That said, let us all recall how Bush blamed the bad intel he got for his actions.

Bush lied. People Died - and the CIA is absolutely no better.

The CIA is SIGNIFICANTLY worse. Even while his dad was running it.

Shitty shitty people.

If she did then she along with everyone else who read it in the Bush admin and Congress should be tried for treason right?

trust Bush Co. Not only did she trust them, she parroted every last one of their talking points in her Senate floor support speech before voting for this abomination.

If she see it and voted as she did, she is a neocon. Period.

If she did not see it and voted for it out of trust for Bush Co's lies, then she is too stupid, naive, and of such poor judgement to be qualified for the position of president.

She was either on board with the neocon agenda or she made a cold calculation that being a hawk in the post-9/11 environment was better for her political ambitions.

The Clinton's use their famous triangulation all the time. That was one of those times. She figured she had nothing to lose and everything to win.

Be supportive of the war because she was the Senator from New York after 9/11 and be popular for that and also being able to claim she was duped by the Bush Administration if she turned out to be wrong. That's triangulation.

Not stupid at all, but definitely a politician through and through. Capitalizing on everything to the best personal advantage no matter what the fallout is. Always a win-win.

That kind of political calculation is a big reason why our government fails to serve the interests of the American people.

It is up to us, the voting public, to make triangulation a losing strategy instead of a "win-win."

If it weren't for Bernie I would be supporting Hillary because she would be the only option, and I always vote even if it's only to nullify a Republican vote. but frankly I'm tired of the status quo in politics. I'm more than tired. I'm sick of it. To be forced to face a future of more of the same is really depressing.

It's long overdue to vote the Corporatists out.

+1,000

and always with good reason.

from before day 1.

I wrote my congresscritters before the IWR, urging them to vote against it.

I went to my local Chicago anti-war protest in Feb 2003, where I heard a relative unknown named Barack Obama speak against it.

I travelled to our nation's capital for the protest on Mar 15, 4 days before shock&awe.

When this war crime was launched I had never in my entire life been so ashamed of my country or so bitterly disappointed in the Democratic leadership. I suppose Vietnam under LBJ was just as bad or worse, but I was just a kid in the mid 1960's.

people that the intelligence was flawed.

But we should remember what Obama said after taking office, "Look forward, not back!" I am pretty sure HE saw this document!

Do you think Obama wanted to set a precedent to protect him down the road?

Just wondering if you know.

But it's good for us to be

A) reminded of these facts

B) show the reinforced info to show that what was a lie then is still a lie now that has grown into a pariah of global range.

C) So we never forget what a stolen election brought us.

It's a status quo thing not a party thing.

they would do to him if he did something about this?

Get over that idea because it will never happen.

Neither Sanders nor Clinton will go after Bush either.

I was here at DU in 2002, and we knew the case for war was built on a deliberate campaign of deceit.

I vowed then to never, ever, support a candidate in a Democratic primary who voted for the IWR.

We predicted it would be a fiasco, but the consequences are even worse than anticipated.

Bush, Cheney, Rummie will pay for their murdering, Middle East destabilizing, lying, cheating, self serving ways. Cheney, especially, is guilty of enriching himself at America's expense. His net worth went up 400% due to the government using his company without requiring competitive bids. Hell, they even changed the law first thing upon taking office, so that Halliburton could get government contracts that they'd previously been banned from due to their being caught cheating the government so many times previously.

That they did this purely and knowingly for personal and political gain just makes it 10x worse.

Until these war criminals are indicted and prosecuted, it most certainly is not.

We are not a national of law and rules, we are a corportacrcy, for and of the 1%. Everyone else doesn't matter, we are nothing to them. Bush/Cheney made the 1% a lot of $$, so they are totally safe from the true charges of being traitors.

The MIC, Dick Cheney, and Erik "on the run" Prince needed a huge pay day!

Of course, it's no surprise,

How's it playing in the corporate media?

...and fattened the wallets of their godforsaken military-industrial complex (R).

war, some indirectly (i.e., campaign donations from MIC corps).

I wonder why they are letting this out now. Looks like another smoke screen to me. The criminality of the Iraq War isn't going anywhere.

Look to present day events for another even greater criminal government act taking place right now under our nose.

