BUSH ADMIN WAS DISCUSSING BOMBING IRAQ FOR 9/11

[sMiLeYz]

FORMER WHITE HOUSE TERRORISM ADVISOR: BUSH ADMIN WAS DISCUSSING BOMBING IRAQ FOR 9/11 DESPITE KNOWING AL QAEDA WAS TO BLAME
Fri Mar 19 2004 17:49:30 ET

Former White House terrorism advisor Richard Clarke tells Lesley Stahl that on September 11, 2001 and the day after - when it was clear Al Qaeda had carried out the terrorist attacks - the Bush administration was considering bombing Iraq in retaliation. Clarke's exclusive interview will be broadcast on 60 MINUTES Sunday March 21 (7:00-8:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

Clarke was surprised that the attention of administration officials was turning toward Iraq when he expected the focus to be on Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden. "They were talking about Iraq on 9/11. They were talking about it on 9/12," says Clarke.

The top counter-terrorism advisor, Clarke was briefing the highest government officials, including President Bush and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, in the aftermath of 9/11. "Rumsfeld was saying we needed to bomb Iraq....We all said, 'but no, no. Al Qaeda is in Afghanistan," recounts Clarke, "and Rumsfeld said, 'There aren't any good targets in Afghanistan and there are lots of good targets in Iraq.' I said, 'Well, there are lots of good targets in lots of places, but Iraq had nothing to do with [the 9/11 attacks],'" he tells Stahl.

Clarke goes on to explain what he believes was the reason for the focus on Iraq. "I think they wanted to believe that there was a connection [between Iraq and Al Qaeda] but the CIA was sitting there, the FBI was sitting there, I was sitting there, saying, 'We've looked at this issue for years. For years we've looked and there's just no connection,'" says Clarke.

Clarke, who advised four presidents, reveals more about the current administration's reaction to terrorism in his new book, "Against All Enemies."

Developing...

The Drudge report

Is it me or is Rummy sound like a little boy crying home to mommy...

"But, mommy! It was Iraq's fault!"

 

[smashp]

Wasnt this brought forward a little also in "Bush at War"

 

[Phokus]

It's almost exactly like the spain situation. Members of the Bush Administration wanted so badly to jump the gun and blame Iraq because it suited their purposes, nevermind punishing the real perpetrators. Bunch of lying scumbags, i wonder how CAD & CO. can defend this :disgust:

 

[sMiLeYz]

Originally posted by: Phokus Bunch of lying scumbags, i wonder how CAD & CO. can defend this :disgust:

Just by apologizing some more, changing the subject, or blaming Clinton. And hey it works beautifully everytime!

 

[Red Dawn]

The Dub and his Neocon handlers were itching to go at Iraq even before 9/11

 

[arsbanned]

Well, they had hurt his Daddy's feelings. ANd you know what THAT means! Lots of innocent people have to DIE! *thumbs up*

 

[fjord]

Many of the major players (oficially and unofficially) assembled by G. W. Bush for this administration were directly involved in the first Iraq war.

Rummy, Cheney, Wolfowitz, Perle, etc.

I think they would be the first to admit they felt/feel like they left the job undone the first time.

Which is to say this administration came in more than predisposed to finish the job.

 

[Romans828]

Originally posted by: Phokus
It's almost exactly like the spain situation. Members of the Bush Administration wanted so badly to jump the gun and blame Iraq because it suited their purposes, nevermind punishing the real perpetrators. Bunch of lying scumbags, i wonder how CAD & CO. can defend this :disgust:

Listening to you talk it sounds like you consider GW Bush and company the enemy......

 

[zantac]

They'll all repeat whatever the GOP's official response to this will be. ie: "He is just mad because [insert random reason]" or "he has a grudge against the president" .

 

[Phokus]

Originally posted by: Romans828

Originally posted by: Phokus
It's almost exactly like the spain situation. Members of the Bush Administration wanted so badly to jump the gun and blame Iraq because it suited their purposes, nevermind punishing the real perpetrators. Bunch of lying scumbags, i wonder how CAD & CO. can defend this :disgust:

Listening to you talk it sounds like you consider GW Bush and company the enemy......

THey're now my ideological enemy. At first i was just merely angry at the bush admin, now i'm FURIOUS at them :disgust:

 

[sandorski]

Originally posted by: Romans828

Originally posted by: Phokus
It's almost exactly like the spain situation. Members of the Bush Administration wanted so badly to jump the gun and blame Iraq because it suited their purposes, nevermind punishing the real perpetrators. Bunch of lying scumbags, i wonder how CAD & CO. can defend this :disgust:

Listening to you talk it sounds like you consider GW Bush and company the enemy......

 

[classy]

Originally posted by: sMiLeYz

Originally posted by: Phokus Bunch of lying scumbags, i wonder how CAD & CO. can defend this :disgust:

Just by apologizing some more, changing the subject, or blaming Clinton. And hey it works beautifully everytime!

LOL.

 

[burnedout]

A Washington Post article published early in 2002 already alluded to this situation.

 

[UltraQuiet]

Originally posted by: burnedout
A Washington Post article published early in 2002 already alluded to this situation.

As did Bob Woodwards book. The limp wristers are a day late and a dollar short as usual but this will give them something to yap about for the next five or six minutes.

