Iraq war is likely to go on trial along with Libby

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/10/29/ANALYSIS.TMP

Washington -- Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald did a meticulous job Friday, in a 22-page indictment, a nine-page press release and a 75-minute news conference, of portraying Lewis "Scooter" Libby as a serial liar who recklessly mishandled national security secrets.

As lawyers focus on the narrow legal question of whether Libby did everything Fitzpatrick alleges, much of the nation will be focused on whether those same attributes can be used to describe the way the Bush administration led the nation to war.

It is a question that simmered in left-wing circles in 2003 before the war began, and it became a campaign issue during John Kerry's unsuccessful presidential bid in 2004. It is the subject of speeches, blogs and books ("The Lies of George W. Bush,'' "The Five Biggest Lies Bush Told Us About Iraq,'' "Lies and the Lying Liars who Tell Them.'')

<snip>

The matter now is likely to get another look as prosecutors move toward a public trial for Libby. Though the five felony counts are narrowly focused on what he told investigators and the grand jury, the surrounding circumstances are sure to resurrect what may be the most touchy subjects of Bush's tenure: Did the administration handle intelligence properly, and was it honest in building its case for war?

The dissonance should be studied in universities. Fitz couldn't have been any clearer, but the media's been busy muddying things ever since.

My father, sister, and I were watching CNN on Wednesday morning and the subject of the CIA leak came up. One of their talking heads said, "I know that that this CIA leak Grand Jury is confusing to most Americans."

Now I know that over 30 years of underfunding education is taking its toll on the nation, but I don't see how the fact that a senior white office official leaked the name of a CIA operative who just happened to be the wife of a journalist critical of the war of Iraq can be in any way confusing. But by saying it enough, I'm sure CNN can end up convincing many of this nation of sheep into believing that they're confused.

hend. it is elietist.

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

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very encouraging. :)

bush,libby and lying all in the same headline!

:hi:

because they helped this criminal bunch with the Iraq invasion ...

Libby's lawyers will drag the trial start out with as many motions as possible. Then, with a month or two until the 2008 elections, Bush* will pardon Libby.

No jail, no fine, no embarrassment for the chimp or Cheney, his master - no shit.

:mad:

They must be really sure of those Diebold Republican Electing Machinez.


Fixing the votes around the Party.

He'll do it after the election but before the inaugural for the new pres. Probably around January 15th, 2008.

The Lies;

Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction.
- Dick Cheney, speech to VFW National Convention, Aug. 26, 2002

Right now, Iraq is expanding and improving facilities that were used for the production of biological weapons.
- George W. Bush, speech to UN General Assembly, Sept. 12, 2002

No terrorist state poses a greater or more immediate threat to the security of our people and the stability of the world than the regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq.
- Donald Rumsfeld, testimony to Congress, Sept. 19, 2002

The world is also uniting to answer the unique and urgent threat posed by Iraq.
- George W. Bush, Nov. 23, 2002

If he declares he has none, then we will know that Saddam Hussein is once again misleading the world.
- Ari Fleischer, press briefing, Dec. 2, 2002

We know for a fact that there are weapons there.
- Ari Fleischer, press briefing, Jan. 9, 2003

What we know from UN inspectors over the course of the last decade is that Saddam Hussein possesses thousands of chemical warheads, that he possesses hundreds of liters of very dangerous toxins that can kill millions of people.
- White House spokesman Dan Bartlett, CNN interview, Jan. 26, 2003

Our intelligence officials estimate that Saddam Hussein had the materials to produce as much as 500 tons of sarin, mustard, and VX nerve agent…. The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.
- George W. Bush, State of the Union Address, Jan. 28, 2003

We know that Saddam Hussein is determined to keep his weapons of mass destruction, is determined to make more.
- Colin Powell, remarks to UN Security Council, Feb. 5, 2003

