Brit Officials Set the Record Straight on Saddam
People often comment that the British government has one big advantage over the US government in running its operations. They have many more professional government officials rather than political appointees, which offers them a much more stable and consistent public service bureaucracy as administrations change. Certainly it seems to enable their public officials to be much more honest about, oh, say whether Saddam Hussein was a real threat to the West. Here's Eliza Manningham-Buller, a.k.a. "M" of MI5:
The former MI5 director general Eliza Manningham-Buller today delivered a withering assessment of the case for war against Iraq, saying it had significantly increased the terrorist threat to Britian.
Giving evidence to the Chilcot inquiry, Manningham-Buller said the threat posed by Saddam Hussein before the US-led invasion in 2003 was low.
But the toppling of Saddam allowed Osama bin Laden to gain a stronghold in Iraq and radicalised young Muslims in Britain, she said.
In evidence that undermined the case for war presented by the former prime minister Tony Blair, she was asked whether it was feared Saddam could have linked terrorists to weapons of mass destruction, facilitating their use against the west.
"It certainly wasn't of concern in either the short term or the medium term to me or my colleagues," she replied.
And it shouldn't have been of concern to the United States leadership. Some people think I'm a broken record on this topic. But until the CheneyBush administration officials admit that invading Iraq was a complete boondoggle and the Republican party admits that it was not an adventure for democracy and glory, then I'm going to keep on saying it. The US invasion of Iraq had nothing to do with WMDs, although that was the main drum being banged by CheneyBush officials (and yes, some misguided Democrats) between June 2002 and March 2003.
NO!!!!!!!!!!! Really???!!!!!!
The gift that keeps on giving.
But until the CheneyBush administration officials admit...
Might take a decade or more. Maybe after Cheney no longer has a pulse.
Oh, wait...
I still think both Bunnypants and Darth Cheney will be convicted of war crimes but this will not happen until after they have passed on.
"I know that there are people who do not love their fellow
man, and I hate people like that! " ~ Tom Lehrer (1928 - )
have a following of negative pessimistic delusionistic failure prone losers.
Their legacy will lead to Sainthood by these narrowminded clones who think they will be somehow rewarded.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WC8FGhU1C3I
Interestingly he said this as Deputy Prime Minister yesterday while in the Dispatch Box of parliament. It's not the British government's position that the invasion was "illegal".
but there was a bunch of the experts here that were saying Saddam was no threat also. It wasn't what the administration wanted t hear. The info was fixed.
"They have better targets!"
.
"When profit comes up against morality, it's rare that profit loses."~Shirley Chisholm
USSR, and other former superpowers.
I am very afraid the 8 years of George Bush will be a main focus of the the fall of the United States in future history books. And the invasion of Iraq will be a hallmark story. Look at key reasons why many other powerful countries went into decline - massive military use, waging offensive (as opposed to defensive) wars far from home on foreign soil and usually followed by economic disasters and internal conflict.
I was optimistic once Bush was out, but the politcal climate just seems to be getting worse. Many "leaders" don't want to make this country better, they just want to be in power and chastise the other side. I honestly think this country is in for some significant internal violence if things don't change soon.
I've seen some stuff, man. And some thangs...
The "Suez Crisis" of 1956 - when Britain and France were bested by Britain's former colony Egypt - marked the end of the supremacy of the British empire and the end of the era of French and British colonization.
And the US stepped into the breach.
When will government of the people, by the politicians, for the corporations perish from this Earth?
Not soon enough!
Was it horse or camel breach?
Vote GOP and move forward to the 18th Century.
when we went into VietNam. We still haven't learned to watch our step.
That's why we have all new uniforms.
They couldn't get the blood stains from slaughtered women and children out of the last ones.
Vote GOP and move forward to the 18th Century.
On edit add:
And as the "junior member" of the Anglo-American Empire, the US has done all the "heavy lifting" since.
When will government of the people, by the politicians, for the corporations perish from this Earth?
Not soon enough!
Thanks to the Texas School Board, George Bush will be completely exonerated for causing the fall of the U.S. My guess is that socialized healthcare, taxing the rich and a missing long form birth certificate will be the true culprit.
named after him.
and make lots and lots of money.
"Hey, we're an empire now."
Vote GOP and move forward to the 18th Century.
don't get prosecuted. they get thier portrait hung in a place of honor and everyone pretends it was a just and noble cause.
Boys will be boys, after all!
The same "pass" conservatard radio and TV blowhards get for their over the top violent frequently racist rhetoric.
When will government of the people, by the politicians, for the corporations perish from this Earth?
Not soon enough!
Neither do financial embezzlers, loan shark bankers, polluting industrialists or political ax men.
Only the little people get prosecuted for such crimes as cohabitation, crossing in between instead of the green and believing in any god other than the Christian one.
Vote GOP and move forward to the 18th Century.
we could all relieve ourselves on it.