 

[RadBrad]

Originally posted by: sMiLeYz

FORMER WHITE HOUSE TERRORISM ADVISOR: BUSH ADMIN WAS DISCUSSING BOMBING IRAQ FOR 9/11 DESPITE KNOWING AL QAEDA WAS TO BLAME
Fri Mar 19 2004 17:49:30 ET
"

You know it is quite amazing, but a couple beer buddies of mine were discussing
bombing Iraq 10 years before 9/11.

Bush Admin only did what needed to be done 10 years ago.


What is the big deal?

 

[Phokus]

Originally posted by: RadBrad

Originally posted by: sMiLeYz

FORMER WHITE HOUSE TERRORISM ADVISOR: BUSH ADMIN WAS DISCUSSING BOMBING IRAQ FOR 9/11 DESPITE KNOWING AL QAEDA WAS TO BLAME
Fri Mar 19 2004 17:49:30 ET
"

You know it is quite amazing, but a couple beer buddies of mine were discussing
bombing Iraq 10 years before 9/11.

Bush Admin only did what needed to be done 10 years ago.


What is the big deal?

The big deal is that Rumsfeld and some hawks were saying, 'forget afghanistan, lets bomb iraq instead, there are better targets there' even though they KNEW Al Quaeda in Afghanistan was behind this. THAT is the big deal. :disgust:

 

[Vadatajs]

I like what I'm reading, but DRudge is a piece of sh!t. Somebody with some credibility need to pick this up if true.

 

[SuperTool]

Wow, so 3000 Americans lay dead, and all Rumsfield was thinking about is how to use their deaths to start a war on Iraq.

 

[RadBrad]

Originally posted by: Phokus

Originally posted by: RadBrad

Originally posted by: sMiLeYz

FORMER WHITE HOUSE TERRORISM ADVISOR: BUSH ADMIN WAS DISCUSSING BOMBING IRAQ FOR 9/11 DESPITE KNOWING AL QAEDA WAS TO BLAME
Fri Mar 19 2004 17:49:30 ET
"

You know it is quite amazing, but a couple beer buddies of mine were discussing
bombing Iraq 10 years before 9/11.

Bush Admin only did what needed to be done 10 years ago.


What is the big deal?

The big deal is that Rumsfeld and some hawks were saying, 'forget afghanistan, lets bomb iraq instead, there are better targets there' even though they KNEW Al Quaeda in Afghanistan was behind this. THAT is the big deal. :disgust:

I would rather guess that the conversation was more like, 'when were done in afghanistan, lets bomb iraq also, cause we might not ever have another chance'


Like I said up there "Whats the big deal"

It needed doing.


What you don't get is that bush was lieing to you, not me.

I saw the wink, years ago!

 

[Orsorum]

Originally posted by: RadBrad I would rather guess that the conversation was more like, 'were done here in afghanistan, lets bomb iraq now, cause we might not ever have another chance'


Like I said up there "Whats the big deal"

It needed doing.


What you don't get is that bush was lieing to you, not me.

I saw the wink, years ago!

This happened before Afghanistan, genius.

 

[nutxo]

Originally posted by: Phokus
It's almost exactly like the spain situation. Members of the Bush Administration wanted so badly to jump the gun and blame Iraq because it suited their purposes, nevermind punishing the real perpetrators. Bunch of lying scumbags, i wonder how CAD & CO. can defend this :disgust:

Why defend it?

nm, sorry, long day

 

[RadBrad]

Originally posted by: Orsorum

This happened before Afghanistan, genius.

I see the error of my words, I shall edit.

 

[Phokus]

BUMP.

I'm going to keep bumping this up until i get a CREDIBLE explanation or one of you Neo-CONmen to denounce this! :disgust:

 

[Phokus]

Originally posted by: RadBrad

Originally posted by: Phokus

Originally posted by: RadBrad

Originally posted by: sMiLeYz

FORMER WHITE HOUSE TERRORISM ADVISOR: BUSH ADMIN WAS DISCUSSING BOMBING IRAQ FOR 9/11 DESPITE KNOWING AL QAEDA WAS TO BLAME
Fri Mar 19 2004 17:49:30 ET
"

You know it is quite amazing, but a couple beer buddies of mine were discussing
bombing Iraq 10 years before 9/11.

Bush Admin only did what needed to be done 10 years ago.


What is the big deal?

The big deal is that Rumsfeld and some hawks were saying, 'forget afghanistan, lets bomb iraq instead, there are better targets there' even though they KNEW Al Quaeda in Afghanistan was behind this. THAT is the big deal. :disgust:

I would rather guess that the conversation was more like, 'when were done in afghanistan, lets bomb iraq also, cause we might not ever have another chance'


Like I said up there "Whats the big deal"

It needed doing.


What you don't get is that bush was lieing to you, not me.

I saw the wink, years ago!

Yeah sure, that's a nice excuse. And no, rumsfeld and his crew of neo-CONmen were saying they'd rather attack iraq instead of afghanistan because it had better targets. TRY TO JUSTIFY THIS :disgust:

 

[FrodoB]

Well, what ACTUALLY happened was that we went on to crush much of Al Queda and destroyed the oppressive regime of Saddam. We haven't had a terrorist attack since and the world is a much better place without Saddam. It's absolutely pathetic that some of you people live in a self created world of negativity. There are some of you that need to seek counseling.