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The neocons have been planning the removal of Hussein for quite some time. Some of these quotes go back as far as 1992. Bush is not the only one that should be held accountable for starting an unjust war based on lies. The information came from Frontier Justice, written by former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter.
From the Defense Policy Document, written by Paul Wolfowitz and Lewis Libby in 1992 (while they worked for Sec of Defense Dick Cheney):
"Our first objective is to prevent the re-emergence of a new rival. This...requires that we endeavor to prevent any hostile power from dominating a region whose resources would, under consolidated control, be sufficient to generate global power."
From a letter to Bill Clinton from PNAC sent on January 26, 1998:
"We are writing you because we are convinced that current American policy toward Iraq is not succeeding, and that we may soon face a threat in the Middle East more serious than any we have known since the end of the Cold War.
"...would secure the interests of the US and our friends and allies around the world (by seeking) the removal of Saddam Hussein's regime from power."
On October 31, 1998, both GOP-controlled houses of Congress voted to approve Public Law 105-338, also known as the Iraq Liberation Act of 1998, which declared the "Sense of the Congress regarding United States policy toward Iraq" in that it should "be the policy of the United States to support efforts to remove the regime headed by Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq and to promote the emergence of a democratic government to replace that regime."
In Dubya's inaugural address on January 20, 2001, Bush said "We will confront new weapons of mass destruction, so that a new century is spared new horrors. The enemies of liberty and our country should make no mistake: America remains engaged in the world by history and by choice, shaping a balance of power that favors freedom."
From the Republican Party platform of 2000:
"The administration (Clinton) has pretended to support the removal of Saddam Hussein from power, but it did nothing when Saddam's army smashed the democratic opposition in northern Iraq in August 1996. The administration also surrendered the diplomatic initiative to Iraq and Iraq's friends, and failed to champion the international inspectors charged with erasing Iraq's nuclear, biological, chemical, and ballistic missile programs."
The Republicans called for "a comprehensive pan for the removal of Saddam Hussein" and the installation of a new government headed by the now-famous Ahmad Chalabi.
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