A Few of FR's Finest, Every Day....01-15-04..."O'Neill Bombshell: How Damaging"

JohnHuang2, dutchess, billie | JohnHuang2

[dutchess]

A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day

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O'Neill Bombshell: How Damaging?

by JohnHuang2

In a bombshell revelation that has Washington reeling in shock, former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill told CBS News that Bush was no great admirer of Saddam Hussein, with the President even hinting sinisterly the ousted Iraqi leader was a 'bad person.' (O'Neill memo to Bush: Saddam had enough enemies already! He didn't need another one!)

Oddly enough, "from the very beginning, there was a conviction that Saddam Hussein was a bad person" and that this 'bad person' "needed to go," even before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, a flabbergasted O'Neill, the main source for a new book, told "60 Minutes" in an interview aired Sunday. (Saddam gassed thousands, raped and pillaged, invaded neighbors, aided terrorism, plotted Bush (41's) failed assassination; just who in their right mind would suspect Saddam's a bad person anyway?)

Even more damning, the White House appeared to believe Saddam was a threat to peace and stability before 9/11. (About Saddam, Bush should keep his unfair opinions to himself! What's Bush thinking, he's Treasury Secretary or somethin'?) O'Neill, a threat to peace and stability in the market before and after 9/11, shockingly added that the White House had contingency plans for a possible U.S. invasion of Iraq, accusing the President of not ignoring the threat of terrorism and developing a winning strategy to deal with it from the get go, among other very damaging allegations. (After the U.N. gave Saddam only 12 years to turn a new leaf, Bush took only 2 years to rush to war). More damning still, credible reports suggest the Bush White House plot against Saddam predates the Bush White House, with 'Regime Change' having been U.S. policy since 1998 -- indicating Bush's nefarious influence, as governor of Texas, reached deep into the Clinton administration and Congress, which mandated Regime Change that year. All of this plotting and scheming by Bush falls right in line with Bush being completely disengaged, detached, passive, lethargic, and really, really dumb -- as O'Neill depicts him. (During Cabinet meetings in the Clinton White House, I bet Bush was like a blind man in a roomful of deaf people).

On "60 Minutes," O'Neill recalls his first Cabinet meeting with Bush this way: "I went in with a long list of things to talk about and, I thought, to engage (him) on...it turned out to be me talking and the president just listening." (O'Neill then spends the next 2 years just listening to the President talk non-stop about his plan to invade Iraq, enough to fill 19,000 pages of documents. Or are these the same documents Howard Dean sealed up in Vermont?)

As Treasury Secretary for 23 rocky months, O'Neill recalls seeing no convincing evidence that Saddam possessed WMD. (For 23 rocky months, I recall seeing no convincing evidence the U.S. possessed a Treasury Secretary).

That said, I'll confess the "60 Minutes" interview was devastating. Sorry -- I'm not going to paper over this, nor coat it with candy. O'Neill shows how a crucial gap in intelligence could lead to misguided thinking on Iraq. Where was this crucial intelligence gap, precisely? From the interview, I concluded the intelligence gap was the empty space between O'Neill's ears. Small wonder Bush canned him. (When O'Neill heard the Mars Rover had landed, he probably called it 'a really huge leap -- the notion that the U.S. has the unilateral right to do whatever we decide to do.' If book sales falter, brace for his next shocker: How Bush began planning to invade Mars within days of taking office. In a related note, Wesley Clark may have questioned why the Mars probe could not be conducted from 15,000 ft. up and Howard Dean may have wondered whether this was predicted in the Old or New Testament and Al Sharpton may have questioned why no signs of blacks nor Hispanics on a planet of color (red) and Dennis Kucinich may have hoped to gain momentum from this tour of his homeland. I'd wager John F. Kerry may have checked to see if Dean ever spoke in support of legislation giving Bush authority to invade Mars. Joe Lieberman may have wondered whether the Rover was Al Gore in a flight suit).

Perhaps most damning of all, O'Neill claims to have seen irrefutable evidence that politics played a role in the Bush White House, which came as a terrible shock to O'Neill, a veteran of the Nixon and Ford administrations. His experience with Bush may have scarred O'Neill for life. He has not adjusted well. To relieve the emotional upheaval of seeing politics occur in Washington, O'Neill talked to former Wall Street Journal reporter, Ron Suskind, author of a new book, The Price of Loyalty, offering up those 19,000 documents. "The biggest difference between (Nixon-Ford) and (Bush-Cheney) is that our group -- (Nixon-Ford) -- was mostly about evidence and analysis," whereas the Bush people seem "mostly about politics," O'Neill told Mr. Suskind. Clearly, other than Watergate, Enemies lists, the Plumbers, wage and price controls, Kissinger's 'Peace in our time,' nixing Bretton Woods, etc., politics was something that never happened in the Nixon and Ford administrations.