Those sacks of poo will never admit that they made a mistake. It wasn't about freeing Iraq. It was about having access to their OIL!
It's a mistake to keep using that terminology, as it allows the idiots among us to still believe that Dubya & Darth et al had 'good intentions'.
If it's still available on line or elsewhere, everyone should go back and read the first part of the Project for a New American Century's tome entitled "Defense Strategy for the 21st Century". The neo-cons spelled out, in no uncertain terms, that securing oil resources (and riches for themselves) in the Middle East as well as placing forward military bases in the region (to thwart China and Russia) was their plan, requiring the invasion and occupation of these lands.
The PNAC also understood that most Americans would not be interested in supporting such a plan (pre-emptive war) unless there was a galvanizing event, a "New Pearl Harbor". Thus, they created 9/11 and the War on Terrorism in order to perpetrate their global crimes.
Anyone who still thinks otherwise, is not really thinking. But, that's just my opinion.
"Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of Stupidity" - Frank Leahy
We killed 1.6 million Iraqis.
A boondoggle was the Alaska Highway to Nowhere.
This was more like a genocide.
I'm a lot like Ricky Gervais and the Golden Globes: Why?
Powell (yes, he admitted he knew the information he showed the UN was false), all need to pay for their crimes.
They also got the Official Secrecy Act
Not sure we want that one...
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
Well, we can't really know if we do or don't. The people don't know what's in it. It's a secret!
See, legislation is kinda like reverse Christmas packages in the closet. You don't know what you're getting unless you're naughty.
Vote GOP and move forward to the 18th Century.
The Iraq / Afghanistan invasions were nothing but huge money laundering operations as are the continuing occupations ,a transfer of unbelievable sums of money out of the treasury and into the hands of private contractors , the military industry and to Wall Street ... at the same time piling up the debt , that huge debt then becomes the excuse to take even more from the poor and middle class ( SS, medicare etc. etc . ) . The total wreckage / collapse of the economy was just carelessness , an accident and they didn't see it coming ? Right . The Reich wing new exactly what they were doing all along , with the blessing of Bush / Cheney , the Reich and too many Dems , the crooks made huge fortunes on phony investment schemes , when the house of cards fell they got bailed out with our tax dollars , they are sitting pretty and the country is in even more debt ... to the point that it's absolute insanity ,now who will suffer and take the hits necessary ? We the people , the real war is on the lower and the middle " classes " .
Insanity , it is what it is , there is no understanding it .
PNAC didn't want just one....
they wanted it to rain 911's in perpetuity....
And they may get their wish, because some children do grow up to hate for the freedoms that others have........to make misery...
"Some misguided democrats" includes the party's 2004 presidential nominee, and the current Secretary of State.
"Boondoggle" is not a word I would use to explain the invasion and occupation of Iraq. "Treason" is a far better word to describe of what happened, and why.
You can sound like a broken record all you want, Jason Sigger.
I have the same record, and I play it over and over and over....
Dumbya and Dickie and their criminal cohorts should, at this very second, be in jail for the rest of their unnatural lives for their lies and war crimes (both the invasion of Iraq and torture are war crimes, and lying us into a war has to constitute war crimes and perjury). Or, at the very least, in jail with an ongoing trial still going on.
OBL was found - and let go! - at Tora Bora. At that very minute, the troops there should have turned around and been taken to the nearest air base and put on the next troop transport home. The stated goal for invading Afghanistan was to go after a motley gang of criminals in their mountains (a gang of criminals with NO ties to ANY country, and Afghanistan was not a threat to the US any more than Iraq was). OBL claimed responsibility for 9/11, but I am not aware of any forensic evidence that connects him to the event. The 19 men (15 Saudis, one Egyptian, one Lebanese, and two from the UAE - none from Afghanistan or Iraq) who committed the heinous crimes on 9/11 died with their victims so they can't say if OBL had anything to do with it or not. In any case, objective accomplished: OBL was found. "Mission Accomplished." Our troops should not have stayed. The only thing they can do in Afghanistan is guard poppy fields and guard the alleged trillion dollars worth of minerals in Afghani sands and mountains. Staying in Afghanistan, IMHO, constitutes a war crime.
I am still ashamed and embarrassed to be an American because the Dems in office have seen fit to continue Dumbya and Dickie's illegal wars, and the prisoners who are still in Gitmo should have long since been sent back to their home countries for their authorities to deal with.
I want ALL of our troops taken OUT of Afghanistan and Iraq and sent home. NOW. They never should have been sent in the first place, and our Congress Critters and weak-kneed and spineless Media spouting warmongering and fear-mongering rhetoric should be ashamed of themselves. At the very least, those who supported the illegal wars and torture and put us in debt for these same illegal wars should all retire or be recalled or voted out of office. That goes for the Dems as well as the Repukes.
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