We have sources that tell us that Saddam Hussein recently authorized Iraqi field commanders to use chemical weapons - the very weapons the dictator tells us he does not have.
- George W. Bush, radio address, Feb. 8, 2003

If Iraq had disarmed itself, gotten rid of its weapons of mass destruction over the past 12 years, or over the last several months since 1441 was enacted, we would not be facing the crisis that we now have before us.
- Colin Powell, interview with Radio France International, Feb. 28, 2003

So has the strategic decision been made to disarm Iraq of its weapons of mass destruction by the leadership in Baghdad?….I think our judgment has to be clearly not.
- Colin Powell, remarks to UN Security Council, March 7, 2003

We believe has, in fact, reconstituted nuclear weapons.
- Dick Cheney, NBC's Meet the Press, March 16, 2003

Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised.
- George W. Bush, address to the U.S., March 17, 2003

The people of the United States and our friends and allies will not live at the mercy of an outlaw regime that threatens the peace with weapons of mass murder.
- George W. Bush, address to U.S., March 19, 2003

Well, there is no question that we have evidence and information that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction, biological and chemical particularly…..All this will be made clear in the course of the operation, for whatever duration it takes.
- Ari Fleisher, press briefing, March 21, 2003

There is no doubt that the regime of Saddam Hussein possesses weapons of mass destruction. And….as this operation continues, those weapons will be identified, found, along with the people who have produced them and who guard them.
- Gen. Tommy Franks, press conference, March 22, 2003

I have no doubt we're going to find big stores of weapons of mass destruction.
- Defense Policy Board member Kenneth Adelman, The Washington Post, March 23, 2003

One of our top objectives is to find and destroy the WMD. There are a number of sites.
- Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clark, press briefing, March 22, 2003

We know where they are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south, and north somewhat.
- Donald Rumsfeld, ABC interview, March 30, 2003

Obviously the administration intends to publicize all the weapons of mass destruction U.S. forces find - and there will be plenty.
- Robert Kagan, The Washington Post, April 9, 2003

But make no mistake - as I said earlier - we have high confidence that they have weapons of mass destruction. That is what this war was about and it is about. And we have high confidence it will be found.
- Ari Fleischer, press briefing, April 10, 2003

We are learning more as we interrogate or have discussions with Iraqi scientists and people within the Iraqi structure, that perhaps he destroyed some, perhaps he dispersed some. And so we will find them.
- George W. Bush, NBC interview, April 24, 2003

There are people who in large measure have information that we need….so that we can track down the weapons of mass destruction in that country.
- Donald Rumsfeld, press briefing, April 25, 2003

We'll find them. It'll be a matter of time to do so.
- George W. Bush, remarks to reporters, May 3, 2003

I'm absolutely sure that there are weapons of mass destruction there and the evidence will be forthcoming. We're just getting it just now.
- Colin Powell, remarks to reporters, May 4, 2003

I'm not surprised if we begin to uncover the weapons program of Saddam Hussein – because he had a weapons program.
- George W. Bush, remarks to reporters, May 6, 2003

We said what we said because we meant it…..We continue to have confidence that WMD will be found.
- White House spokesman Ari Fleischer, press briefing, May 7, 2003

Before the war, there's no doubt in my mind that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, biological and chemical. I expected them to be found. I still expect them to be found.
- Gen. Michael Hagee, Commandant of the Marine Corps, interview with reporters, May 21, 2003

Given time, given the number of prisoners now that we're interrogating, I'm confident that we're going to find weapons of mass destruction.
- Gen. Richard Myers, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff, NBC Today Show interview, May 26, 2003

Do I think we're going to find something? Yeah, I kind of do, because I think there's a lot of information out there."
- Maj. Gen. Keith Dayton, Defense Intelligence Agency, press conference, May 30, 2003