On Bush's policy of tax cuts, O'Neill took a dim view, accusing Bush of fiscal irresponsibility. (I wouldn't too quickly dismiss O'Neill's economic credentials, though. Recall all the jitteriness as investors watched the DOW plummet in '02? To reassure the markets, O'Neill launched an African AIDS awareness tour with Bono, traveling the whole of Africa. The DOW leapt 25 percent afterwards -- in the 12 months since Bush sacked him for such outstanding work. (From the beginning, there was a conviction in the market that O'Neill was a bad person for the job and that he needed to go).

O'Neill says his 'going public' has nothing to do with being a bitter and disgruntled former employee; he has no ax to grind, no hard feelings for being forced from his post summarily -- really! (Next he'll say he began planning to remove himself from office days after taking office. To be fair, O'Neill has grounds for complaining: Saddam had 24 years before being ousted for screwing things up; O'Neill had 23 months before being ousted for screwing things up).

Shocked at evidence Bush early on considered using force to topple Saddam (even planning for the postwar), Democrats jostling for their party's presidential nomination were quick to pounce.

(Facing a backlash, O'Neill said Tuesday he didn't really mean all that stuff about Bush being blind and that he didn't really mean there was anything wrong with contingency planning for possible war with Iraq and that he didn't really mean to use "vivid" language quoted in the book and that he didn't really mean to imply he would not vote for Bush in November. "I don't see anyone who is better prepared or more capable" than Bush, he told NBC's "Today" show, adding that the whole thing was just some big misunderstanding -- really! -- and that if he "could take it back," he "would take it back," referring to the blind man quote. He also denied any classified documents were used -- the subject of a new Treasury Department probe -- or that he doesn't think so, or that he doesn't think so but can't be sure because he never even checked the material before giving it to Mr. Suskind. He denied taking any agency documents. "The truth is, I didn't take any documents at all," he told Katie Couric. The spine-chilling truth is that these documents were stalking O'Neill. That's right. Everywhere he went, the documents followed. All 19,000 pages. I hate when that happens!)

Massachusetts Sen. John F. Kerry, who served in Vietnam, called the charges "very serious," noting that the "White House needs to answer these charges truthfully because they threaten to shatter (its) already damaged credibility as never before" -- even stretching back to the days when John F. Kerry served in Vietnam.

Evidence of an early invasion and postwar plan shows that "the American people were presented with misleading or manufactured intelligence," said Howard Dean.

Evidence of an early invasion plan and extensive postwar planning is damning enough, but Democrats also complain the White House lacked an adequate invasion plan and pursued no extensive postwar planning.

At a news conference Monday at Monterrey, Mexico, Bush noted that "Like the previous administration, we were for regime change."

Any questions?

Anyway, that's

My two cents...

THIS WEEK'S THREADS 01-12-04...Military Monday 01-13-04...Celebrate Living 01-14-04...Freepercise....2004

Opinions by our own 'King of Ping' The guy's good, folks!

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[jwfiv]

Good morning, Miss D...thanks for delivering JH2's Two Cents to us.

Good morning to all our Hostesses, our Host , and all the Finest.

I've been away for a couple of days, need to go back and catch up on all the good vibes.

JohnHuang2 rules.

[dutchess]

Please stop in for another John 2cents home run....You'll love what he has to say about this weeks political spin..

[FreeTheHostages]

here's one for Paul

[dutchess]

