)
-Colin Powell described Dick Cheney as being "in a fever" for going to war, "as if nothing else existed."
-When George Tenet presented George Bush with scant evidence that Saddam had WMD, Bush was concerned the evidence would not justify war to the American people. Tenet asked Bush to reconsider, Bush demurred, then Tenet stood up and twice declared the evidence "a slam dunk" case.
-Two weeks after above meeting w/ Tenet, in Jan. 2003, Bush tells Condi Rice that they're going to war. Rice, Rumsfeld, and of course, Cheney all know, but they haven't told Powell. Bush calls Powell into the Oval Office and tells him. Powell asks Bush if he understands all the consequences of going to war. Bush is suspicious of Powell's attitude and asks "Will you be with me?" Powell says, "I'll do my best. Yes, Mr. President, I'll be with you." Bush says, "Time to put your war uniform on."
-But before Powell knew the plan, Cheney and Rumsfeld told Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia what they were going to do. Bandar didn't buy it, despite Cheney's utterance "Once we start, Saddam is toast." Still Bandar had to hear it from Bush's mouth, which he did, soon after.
*-Prince Bandar told the President that the Saudis will lower oil prices two months before the Nov. 2004 election.
-When Woodward asked Bush if he'd asked his father (GHWB) for advice, Bush said, "He is the wrong father to appeal to for advice, to go to...to appeal to for strength. There is another Father I appeal to." (capital F added by editor)
-Woodward on Bush: (a) Bush believes he has a duty to free people from evildoers; (b) Bush believes there is a world of intellectuals and he is not of it, cf. his response "You've been travelling in elite circles" when Woodward pointed out that some people are worried no WMD will be found; (c) Bush responded to Woodward's question regarding how Bush thought history would judge him with: "History? We will never know. We'll all be dead."
God help us.