You remember when Colin Powell stood up in front of the world, and he said Iraq has got laboratories, mobile labs to build biological weapons....They're illegal. They're against the United Nations resolutions, and we've so far discovered two . And we'll find more weapons as time goes on, But for those who say we haven't found the banned manufacturing devices or banned weapons, they're wrong. We found them.
- George W. Bush, remarks to reporters, May 31, 2003

The backpedaling begins:

We never believed that we'd just tumble over weapons of mass destruction in that country.
- Donald Rumsfeld, Fox News interview, May 4, 2003

U.S. officials never expected that "we were going to open garages and find" weapons of mass destruction.
- Condoleeza Rice, Reuters interview, May 12, 2003

I just don't know whether it was all destroyed years ago - I mean, there's no question that there were chemical weapons years ago - whether they were destroyed right before the war whether they're still hidden.
- Maj. Gen. David Petraeus, Commander 101st Airborne, press briefing, May 13, 2003

I don't believe anyone that I know in the administration ever said that Iraq had nuclear weapons .
- Donald Rumsfeld, Senate appropriations subcommittee on defense hearing, May 14, 2003

They may have had time to destroy them, and I don't know the answer.
- Donald Rumsfeld, remarks to the Council on Foreign Relations, May 27, 2003

It was a surprise to me then - it remains a surprise to me now - that we have not uncovered weapons, as you say, in some of the forward dispersal sites. Believe me, it's not for lack of trying. We've been to virtually every ammunition supply point between the Kuwaiti border and Baghdad, but they're simply not there.
- Lt. Gen. James Conway, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, press interview, May 30, 2003

I think some in the media have chosen to use the word 'imminent.’ Those were not words we used. We used 'grave and gathering' threat.
-White House spokesman Scott McClellan, press briefing, Jan. 31, 2004

This is about an imminent threat.
- White House spokesman Scott McClellan, press briefing, Feb. 10, 2003

After being asked whether Hussein was an "imminent" threat: Well, of course he is .
- White House spokesman Dan Bartlett, CNN interview, Jan. 26, 2003

After being asked whether the U.S. went to war because officials said Hussein’s alleged weapons were a direct, imminent threat to the U.S.: Absolutely.
- White House spokesman Ari Fleischer, press briefing, May 7, 2003

And finally, some truth:

We urge you to... enunciate a new strategy that would secure the interests of the U.S. and our friends and allies around the world. That strategy should aim, above all, at the removal of Saddam Hussein's regime from power.
- Letter to President Clinton, signed by Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, and others, Jan. 26, 1998, http://www.newamericancentury.org/iraqclintonletter.htm

The U.S. should assert its military dominance over the world to shape "the international security order in line with American principles and interests," push for "regime change" in Iraq and China, among other countries, and "fight and decisively win multiple, simultaneous major theater wars….While the unresolved conflict with Iraq provides the immediate justification, the need for a substantial American force presence in the Gulf transcends the issue of the regime of Saddam Hussein."
- "Rebuilding America’s Defenses: Strategy, Forces and Resources for a New Century," The Project for the New American Century , Sept. 2000

Judge whether good enough hit S.H. at the same time. Not only UBL ….Go massive. Sweep it all up. Things related and not.
- Donald Rumsfeld notes, Philadelphia Daily News, Sept. 11, 2001

For bureaucratic reasons, we settled on one issue, weapons of mass destruction because it was the one reason everyone could agree on.
- Paul Wolfowitz, Vanity Fair interview, May 28, 2003

From the very beginning, there was a conviction, that Saddam Hussein was a bad person and that he needed to go. Going after Saddam was topic "A" ten days after the inauguration
- eight months before Sept. 11. - former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill, CBS’ 60 Minutes, Jan. 11, 2004

Intelligence "analysts never said there was an imminent threat" from Iraq before the war.
- CIA Director George Tenet, speech, Feb. 5, 2004

Fantastic collection!!

Can I copy and share??

AWESOME!!

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

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:yourock:

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msandalow@sfchronicle.com

Recommended! :yourock:

WHO pulled off that job?