Oh well, nevermind. Water under the bridge. Looking backwards to the past, when we should be looking forward to the future. We'll get it right next time. No harm, no foul, right? You guys aren't going to get all snitty about the colossal waste of money, materiel and lives are you? Anybody can make a teensy-weensy mistake, you know. It's not like you guys are all perfect. Keep bringing this up, and you know what that makes you? You're the real war mongers!

again. You'd think the populace would catch on, but the veils of illusion are so easily pulled over ignorant faces.

...but those German citizens, they were under a dictatorship instead of a democracy. We knew Bush and the BFEE lied, well many of us here did....now we ALL know that he lied! I have said these words before and I pop will say them till my last day: IMPEACH BUSH!

I guess the joke was on me, my fellow soldiers, and the Iraqi people!

When I deployed to Iraq in February 2004 wee were still supposedly on the lookout for weapons of mass destruction. I remember it became a joke with me and my fellow platoon leaders in my unit. We were going to find the WMDs! We knew it!! Then about August 2004 we had to turn in all of our chemical protective gear. Which, I thought was very telling of what my chain of command thought about the chances of us finding WMD.

Hey, they got me good with their joke. I've been considered totally and permanately disabled from PTSD since about two years ago after a pretty nasty suicide attempt. The war and its after effects have been slowly destroying everything in my life since 2004. It's nice to know that when I joined the army in 1997 as a naive kid with idea that I'd be fighting to make the world a better place that I was completely taken for a fool by the politicians and leaders appointed over me. Yup, they got me good.

Then people wonder why I, under no circumstance, will vote for a politician who supported that war and then took until about a year ago to realize that it was a mistake. We were all taken for fools by these sorts of politicians and some of have paid more of a price than others. Anybody who ever supported that war should be shunned from public life and never hold any sort of position of power again. At least bush 43 has done a mostly decent job of that for the last 8 years. I wish the rest would follow his example.

... on cars driven by flag-waving armchair warriors rooting for this war?

I would call it a supreme irony, but the tragedy is too great. A better word is needed.

will press charges when more papers are released and they have no choice but expose the truth to the entire world. I hope Dicks new heart hangs in there to see him found guilty. These people are war criminals and will be dealt with, but not by America. We aren't honest enough.

war and $$$$$$$$$$$ for the MIC - Plenty of Justification - and she knew

What a different world this would be. Instead that opportunity was lost on a war based on lies....

Doctors, Teachers and Engineers.

Win over hearts and minds instead of blowing them up.

..

knew, 13 years ago that the " Iraq War Had Zero Justification".
I told all my friends the same. Today, nobody cares. It does not
make any difference.

THIS^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

+1

I don't think hiding out in America will be enough this time, everyone wants a piece of the BFEE now. We all knew this shoe would drop, just like the Panama Papers during the TPP. Torture was just one thing on the menu. Lies and illegality the cake. Malfeasance.

EDIT - this will be big, a little birdie told me the PP is just the first leak. During social unrest and austerity. Could cause some governments to collapse. Venezuela is in freefall do to the bottom falling out on a barrel of oil and so goes the house of cards.

The fact that the part about America, namely the who is who among billionaires is being vetted right now must mean panic in the ownership.

Obama too.

Any sane person have proof to argue otherwise?

Which isn't exactly helping her case.

It's unfortunate that so many people in America don't get that the Iraq War was unjustifiable. I blame Faux and the RW media for this mess.

A little part of hope that maybe there was a reason all those people died and were maimed.

I remember well the day it suddenly hit me.. "Shit, they are actually going do this!" it may have been as early as late 2002, certainly VERY EARLY 2003..

in launching a war that destroyed Iraq for sure and most likely destroyed the USofA.

That is, if they made an effort to go down to 'Read only' classified repository in the basement.

question.

is done.

wade in the shit your leader helped create?

back then?

That it's one that has an answer.

And we are talking 92 pages - was written so that whoever was doing the executive summary presentation would have their ass covered.

"But if Clinton’s claim that “I had acted in good faith” passes muster, her assertion that she “made the best decision I could with the information I had” does not. Prior to Clinton’s October 10, 2002 speech from the Senate floor explaining her Iraq vote, the Bush administration sent over two documents to the Senate for review. The first was a 92-page, classified National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction (WMD). The second was a five-page, unclassified version."

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/06/whats-missing-from-hillary-clintons-iraq-war-apology/372427/

But trusted bush instead.

the obvious. I knew this from day one, cynic that I am.

Thanks for the thread, KamaAina.

