Posted on 10/25/2005 9:12:26 PM PDT by churchillbuff
President George W. Bush may have no military exit strategy for Iraq, but the “neocons” who convinced him to go to war there have developed one of their own—a political one: Blame the Administration. Their neo-Wilsonian theory is correct, they insist, but the execution was botched by a Bush team that has turned out to be incompetent, crony-filled, corrupt, unimaginative and weak over a wide range of issues.
The flight of the neocons—just read a recent Weekly Standard to see what I am talking about —is one of only many indications that the long-predicted “conservative crackup” is at hand.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
It's really a shame that you keep forgetting this little tidbit:
In its 1998 indictment of bin Laden for the East African embassy bombings, the Clinton administration claimed: “Al-Qaeda reached an understanding with the Government of Iraq that al Qaeda would not work against that government and that on particular projects, specifically including weapons development, al Qaeda would work cooperatively with the Government of Iraq.”
Maybe :-)
Yeah, "blame" the Administration for the fact that Saddam Hussein is in a cell, Uday Hussein and Qusay Hussein are in a morgue, Iraq has held democratic elections and approved a Constitution which guarantees fundamental freedoms unheard-of in the Arab world. Let's make good and sure the Administration gets every drop of "blame" for this.
That way, Kristol hopes, Kristol won't get blamed for the mess in Iraq...
What mess in Iraq? Have you been listening to the mainstream media again?
Things in Iraq aren't perfect. But they've been consistently improving, regardless of the media's ceaseless accentuation of the negative.
even though Kristol's crowd said victory would be easy and we would find caches of WMDs
I suppose you're counting Hillary and Bill Clinton, Tom Daschle, Wesley Clark, Sandy Berger, Robert Byrd, et al as part of "Kristol's crowd" who claimed we'd find caches of WMDs?
And I got news for you... victory was easy. Fewer Americans die each day in Iraq than die from falling down the stairs. The casualty rate in Iraq is utterly minuscule compared to other armed conflicts the United States has engaged in. The victory in Iraq was a breathtaking display of staggering military competence that will be studied in schools of war for centuries.
If there's one thing I fault the Administration for, it's for being too passive in the face of extremely well-coordinated opposition, and for failing to make the obvious case that Iraq is a success.
You keep forgetting this too:
Meanwhile, new evidence continues to trickle out of Iraq. In December 2003, the Iraqi Governing Council uncovered a document from July 2001 in which the former head of the Iraqi Intelligence Service (IIS), Tahir Jalil Habbush al-Tikriti, describes arranging for 9/11 plotter Mohamad Atta to obtain three days of training in Baghdad by the Palestinian terrorist Abu Nidal, under the “direct supervision” of the IIS.
And this probably isn't of any interest to you either:
Iraq's coalition government claims that it has uncovered documentary proof that Mohammed Atta, the al-Qaeda mastermind of the September 11 attacks against the US, was trained in Baghdad by Abu Nidal, the notorious Palestinian terrorist.
Your 'POINT' seems to be a MOVEON.ORG TARGET!..LOL. Hey pal..we don't need target practice around here! Been there..debated that. Move on down the road.
Oh, and those WMD that didn't exist:
The congressional resolution that gave Bush authority to launch the war, that so many Dems voted for, stated that Iraq had "the capacity to possess" WMD, a little fact that the media and Dem'Rats leave out of their rhetoric. So, ask her to prove that Bush ever said they actually had them. He and Powell, Cheney, etc., all talked about BW and CW that Iraq possessed in the past and remained unaccounted for, as U.N. mandates and the cease-fire resolution from the first Gulf War required.
Also, remind her that Bush never said that the WMD were an imminent threat, but rather that we were acting in a pre-eminent manner in order to prevent them from becoming as such.
Then we have the findings of the Iraq Survey Group; the quotes below are all taken from the "Statement On The Interim Progress Report On The Activities Of The Iraq Survey Group, 10/2/03," by David Kay:
“We have discovered dozens of WMD-related program activities and significant amounts of equipment that Iraq concealed from the United Nations during the inspections that began in late 2002.”
“A clandestine network of laboratories and safehouses within the Iraqi Intelligence Service that contained equipment subject to UN monitoring and suitable for continuing CBW [Chemical and Biological Weapons] research.”
“A prison laboratory complex, possibly used in human testing of BW [Biological Weapons] agents, that Iraqi officials working to prepare for UN inspections were explicitly ordered not to declare to the UN.”