God Bless Our Military
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Below are names of some of our FReepers' loved ones who are serving our country. If you have someone you would like to add, please address a post to Billie; Mama_Bear; Dansangel; Dutchess, Aquamarine or deadhead and we will add their name to this list. As we pray for them, we pray also for all our nation’s leaders, and military personnel, and their families and friends. May God hold them close to His heart.

~~~~~~~~~~   ~~~~~~~~~~

We ask Lord, that You guide the leaders of our great country in their hour of decision. The burden that has been placed on their shoulders is overwhelming. We ask that with Your infinite wisdom You guide them gently to the right decisions.

Please give us the strength, Lord, to get through each difficult and devastating day that faces each of us and our country. Protect and guide our Military that are now being called to duty, strengthen them in their trials and temptations; give them courage to face the perils which beset them; and grant them a sense of your abiding presence wherever they may be; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

OhioWfan........................son mystery-ak..........son, husband Gogrammy................grandson Inspectorette...................son Blessed American..........nephew Slip18..........................nephew anniegetyourgun...........nephew Pippin....niece,nephew,loved one Doug from Upland......son-in-law weldgophardline.....brotherinlaw Future Snake Eater..........cousin WaterDragon..son-in-law,grandson BeforeISleep...................son BeAllYouCan Be............son Tiffee4Bob............boyfriend The Mayor.................niece consort...2 daughters, son-in-law kimmie7......................brother Texkat.............son, stepson spruce...............daughter visualops....cousin, adopted marine cookcounty..................son Warrior Nurse..........active duty SK1 Thurman...........active duty David Osborne.........active duty fc2tomschermuly......active duty LongCut....................active duty Trish..........................active duty bkwells......................active duty thumperusn..............active duty

Dubya............nephew Maigrey................cousin ladtx....................2 sons Mama_Bear.........2 nephews gator girl............husband severa.....husband, brother Hostel......................cousin MozartLover......son, nephew SpookBrat...........nephew Himyar.....................son boxerblues............2 sons the piper...................son sheeza...............husband kemathen7...........husband Diver Dave.....niece..nephew deadhead................cousin JimRobinson.....2 nephews Armymarinemom.....3 sons kneezles...................son Darheel..................niece dixiesass..............nephew LadyX..............grandson AgThorn................2 sons valerieUSA............2 sons StarCMC.......brother atomic conspiracy..halfbrother atomic conspiracy..niece, nephew ODC-GIRL.......active duty Donaeus..........nephew

[dutchess]

Perfect calendar for Paul!!!!! Off to work...see you all later!

[FreeTheHostages]

Look what w04man's up to now!

Pro-Bush Ad Contest @ http://w-04.com

[FreeTheHostages]

Enjoy work. Great job on the pics today!

[FreeTheHostages]

For 23 rocky months, I recall seeing no convincing evidence the U.S. possessed a Treasury Secretary.

ROFL!

[The Mayor]

Be doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. —James 1:22

Open your Bible prayerfully, read it carefully, and obey it joyfully

[The Mayor]

January 15, 2004

Let's Not Kid Ourselves

Read: James 1:19-25

Be doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. —James 1:22

Bible In One Year: Genesis 36-38; Matthew 10:21-42

---

A child was told by his mother, "Go look in the mirror and wash your face." He insisted, "I already have!" But she replied, "You're only kidding yourself!" His dirty face proved to her that if he really had looked in the mirror, he ignored what it revealed. He may have seen the truth about himself, but he didn't act on it.

The apostle James taught that anyone who hears God's Word but does not obey it is kidding himself. He is like someone who looks at himself in a mirror but goes his way unchanged (James 1:22-24). He hears and reads God's Word, but then dismisses it, not letting the Scriptures change him. The person who looks into the mirror of God's Word, however, longing to be transformed by it, "is not a forgetful hearer" (v.25). He wants the Word to reveal his true needs and show him truths to obey. As he obeys, he progressively becomes more like Jesus. James said that kind of person "will be blessed in what he does" (v.25).

If we honestly want to become more like Christ in our attitudes, actions, and reactions, we must look into God's mirror, the Bible, regularly. But let's not kid ourselves—just looking isn't enough. God's Word will transform us, but only if we obey it. —Joanie Yoder

Lord, help me heed Your every word,
Commands that I have read or heard;
As You reveal Your will each day,
Help me to follow and obey. —Fitzhugh

Open your Bible prayerfully, read it carefully, and obey it joyfully.

[Aquamarine]

You both did a fantastic job as usual!
It's fun to see what someone else comes up with in the graphics department, love the kaboom!

O'Neill is just another liberal with no core values, glad he got rooted out of President Bush's camp.

[Aquamarine]

Good morning JW. It's nice that you had time to come by and read John's essay today.

Have a great day!

[ST.LOUIE1]

Morning, pretty ladies. : )

Neat graphics, dutchess, Billie. : )

[ST.LOUIE1]

Great column, King!

O'Neill's a pipsqueek. You nailed him good. : )

[ST.LOUIE1]

Morning, everyone!

I hope to return soon. : )

[MeekOneGOP]

Good job, John !

My Dad's on the way to the house and I think we're going to my aunts house after he gets here.

So I'll see ya'll later ! ...

[The Thin Man]

Good morning! Very well done. Excellent read, and I even liked dutchess' graphics. :)

[The Thin Man]

In the past, and very rightfully so, I have rebuked a hostess (always in a kind and gentle manner) for posting a thread too early. This practice is quite unfair to the previous thread, causing it to prematurely end, and to the one who presented it.

This time, dutchess, I will make an exception and instead applaud you, because as far as I'm concerned the FReepercise thread couldn't have ended too soon.

:-)

[dansangel]

[Pippin]

GOOD AFTERNOON EVERYBODY!!!! I'm BAAAAAACK! TRALALALA! But not for very long, I'm kinda going to be scarce for awhile; just got bad news and it's getting me down. As a result of this bad news, that computer I was hoping to get in June is out of the question, WAAAAA!

(whining over)

I see we have a few, well name changes. HI MEEKIE! Hi, JEN! Hope everybody has a GREAT DAY! :O)