Kristol: O'Neill War Memo Came from Clinton

NewsMax ^ | 1/11/04 | Limbacher

[Tumbleweed_Connection]

A controversial White House memo outlining plans for a post-war Iraq that was drafted well before the 9/11 attacks had its origins in the Clinton administration, former Bush 41 White House official Bill Kristol said Sunday.

In an interview set for broadcast Sunday night, former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill tells CBS's "60 Minutes" that "from the very beginning, there was a conviction [in the Bush White House] that Saddam Hussein was a bad person and that he needed to go."

Of White House deliberations on the decision to invade Iraq, O'Neill claims, "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.'"

O'Neill's comments are bolstered by memos he supplied to author Ronald Suskind, whose new book "The Price of Loyalty" is based on his story.

But former White House official Bill Kristol, who now publishes the Weekly Standard, says that a key memo cited by the author that outlines U.S. contingency plans to topple Saddam Hussein goes back to the Clinton administration.

"[Suskind] quotes this secret memo: 'Plan for post-Saddam Iraq,' that apparently the Bush administration had in it's first few months," Kristol told "Fox News Sunday."

"I'm sure that was left over from the Clinton administration. Of course [the Bush White House] had a plan for post-Saddam Iraq - it's been our policy to have regime change there for three years before the Bush administration."

Kristol, who served as chief of staff for former Vice President Dan Quayle, also questioned O'Neill's recollections of Bush's comments, which Suskind claimed are based on "nearly verbatim" transcripts of White House meetings.

"I've been in White House meetings. There's no verbatim transcript of such meetings," he told "Fox News Sunday." "People take notes, obviously, for their use later on. [But] I'd like to know, I'd like to see this nearly verbatim transcript of the meeting."

[Tumbleweed_Connection]

THE	TIME	FOR	FR		GIFTING		IS		HERE.
THE	TIME	FOR	FR		$ GIFTING $		IS		HERE.
THE	TIME	FOR	FR		GIFTING		IS		HERE.

THE	TIME	FOR	FR		GIFTING		IS		HERE.
THE	TIME	FOR	FR		$ GIFTING $		IS		HERE.
THE	TIME	FOR	FR		GIFTING		IS		HERE.

[Support Free Republic]

God Bless This Great Country!
	Donate Here By Secure Server Or mail checks to FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794 or you can use PayPal at Jimrob@psnw.com
STOP BY AND BUMP THE FUNDRAISER THREAD- It is in the breaking news sidebar!

[dirtboy]

It appears that O'Neill, a mediocre Treasury Secretary, is an even worse liar.

[mabelkitty]

Yes, these memos are old.
Clinton tried to get to Iraq by sending Cohen and Abright on speaking tours to campuses for debate.
They got shouted down by the children, and Clinton didn't have the gutts to proceed.

[woofer]

O'Neill's book is, IMHO, of a nature and timed to sell to the anti-war left personified by the Dean/Clark supporters during this contentious Demoncrat Primary season.

Expect it to drop off the major media's radar screen by the 20th when the dismal number of participants (including Dean's 3,500 imposters) in the Iowa Caucuses and the pundits concentrate on how demoncrats expect to win in November with a twenty percent drop compared to 2000.

[Cinnamon Girl]

Can anyone explain why O'Neill went Southside Johnny? Is it really just about being a crybaby sore loser? Or is there something else that spawned this attack on the President?

[Dog]

I want to know what secret's O'Neill turned over to this writer..

[Tumbleweed_Connection]

Why did Bush select him?

[God luvs America]

You watch...next CBS will put a known famous pedophile on 60 Minutes and let him tell lies of how horrible the police treated him.....er, I forgot, they already did that...

[Bubba_Leroy]

He was publicly fired. It is not unusual for a disgruntled fired employee to talk down about the boss who fired him.

[nuconvert]

"there was a conviction [in the Bush White House] that Saddam Hussein was a bad person and that he needed to go."

Yeah .......? And the problem is?.........?

[Republic_of_Secession.]

O'Neil was never on board with the Bush Administration. Even going so far as to oppose the tax cuts. Makes on wonder why he was ever appointed in the first place. Must have been an appointed in line with "the new tone" & the retaining of all of those Clinton appointed hold overs.

[Dog]

Wolfie on CNN is just going nuts over this book right now....the media is so sickening..

[cake_crumb]

Well...did ANYONE expect O'Niell's story to hold water for long? After all, what he is nothing more than a disgrunteled employee, like millions of others over the years, who overstepped, got canned and is now badmouthing his former boss.

[Dog]

O'Niell could be in some serious trouble with this book.....he can't be releasing memo's of a national security nature to a writer..

[cake_crumb]

"Is it really just about being a crybaby sore loser? Or is there something else that spawned this attack on the President?"

Money, with which he'll salve his tiny, tattered, powerless ego. Like that Wilson guy who still keeps popping up here and there, despite the media's attempts to forgot microleakgate existed.

[kylaka]

Cheney knew him from his early days in OMB, and he was supported by Alan Greenspan. Recall what Greenspan did not do with interest rates during GHWB's administration (he kept them higher than they needed to be), and you'll understand why W chose O'Neil.

[cake_crumb]

Mistake. He thought O'Niell might be something he wasn't and he turned out to be the wrong guy for the job. It happens.

[nuconvert]

I'll bet. Can't bear to watch.......