…..was directly readable by all those Senators who voted to support this damn war?

I'm sure Feinstein saw it because she's on the intelligence Committee. Did HRC see it?

There was NO justification!!

Absolutely none of this would have been possible if we had a real, truth-seeking media in this nation. Yes, some of the alternate media sources were on this from the beginning but the network TV stations, major newspapers and radio stations were all part of the Cheney disinformation campaign. What a travesty. Spoke to a co-worker today who couldn't believe that Iraq wasn't responsible for 9-11. Wonder why?

voted FOR the Iraq war? I remember those days here on DU. MANY of us - even without her level of access, KNEW the entire thing was based on LIES and that there was NO damn reason to invade & occupy Iraq.

This is only proof that we were right. And that HRC in this instance showed very poor judgement.

Never.

Knowing a massacre was coming, for no reason, and there was nothing they could do about it except kiss their loved ones good bye.

The international criminal court needs to prosecute Cheney and Bush

PNAC alive and well.

I never post in all caps. I opted to this time.

Col. Westhusing was in charge of training the new Iraqi army and overseeing civilian contractors.

He is remembered as a good man, a brilliant man who followed the Cadet Code:
"I will not lie, cheat, or steal, or tolerate those who do.”



Col. Westhusing was the Army's chief ethicist and someone who suspected something was wrong with David Petraeus, way back when. Then, just when he was about to come home to his loving wife and family, he became a suicide.

with our exceptional and sacred national interests.

Iraq's decision to change payment for its oil from dollars to euros was the reason for the US invasion.
It's common knowledge.

And had he submitted to the jackals and hit men, we wouldn't have needed to share our democratic values with Iraq.

“It’s important for us not to feel too sanctimonious in retrospect about the tough job those folks had,” in propping up the otherwise worthless petrodollar.

Because that would change a whole lot about how much the yes-voters deserve to be excused for their grave error of judgement.

I suspect many read only the executive summary though that was cherry picked.

People who come up with the wrong answers reliably can be very valuable.

do her due diligence on matters of life and death. Shame on her.

Always talk about taking responsibility.
Yet after blowing $1000+ billion
Thousands of american lives
Millions of iraqi lives
Rise of isis criminals

The right wing whiner losers blame obama and liberals and muslims. Anyone but their own sorry asses.

going into Iraq was still the right thing to do. They may be wrong, but they're sticking with their decision.

On the other hand, there were a lot of Dems who have, after the fact, claimed "if I knew then what I know now, I wouldn't have supported the IWR"... as it turns out, they could have, and should have know it before they voted.

it was glaringly obvious they had set their sights on it, relevance be damned. Darth Cheney wanted their oil and our "friends" in the middle east wanted Saddam gone, and no amount of our money or our soldiers was too great to advance their selfish narcissistic goals.

We may as well have invaded Canada.

Well maybe if the price of oil was higher.

Rather, I suggest the CIA documents demonstrate that the justification for the war in Iraq was not the justification offered. Because the justifications of regime change and economic opportunity were what really drove the engine.

As ever, when discussing things like justification and accomplishment of mission, one must first define whose benefits they are adjudging.


-- Mal

Watching the war happen was horrifying.

Healthcare, Education, Infrastructure, a Voting Rights Amendment....

What I'd like to say to his face:


I'd tell you to go fuck yourself
But that is much too kind
Because if you could perform that feat
You'd take pleasure in your behind

I'd like to say eat shit and die
But you deserve much more
You should suffer all the grief and pain
Of your misbegotten war

Though I could never make you think
Or feel, or understand
I'll take solace when you hear your name
Cursed throughout the land

From inside a lonely prison cell
Dark and bare and cold
Where every day you pay for your crimes
Until you're sick, heartbroken, and old

Then when you finally leave the earth
You fucked over oh so well
If there is a God and afterlife
You're going straight to hell

Possibly punk.

let's prosecute the criminals that perpetrated this heinous crime. Prosecution is the only path to redemption for our country.

Nearly half the Democrats in Congress voted for the IWR and some leaders, like Hillary Clinton, echoed the Bush administration's war rhetoric.

of sites had this - like Mother Jones

Why doesn't cnn have it? Why isn't this on the news as the lead story

And - surely the "corporate media" can't keep this quiet - can they?

squelch an important story......we need to get Trump on this....he would JUMP on it if he knew.

Yet they always pretend to be super duper Dems...