“Reference strains of biological organisms concealed in a scientist’s home, one of which can be used to produce biological weapons.”
“New research on BW-applicable agents, Brucella and Congo Crimean Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF), and continuing work on ricin and aflatoxin were not declared to the UN.”
“Documents and equipment, hidden in scientists’ homes, that would have been useful in resuming uranium enrichment by centrifuge and electromagnetic isotope separation (EMIS).”
“A line of UAV’s [Unmanned Aerial Vehicles] not fully declared at an undeclared production facility and an admission that they had tested one of their declared UAVs out to a range of 500 km, 350 km beyond the permissible limit.”
“Continuing covert capability to manufacture fuel propellant useful only for prohibited SCUD variant missiles, a capability that was maintained at least until the end of 2001 and that cooperating Iraqi scientists have said they were told to conceal from the UN.”
“Plans and advanced design work for new long-range missiles with ranges up to at least 1000 km - well beyond the 150 km range limit imposed by the UN. Missiles of a 1000 km range would have allowed Iraq to threaten targets through out the Middle East, including Ankara, Cairo, and Abu Dhabi.”
“Clandestine attempts between late-1999 and 2002 to obtain from North Korea technology related to 1,300 km range ballistic missiles --probably the No Dong -- 300 km range anti-ship cruise missiles, and other prohibited military equipment.”
“With regard to Iraq’s nuclear program, the testimony we have obtained from Iraqi scientists and senior government officials should clear up any doubts about whether Saddam still wanted to obtain nuclear weapons. They have told ISG [Iraq Survey Group] that Saddam [Hussein] remained firmly committed to acquiring nuclear weapons.”
“In addition to the discovery of extensive concealment efforts, we have been faced with a systematic sanitization of documentary and computer evidence in a wide range of offices, laboratories, and companies suspected of WMD work.”
Oh, and you asked another freeper for a list of how the MSM connected Saddam to 9/11 and pressed for action, well here you go:
But if reporters really want to know why Americans see ties between Baghdad and 9/11, they need look no further than their own archives, where they'll find repeated and as yet undisputed reports documenting compelling evidence of Iraq's role in the attacks
A Lexis Nexis search for the three months after 9/11 turned up no fewer than 85 mainstream news reports describing, for instance, activities at the terrorist training camp Salman Pak.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/984758/posts
If I was president after 9/11, and I had the same information Bush had, I would have made the same Saddam connection he did. Al Queda training camps in Mosul would have been a big indicator.
Osama came suddenly into a lot of money in 1998 after his leutenants met with Iraqi Intelligence (remember this was long after his rich Saudi family cut him off), it is very likely this is the same money he used to fund 9/11. This was also right in the middle of Saddam's rape of the Oil for Food program, so Saddam definately had the money.
Too many coindences to rule out Saddam's involvement in 9/11 yet, despite what the liberal media and Bush have said.
Oh, and you've forgotten that Saddam was behind the first WTC attack, haven't you. You really need to work on that memory.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/984758/posts
lol... Howie Fineman is your point hammer- on castigating the Admin of President G. W. Bush- and Bill Kristol is the anvil? Baffle 'em with bs and kick the lazy ones twice.
And you've forgotten that the satellites showed Iraq military stripping the WMD sites.
http://freerepublic.com/focus/news/1356401/posts?page=1
Don't forget the left HERO..GALLOWAY!! SOON TO BE INDICTED LONDON PONCE!!
Oh, and gosh, the UN admits Iraq had WMD.
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1437528/posts
Not quite. Bush has said that no evidence has been fojnd that Iraq participated operationally in 9/11. He has not ruled it out. Mylroie's book, Bush vs the Beltway , provides some compelling information that Iraqi intelligence was involved with AQ in the planning for the 9/11 attack, including providing assumed identities for some of the hijackers, some of whom have never been identified beyond their assumed identities. The 9/11 Commission found that there was indeed an AQ/Iraq connection.
The hook ! For Howie Fineman. Enough already!
Gee, church, you asked Penelopesire for a link where the press was gunning for Saddam and then I gave you a link and you didn't respond.
I know the truth hurts; try to get over it.
Gee! Do ya think there might be a geographic advantage in having Iraq at the center of the Arab world chessboard?
Ahh! Pure coincidence. Our guys are'nt that smart.
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