FORMER TREASURY SECRETARY PAUL ONEILL SAYS INVASION OF IRAQ WAS PLANNED IN THE FIRST DAYS...

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[Tumbleweed_Connection]

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 is what former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill says in his first interview about his time as a White House insider. O'Neill talks to Lesley Stahl in the interview, to be broadcast on 60 MINUTES Sunday, Jan. 11 (7:00-8:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

"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," says O'Neill.

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.

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," 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, "Shouldn't we be giving money to the middle?"

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."

Developing...

[MizSterious]

I think you are right about the plan probably existing for a long while. One of the expert commentators on Fox once said, during the war phase, that these plans exist as contingencies, and include a lot of countries, some of which we currently regard as allies. These plans are revised and updated regularly, but it doesn't mean we're going to put them into use unless provoked.

I wonder if these are the ones O'Neill is talking about, and then he trumped them up to make President Bush look bad?

[Zechariah11]

I expect we'll see Mr. O'Neill in Iowa in the next few days wearing a "Dean for President" t-shirt.

Actually, you've picked up on the silver lining to all this. The 60 Minutes piece will help Dean bounce back in the early primaries. Good news for the GOP.

[GnL]

Sounds like O'Neill has been hanging out with Bono too much.

[KQQL]

Mr O'Neill was and is a RINO , so what's new ? I was suprised W hired him in the first place,

[Bronco_Buster_FweetHyagh]

""""""""""""
The president saying 'Go find me a way to do this,'" says O'Neill in the book.
""""""""""""

Um, isn't that the definition of leadership? And by the way, doesn't this totally contradict his description of Bush as a blind man in a room full of deaf people?

Which is it? Bush says nothing, or Bush says "go find me a way to do this?"

This guy has a massive chip on his shoulder, and something shoved up something else too

[trustandobey]

Right on! Bush was so right to get rid of this traitor to his administration. The economy has done much better since he was forced out. Maybe CBS will employ him now. They love losers.

[Erik Latranyi]

Sadly, these kind of "drive-bys" on the president are only going to happen more frequently as the election draws nearer. We've seen nothing yet.

That's OK. With 8 months to go, this means nothing to the electorate.

Let your enemies attack like a hurricane while you bend like the grass. When the wind is exhausted, you will stand tall again.

[Eccl 10:2]

"We've had a plan for military action against Iraq for decades. Here's a news flash...we also have one for North Korea, Iran, Sudan, Syria, Yemen, Cuba..."

Zactly. I had a brother-in-law in intelligence, and I saw him the week after we liberated Grenada. I jokingly asked him who we planned to invade next.

He looked at me steely-eyed and replied, "We have plans to invade EVERYbody."

[ClintonBeGone]

The whole story sounds made up. Who would talk like that about tax cuts?

Exactly. This is why in politics, regardless of the feelings of the liberal press (and some here) as President you DO award your friends with these positions. Your friends are the only ones in which you have a degree of trust that they won't make up stuff like this.

[TexasTransplant]

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," 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, "Shouldn't we be giving money to the middle?"

 

This almost verbatim sounds more like Mr. Oneil than President Bush

 

(1) It is us vs them

(2) Their money to distribute, just a matter of how much to who

 

Bush is a leader and the nearly verbatim above is crawfishing with a turkey neck, and why couldn't he use THE verbatim transcript?

 

[joesbucks]

so this shows the Bush team took the Saddam threat seriously and was doing something about it earlier than we thought. that's good, not bad.

That was fininshing Daddy's unfinished business.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Which law of nature, or of nature's God, does O'Neill think the invasion of Iraq violates?

No to be a wise ass...but since you asked...how about, "Thou shalt not kill'?

[TaxMe]

Exactly! I would hope that our president had worked up a number of contingencies plans on issues that involved American national security, including the removal of Saddam Hussein. As such, I have no doubt that plans were considered regarding how to deal with Saddam, including his removal.

[ReleaseTheHounds]

This back-stabbing from the stupidist person ever to join the Bush Administration. Cheyney's (sp?) really big blunder -- this guy was tone-deaf from the get-go. My late father would have suspected "rigormortis between the ears." What a fool... what a traitor.

[ClintonBeGone]

I expect we'll see Mr. O'Neill in Iowa in the next few days wearing a "Dean for President" t-shirt.

He sounds more like a fan of the Westly Clark fiction.

[pepperdog]

"how did this twerp end up in such a high position in this admin?"

To me this is the most serious part of this whole flap. How in the world did such an inept and vindictive person gain such a high government post in the first place. Whoever sponsored him needs to be thoroughly investigated--I smell a very large rat somewhere in the background.

[blanknoone]

America certainly has thousands upon thousands of contingency plans, it makes sense that the President was interested in the ones most likely to be necessary.

there was a conviction that Saddam Hussein was a bad person

I am rather glad that they had this conviction. As a matter of fact, is this a 'conviction' that you disagree with, Mr. O'Neill? Did you think he was just swell and enjoyed knowing he was killing, raping, maiming innocent people on a daily basis?

I really hate how people use innuendo like that...implying that what their opinion (aka 'conviction') of saddam was wrong and they were somehow extremists for recognizing reality.

[ClintonBeGone]

Sadly, these kind of "drive-bys" on the president are only going to happen more frequently as the election draws nearer. We've seen nothing yet.

Actually, I don't think that will happen. Larry Lindsey, the other guy canned with O'Neil, has been a goo soldier and not lashed out. Others that have left, including Ari Fleiser, left on good terms. There is a thread of loyalty in those that have been with Bush before. O'Neil was always an outsider.

[Miss Marple]

Paul O'Neill was recommended by Cheney, who had known him through business dealings.

I don't think a background check is done for sour grapes potential, though.

Cheney made a mistake with this guy, obviously. People make mistakes.

And I do think if this book is the hit piece it sounds like, Mr. O'Neill will find that he has made a mistake as well.

[Uncle Miltie]

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.'"

Subpeona the document, and DNA check it against O'Neil's sample. If match, then convict for Treason.