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WASHINGTON,
D.C. – U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) issued today’s “Bush Administration’s
Misstatement of the Day” on the war in Iraq.
Pre-War
Intelligence:
Two
days before the war, President Bush addressed the nation. He said
on March 17, 2003:
“Intelligence
gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime
continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised.”
(President Bush, 3/17/03)
However,
former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill, who served on the Bush Cabinet
for two years and was a permanent member of the National Security Council
(NSC), said:
"In
the 23 months I was there, I never saw anything that I would characterize
as evidence of weapons of mass destruction,''
Secretary O'Neill to Time magazine. (Chicago
Sun-Times, “O'Neill: Bush lacked Iraq weapons proof,” 1/12/03)
Planning
for War with Iraq:
President
Bush stated on March 17, 2003:
“America
tried to work with the United Nations to address this threat because we
wanted to resolve the issue peacefully.”
And
on March 19, 2003, the day the war began, President Bush declared:
“Our
nation enters this conflict reluctantly.”
Former
Treasury Secretary O’Neill, however, contradicts the Bush Administration
claims. In a 60
Minutes interview (1/11/04), Secretary O’Neill stated that during President
Bush’s first NSC meeting “… going after Saddam was topic “A” 10 days after
the inauguration - eight months before Sept. 11”.
According
to the 60
Minutes interview transcript, O’Neill was surprised that questions
such as "Why Saddam?" and "Why now?" were never asked during the first
NSC meeting. He adds, “From the very beginning, there was a conviction,
that Saddam Hussein was a bad person and that he needed to go…It was all
about finding a way to do it. That was the tone of it. The president saying
‘Go find me a way to do this.’ “For me, the notion of pre-emption, that
the U.S. has the unilateral right to do whatever we decide to do, is a
really huge leap.” (CBS,
60 Minutes, 1/11/04)
60
Minutes also revealed that Wall Street Journal reporter Ron Suskind
and author of “The Price of Loyalty” has obtained Bush Administration documents
which show that the occupation of Iraq and post-Saddam Iraq were discussed
in January and February of 2001. In addition, Suskind also “obtained
one Pentagon document, dated March 5, 2001, and entitled “Foreign Suitors
for Iraqi Oilfield contracts,” which includes a map of potential areas
for exploration. “It talks about contractors around the world from, you
know, 30-40 countries. And which ones have what intentions,” says Suskind. |
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