Quote:

"People are trying to make a case that I said the president was planning war in Iraq early in the administration," O'Neill said. "Actually, there was a continuation of work that had been going on in the Clinton administration with the notion that there needed to be regime change in Iraq."




It's ridiculous that the neo-cons will first say that Clinton was a liar and a womanizer and thus unfit for office... yet they will turn around and say "Clinton said Iraq had weapons of mass destruction too!"

It's obvious where Clinton was getting his mis-information about Iraq... just two weeks before Clinton verbally attacked Iraq, he had been given a long letter signed by the following PNAC "experts" on Iraq:

Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz,
Richard Perle, Elliot Abrams, Jeb Bush,
Lewis Libby, Zalmay Khalalilzad, William Bennett, Bill Kristol... and other prominent chickenhawks from the PNAC 'think tank' that are now in the Bush Administration...

The letter said Iraq had these awful weapons, that Iraq needed to be invaded, and Iraq might attack us at any time! Funny, these are the same people that convinced Bush to send our troops in with inadequate planning and equipment.

Clinton had sought and considered the advice of people like FORMER President Bush, and Bush1's former National Security Advisor General Brent Scowcroft... and here's what THEY told him:

Quote:

Bush1:

"Trying to eliminate Saddam ... would have incurred incalculable human and political costs. Apprehending him was probably impossible ... We would have been forced to occupy Baghdad and, in effect, rule Iraq ... there was no viable "exit strategy" we could see, violating another of our principles. Furthermore, we had been self-consciously trying to set a pattern for handling aggression in the post-Cold War world. Going in and occupying Iraq, thus unilaterally exceeding the United Nations' mandate, would have destroyed the precedent of international response to aggression that we hoped to establish. Had we gone the invasion route, the United States could conceivably still be an occupying power in a bitterly hostile land."



Scowcroft followed with:

Quote:

"Don't Attack Saddam: Given Saddam's aggressive regional ambitions, as well as his ruthlessness and unpredictability, it may at some point be wise to remove him from power. Whether and when that point should come ought to depend on overall U.S. national security priorities. Our pre-eminent security priority -- underscored repeatedly by the president -- is the war on terrorism. An attack on Iraq at this time would seriously jeopardize, if not destroy, the global counterterrorist campaign we have undertaken."



Yet contrary to the advice of his own father and a man who had served 29 years in the military, then served two presidents as a National Security Advisor, Bush2 knew better than both of them that we HAD to invade Iraq... PNAC told him so!

Funny that Clinton would listen closely to Bush1 and his best military expert and Bush2 wouldn't.

In fact the neo-cons accused General Scowcroft of being a terrorist sympathizer and a "Saddam-lover" when he spoke up against going to war!

Now we come to Paul O'Neill... Paul O'Neill was Chairman and CEO of Alcoa Aluminum, and held his Alcoa stock months beyond what was permissible under federal ethics laws, but Bush and Company kept that quiet because Alcoa had been Bush's third largest contributor... (Alcoa had also received special concessions from Bush as a major polluter in Texas)

O'Neill was opposed to Bush's tax cuts for the rich, opposed to Bush's "Economic Incentives" program once referring to it as "show business", and was opposed to Bush's outrageous spending in Afghanistan and Iraq. After too many public statements that embarrassed Bush, Bush asked for his resignation, implying publicly (through spokespeople of course) that O'Neill was responsible for setbacks in the economy.

O'Neill is generally believed to be a scrupulously honest man, and way too outspoken and honest to be in Bush's cabinet! Obviously Bush is not a man that takes kindly to good advice!

Strangest of all, is that the Bushies hated Clinton for lying about his personal life, and love Bush whose lies actually affect our nation.


Last edited by whomod; 2004-01-15 5:21 AM.