That pesky truth…
The US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence has released its long overdue report on the misconduct by Bush and Cheney et al in lying to the American people to press its case for the unnecessary and unjustified invasion of Iraq.
http://intelligence.senate.gov/press/record.cfm?id=298775
You can read it for yourself at
http://intelligence.senate.gov/080605/phase2a.pdf
And not surprisingly, U.S. Senator Kit Bond, Vice Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, representing the continuing denial and cover up attempts by Bush’s and Cheney’s enablers in the House and Senate issued his own denunciation of the report:
http://intelligence.senate.gov/press/record.cfm?id=298783
Quoting from the press release issued announcing the report:
http://intelligence.senate.gov/press/record.cfm?id=298775
The Committee’s report cites several conclusions in which the Administration’s public statements were NOT supported by the intelligence. They include:
- Statements and implications by the President and Secretary of State suggesting that Iraq and al-Qa’ida had a partnership, or that Iraq had provided al-Qa’ida with weapons training, were not substantiated by the intelligence.
- Statements by the President and the Vice President indicating that Saddam Hussein was prepared to give weapons of mass destruction to terrorist groups for attacks against the United States were contradicted by available intelligence information.
- Statements by President Bush and Vice President Cheney regarding the postwar situation in Iraq, in terms of the political, security, and economic, did not reflect the concerns and uncertainties expressed in the intelligence products.
- Statements by the President and Vice President prior to the October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate regarding Iraq’s chemical weapons production capability and activities did not reflect the intelligence community’s uncertainties as to whether such production was ongoing.
- The Secretary of Defense’s statement that the Iraqi government operated underground WMD facilities that were not vulnerable to conventional airstrikes because they were underground and deeply buried was not substantiated by available intelligence information.
- The Intelligence Community did not confirm that Muhammad Atta met an Iraqi intelligence officer in Prague in 2001 as the Vice President repeatedly claimed.
Bush, Cheney, and their co-conspirators have a great deal to answer for in many arenas, but lying the nation into a war based on some ridiculous neocon fantasies and assorted delusions is nothing short of despicable. And it is arguably criminal…
In addition to the carnage wrought by Bush/Cheney et al, they have spent hundreds of billions of dollars on this invasion and subsequent occupation of a sovereign nation that posed no threat to the US, which we can hardly afford and which could have been put to productive use elsewhere.
Granted, Iraq was under the thumb of an oppressive regime run by a megalomaniacal fool with no regard for the rights of his citizens (hmm, why does this sound so familiar?). Nevertheless, it is very clear that in the absence of a real, provable threat, Bush/Cheney resorted to fabrications to make their case for war.
They have run up the deficit to staggering levels, after inheriting a significant budget surplus. Their actions have made the US and the world MUCH LESS SAFE by empowering terrorists, providing better recruiting tools to them than they could have ever mustered themselves, and by so weakening the US military by entangling them in the Iraqi quagmire that they are unable to respond well to other real threats if and as they arise.
They have weakened the military by abusing the troops with multiple tours, and by decimating the equipment needed to fight real threats. They have hurt the homeland in so many ways, not the least of which is by entangling the states’ National Guard units and their equipment in Iraq, leaving states unable to call on them to fulfill their real purpose — serving the citizens at home in the event of natural disasters.
Until the elections in 2006 brought a Democratic majority to the House and Senate, Republican apologists and enablers had resisted any attempt to reveal the truth to the American people. Now that Democrats have the ability to dig for and reveal the facts, Republicans are running for cover.
Note as an example the reaction to Scott McClellan’s revelations in his recent book. They don’t even bother to deny that he is telling the truth, but rather they attack him for being disloyal to the band of criminals he used to work for and with. Now that he has had a crisis of conscience, and attempted to salve his guilty conscience by revealing the truth, we have an insider’s confirmation of what has been apparent for a long time.
Let’s review the signature accomplishments of this neocon fantasy and conspiracy, shall we?
American Military Deaths in Iraq as of 5-June-2008
Since war began: 4092 (Total), 3333 (In Combat)
Since 5/1/2003: 3953 (Total), 3225 (In Combat)
Total Wounded: 30333 (Official), 23000 - 100000 (Estimated)
Sources:
http://www.antiwar.com/casualties/
http://www.defenselink.mil/
Exxon Mobil Profit for 2000: $5.1 billion [source]
Exxon Mobil Profit for 2007: $40.6 billion [source]
Average US Retail Gasoline Price (Regular) - Jan. 22, 2001: $1.45
Average US Retail Gasoline Price (Regular) - Jun. 2, 2008: $3.93
[source]
Mission Accomplished!
Tags: addington, bush, cheney, conspiracy, feith, republican, rice, rumsfeld, scandal, wolfowitz
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