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Fifth Column
Ted sez...
2004-01-18
A Dishonest War
By Edward M. Kennedy
Of the many issues competing for attention in this new and defining year, one is of a unique order of magnitude: President Bush’s decision to go to war in Iraq.
Agreed.
The facts demonstrate how dishonest that decision was. As former Treasury dimwit secretary Paul H. O’Neill recently mumbled confirmed, the debate over military action began as soon as President Bush took office.
It actually began before Bush’s father left office, but, please, continue, Ted:
Some felt Saddam Hussein could be contained indefinitely without war. A month after the inauguration, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said: "We have kept him contained, kept him in his box." The next day, he said tellingly that Hussein "has not developed any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction."
He was actually best contained in that spider hole, but I digress.
The events of Sept. 11, 2001, gave advocates of war the opening they needed. Wesley Clark They tried immediately to tie Hussein to al Qaeda and the terrorist attacks. Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld created a an Office of Special Plans in the Pentagon to analyze the intelligence for war and bypass the traditional screening process. Vice President Cheney relied on intelligence from zionists Iraqi exiles and put pressure on intelligence agencies to produce the desired result. The war in Afghanistan began in October with overwhelming support in Congress and the country. But the focus on Iraq continued behind the scenes, and President Bush went along. In the Rose Garden on Nov. 26, he said: "Afghanistan is still just the beginning."
One of Dubya’s finer moments.....
Three days later, Cheney publicly began to send signals about attacking Iraq. On Nov. 29 he said: "I don’t think it takes a genius to figure out that this guy [Hussein] is clearly a man with a large mustache . . . a significant potential problem for the region, for the United States, for everybody with interests in the area." On Dec. 12 he stated the obvious raised the temperature: "If I were Saddam Hussein, I’d be thinking very carefully about spider holes the future, and I’d be looking very closely to see what happened to the Taliban in Afghanistan."
Guess Sammy shoulda taken him seriously...
Next, Karl Rove, in a rare public stumble, made his own role clear, telling the Republican National Committee on Jan. 19, 2002, that the war on terrorism could be used politically. Republicans could "go to the country on this issue," he said.
I thought Iraq had nothing to do with the war on terrorism, Ted...
Ten days later, in his State of the Union address, President Bush correctly invoked the "axis of evil" — Iraq, Iran and North Korea — and we lost our clear focus on al Qaeda. The address contained 12 paragraphs on Afghanistan and 29 on the war on terrorism, but only one fleeting mention of al Qaeda. It said nothing about the Taliban or Osama bin Ladento rest. In the following months, although bin Laden was still at large,
and we all know the US can’t walk and chew gum at the same time
the drumbeat on Iraq gradually drowned out those who felt Hussein was no imminent threat
."We can’t wait until the threat becomes imminent" GWB
On Sept. 12 the president told the United Nations: "Iraq likely maintains stockpiles of VX, mustard and other chemical agents and has made several attempts to buy high-strength aluminum tubes used to enrich uranium for a nuclear weapon." He said Iraq could build a nuclear weapon "within a year" if Hussein obtained such material. War on Iraq was clearly coming, but why make this statement in September? As White House Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card Jr. said, "From a marketing point of view, you don’t introduce new products in August."
Deliberate misstatement
Republicans voted almost unanimously for war and kept control of the House in the elections. Democrats were deeply upset divided and lost their majority in the Senate. The White House could use its control of Congress to get its way on key domestic priorities.
"Control" of Congress?? Oh, I forgot, Bush is a Nazi. Do go on, Ted..
The final step in the march to war was a feint to the United Nations. But
evil neocons
Cheney, Rumsfeld and Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz had convinced the president that war would be a cakewalk, with or without the United Thingy Nations, and that our forces would be welcomed as liberators. In March the war began. Hussein’s brutal regime was not an adequate justification for war but
Slobo’s was!
and the administration did not seriously try to make it one until long after the war began and all the false justifications began to fall apart. There was no imminent threat.
And no one ever said it was, Ted. Read the speeches. Or have someone read them to you. Have another cocktail while you’re at it..
Hussein had no nuclear weapons, no arsenals of chemical or biological weapons, no connection to Sept. 11 and no plausible link to al Qaeda.
Is Dan Darling reading this?
We never should have gone to war for ideological reasons driven by common sense politics and based on manipulated intelligence.
We should have just talked real mean & kept on banging our interns..
Vast resources have been spent on the war that should have been spent on priorities at Massachusetts home. Our forces are stretched thin.
Because of the Dems..
Precious lives have been lost.
God bless each one of them and their families.
The war has made America more feared hated in the world and made the war on terrorism more likely harder to win. As Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said in announcing the latest higher alert: "Al Qaeda’s continued desire to carry out attacks against our homeland is perhaps greater now than at any point since September 11th."
Yes because kicking their ass really pisses them off. But we’re not done yet, Ted...
The most fundamental decision a president ever makes is the decision to go to war. President Bush violated the trust that must exist between Democrats government and the people. If Congress and the American people had known the truth,
Exactly what is the truth, Ted?
America would never have gone to war in Iraq. No president who does that to our country deserves to be reelected.
Whatever you say, Ted. You don’t deserve to be reelected, either, but somehow it just keeps happening...
The writer is a drunken slob Democratic senator from Massachusetts
I hope I didn’t f**k this up, it’s my first time. It really IS fun!
Posted by:Chris McGrath

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