"A blind man in a room full of deaf people"
Originally posted by J C
I am afraid that this war may reach the U.S. Sleeper cells may be already in the country. I hope this country does not become another Israel. No doubt we will kick the Iraqi Sunnis ass. It the consequences that concern me. It has never been WMD, oil or democracy for the Iraqis. It could be personal (Saddam v Bush 41 and 43) or religiously driven. I wish I knew or someone could explain it to me. How did we go from being supported by the world community to being the scorned. I would like to support the Prez on this one, but the facts do not support his allegations. I will however support our troops who are only carrying out orders. God have mercy on us.
O'Neil tells us why and how we went to war with Iraq in new book.
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Saddam's Ouster Planned In 2001?
Jan. 10, 2004
The Bush Administration began laying plans for an invasion of Iraq, including the use of American troops, within days of President Bush's inauguration in January of 2001 -- not eight months later after the 9/11 attacks as has been previously reported.
That's what former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill says in his first interview about his time as a White House insider. O'Neill talks to Correspondent Lesley Stahl in the interview, to be broadcast on 60 Minutes, Sunday, Jan. 11 at 7 p.m. ET/PT.
"From the very beginning, there was a conviction that Saddam Hussein was a bad person and that he needed to go," he tells Stahl. "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."
O'Neill, fired by the White House for his disagreement on tax cuts, is the main source for an upcoming book, "The Price of Loyalty," authored by Ron Suskind.
Suskind says O'Neill and other White House insiders he interviewed gave him documents that show that in the first three months of 2001, the administration was looking at military options for removing Saddam Hussein from power and planning for the aftermath of Saddam's downfall -- including post-war contingencies like peacekeeping troops, war crimes tribunals and the future of Iraq's oil.
"There are memos," Suskind tells Stahl, "One of them marked 'secret' says 'Plan for Post-Saddam Iraq.'"
A Pentagon document, says Suskind, titled "Foreign Suitors For Iraqi Oilfield Contracts," outlines areas of oil exploration. "It talks about contractors around the world from...30, 40 countries and which ones have what intentions on oil in Iraq," Suskind says.
According to CBS News Reporter Lisa Barron in Baghdad, "The Iraqi National Congress, an umbrella group of former exiles, says it's not surprised by O'Neill's remarks. Spokesman Entifadh Qanbar tells CBS News that the Bush administration opened official channels to the Iraqi opposition soon after coming to power, and discussed how to remove saddam. The group opened an office in Washington shotly afterwards."
In the book, O'Neill is quoted as saying he was surprised that no one in a National Security Council meeting questioned why Iraq should be invaded. "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,'" says O'Neill in the book.
Suskind also writes about a White House meeting in which he says the president seems to be wavering about going forward with his second round of tax cuts. "Haven't we already given money to rich people ... Shouldn't we be giving money to the middle," Suskind says the president uttered, according to a nearly verbatim transcript of an Economic Team meeting he says he obtained from someone at the meeting.
O'Neill, who was asked to resign because of his opposition to the tax cut, says he doesn't think his tell-all account in this book will be attacked by his former employers as sour grapes. "I will be really disappointed if [the White House] reacts that way," he tells Stahl. "I can't imagine that I am going to be attacked for telling the truth."
O'Neill also is quoted saying in the book that President Bush was so disengaged in cabinet meetings that he "was like a blind man in a roomful of deaf people."
"It's revealing," said Stahl on The Early Show Friday. "I would say it's an unflattering portrait of the White House and of the president -- and specifically, about how they make decisions."
A lack of dialogue, according to O'Neill, was the norm in cabinet meetings he attended. And it was similar in one-on-one meetings, says O'Neill. Of his first such meeting with the president, O'Neill says, "I went in with a long list of things to talk about and, I thought, to engage [him] on...I was surprised it turned out me talking and the president just listening...It was mostly a monologue."
On Friday, a White House official tried to brush off O'Neill's assessment of President Bush's decision-making policies. "It's well known the way the president approaches governing and setting priorities," says Spokeman Scott McClellan. "The president is someone that leads and acts decisively on our biggest priorities, and that is exactly what he'll continue to do."
Source:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/01/09/60minutes/printable592330.shtml
? MMIII, CBS Worldwide Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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Your post is dumb because for one, the country isn't being invaded and you don't know WHAT i'd say or think if it was. For two, you can't compare attacking a sovereign nation with no cause to defending our home borders. For three, Iraq isn't the biggest threat to our national security. Bush was smart in one aspect, he made it seem like he was at least trying to give Saddam a chance to get out of this war. "You have until March 17th..(1 whole week). Now, "You have 48 hours." So either way it goes, he can use that as a scapegoat and say "well we gave you a chance. 
Last I checked,,, Clinton won twice. Gore, probably mainly because of Clinton's antics while Pres, couldn't get over the hump.
) six companies. The decisions of what to broadcast are made by guys in boardrooms. How many bleeding heart liberals do you see in boardrooms?
