[PRINT this page]
[E-MAIL a friend]
[send us feedback]
[home]
[link]
The Road To War In Iraq Was Paved With Lies
President Bush has claimed this war against Iraq was inevitable. As this timeline shows, nothing could be further from the truth.
October, 2000: A think-tank, the Project for a New American Century (PNAC), publishes a policy statement. "Rebuilding America's Defenses" is signed by Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Jeb Bush, Paul Wolfowitz, and others whose names you will read shortly. It says the USA must dominate the world through force of arms, and calls for wars in as many as six countries, beginning with Iraq and building up to Russia and China. It admits that such a program would take a long time, without a "Pearl Harbor-type event".
January, 2001: After a disputed election, the George W. Bush administration takes office. Many PNAC members get key posts, including: Cheney: Vice President; Rumsfeld: Secretary of Defense; Wolfowitz: Deputy Secretary of Defense; Richard Perle: Chairman of the advisory Defense Policy Board; and John Bolton: Undersecretary of State for Disarmament.
January, 2001: Secretary of the Treasury Paul O'Neill attends Bush's first National Security meeting, where the chief topic is finding a reason to invade Iraq.
February 24, 2001: Secretary of State Colin Powell says Iraq "has not developed any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction."
July, 2001: National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice says Saddam is not a threat.
morning of September 11, 2001: Hijacked planes attack; nobody defends. No one is held responsible.
that afternoon: Rumsfeld orders aides to come up with plan to attack Iraq.
the next day: Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz and Cheney urge Bush to attack on Iraq. Richard Clarke says Saddam has no connection to Al-Qaeda or the events of 9/11. Bush orders Clarke to keep looking for one.
December, 2001: Bin Laden escapes as troops are moved from Afghanistan to prepare an invasion of Iraq.
January, 2002: Bush's handler, Karl Rove, addresses the Republican National Committee and urges them to take advantage of the "War On Terror" in the upcoming mid-term elections.
April 7 & 8, 2002 British Prime Minister Tony Blair meets with Bush and agrees to wage war on Iraq, even though Blair has received legal advice that such a war would be criminal.
July 23, 2002: At a meeting of Blair's "War Council", the director of Britain's foreign intelligence service reports on his meeting in Washington. He says "Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy." In other words, intelligence reports were being falsified to sell the planned invasion. This and other excerpts from the Downing Street Minutes show clearly that this was not a war of self-defense; it was cold-blooded, pre-meditated mass murder!
September -- December, 2002: The administration makes 90 claims that Saddam is developing WMD, all of which even then are demonstrably false. Contradictory evidence or interpretations are suppressed and erased. Honest officials are ignored or intimidated into silence.
October 10, 2002: Congress, deceived on the facts, facing elections, and with the voters terrorized, grants Bush power to make war at his whim.
January 28, 2003: State of the Union Address contains the famous false "16 words". Almost everything else in it turns out to be false as well, even statements not connected to Iraq.
March 19, 2003: Bush, before going on TV to announce the start of the war, pumps his fist and shouts: "I feel good!" Tens of thousands of Americans and Iraqis will be killed and maimed in the years ahead.
We thank the editors of Bye The Times for most of the material included in this message. Please visit www.byethetimes.com for more information. This message was derived from the page www.byethetimes.com/id2.html.
President Bush has claimed this war against Iraq was inevitable. As this timeline shows, nothing could be further from the truth.
October, 2000: A think-tank, the Project for a New American Century (PNAC), publishes a policy statement. "Rebuilding America's Defenses" is signed by Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Jeb Bush, Paul Wolfowitz, and others whose names you will read shortly. It says the USA must dominate the world through force of arms, and calls for wars in as many as six countries, beginning with Iraq and building up to Russia and China. It admits that such a program would take a long time, without a "Pearl Harbor-type event".
January, 2001: After a disputed election, the George W. Bush administration takes office. Many PNAC members get key posts, including: Cheney: Vice President; Rumsfeld: Secretary of Defense; Wolfowitz: Deputy Secretary of Defense; Richard Perle: Chairman of the advisory Defense Policy Board; and John Bolton: Undersecretary of State for Disarmament.
January, 2001: Secretary of the Treasury Paul O'Neill attends Bush's first National Security meeting, where the chief topic is finding a reason to invade Iraq.
February 24, 2001: Secretary of State Colin Powell says Iraq "has not developed any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction."
July, 2001: National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice says Saddam is not a threat.
morning of September 11, 2001: Hijacked planes attack; nobody defends. No one is held responsible.
that afternoon: Rumsfeld orders aides to come up with plan to attack Iraq.
the next day: Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz and Cheney urge Bush to attack on Iraq. Richard Clarke says Saddam has no connection to Al-Qaeda or the events of 9/11. Bush orders Clarke to keep looking for one.
December, 2001: Bin Laden escapes as troops are moved from Afghanistan to prepare an invasion of Iraq.
January, 2002: Bush's handler, Karl Rove, addresses the Republican National Committee and urges them to take advantage of the "War On Terror" in the upcoming mid-term elections.
April 7 & 8, 2002 British Prime Minister Tony Blair meets with Bush and agrees to wage war on Iraq, even though Blair has received legal advice that such a war would be criminal.
July 23, 2002: At a meeting of Blair's "War Council", the director of Britain's foreign intelligence service reports on his meeting in Washington. He says "Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy." In other words, intelligence reports were being falsified to sell the planned invasion. This and other excerpts from the Downing Street Minutes show clearly that this was not a war of self-defense; it was cold-blooded, pre-meditated mass murder!
September -- December, 2002: The administration makes 90 claims that Saddam is developing WMD, all of which even then are demonstrably false. Contradictory evidence or interpretations are suppressed and erased. Honest officials are ignored or intimidated into silence.
October 10, 2002: Congress, deceived on the facts, facing elections, and with the voters terrorized, grants Bush power to make war at his whim.
January 28, 2003: State of the Union Address contains the famous false "16 words". Almost everything else in it turns out to be false as well, even statements not connected to Iraq.
March 19, 2003: Bush, before going on TV to announce the start of the war, pumps his fist and shouts: "I feel good!" Tens of thousands of Americans and Iraqis will be killed and maimed in the years ahead.
We thank the editors of Bye The Times for most of the material included in this message. Please visit www.byethetimes.com for more information. This message was derived from the page www.byethetimes.com/id2.html.
