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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: JohnM who wrote (85846)	3/24/2003 9:16:58 PM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 281500

Here's another from The New Yorker... HOW IT CAME TO WAR When did Bush decide that he had to fight Saddam? by NICHOLAS LEMANN The New Yorker Issue of 2003-03-31 Posted 2003-03-24 newyorker.com <<...“Before September 11th,” the official said, “there wasn’t a consensus Administration view about Iraq. This issue hadn’t come to the fore, and you had Administration views. There were those who preferred regime change, and they were largely residing in the Pentagon, and probably in the Vice-President’s office. At the State Department, the focus was on tightening up the containment regime—so-called ‘smart sanctions.’ The National Security Council didn’t seem to have much of an opinion at that point. But the issue hadn’t really been joined. “Then, in the immediate aftermath of the eleventh, not that much changed. The focus was on Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden, Al Qaeda. Some initial attempts by Wolfowitz”—Paul Wolfowitz, the Deputy Secretary of Defense —“and others to draw Iraq in never went anywhere, because the link between Iraq and September 11th was, as far as we know, nebulous at most—nonexistent, for all intents and purposes. It’s somewhere in the first half of 2002 that all this changed. The President internalized the idea of making regime change in Iraq a priority. What I can’t explain to you is exactly the process that took us from the initial post-September 11th position, which was, Let’s keep the focus on Al Qaeda and Afghanistan, to, say, nine months later, when Iraq had moved to the top of the priority list for us. That’s a mystery that nobody has yet uncovered. It clearly has something to do with September 11th, and it’s clearly consistent with the President’s speech about weapons of mass destruction in the hands of rogues, people with a history of some terror—but, again, how it exactly happened, and what was the particular role of Cheney, among others, I wish you well in uncovering.”...>>

To: JohnM who wrote (85846)	3/24/2003 9:27:00 PM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

John: Do you think the Pulitzer Prize winning Hersh may be helping to uncover 'Golf of Tonkin II'...? Ellsberg may be right that history could be repeating itself. regards, -s2 btw, I'm still convinced that Congress shirked its responsibility BIG TIME last fall...they never had a robust and EFFECTIVE debate on the wisdom of a 'pre-emptive strike' on Iraq...I can really connect with these comments that Seymour Hersh made a few weeks ago... NEW YORKER COLUMNIST SY HERSH: 'NEVER SEEN MY PEERS AS FRIGHTENED' HARVARD CRIMSON - Journalist Seymour Hersh denounced the Bush administration's approach to Iraq last night after accepting the Goldsmith Career Award for Excellence in Journalism at the Kennedy School of Government's ARCO Forum. . . Hersh began his acceptance speech by portraying the difficulties that today's reporters face, especially in Washington. "I have never seen my peers as frightened as they are now," Hersh said. . . Hersh then turned his attention to the impending war with Iraq. Hersh said skepticism about a potential war is shared by many Washington insiders. "I have never seen such dissent even with three and four star generals. The war is particularly not popular with the marines," Hersh said. . . . "Congress has gotten so much dumber it's embarrassing," he said. "There has been a collapse of Congress. It's an incredible failure. A staggering failure."

To: JohnM who wrote (85846)	3/25/2003 12:11:35 AM
From: paul_philp	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

I am glad Hersh took up this story. There is nothing new or credible here but Powell owes an explanation for how this happened. There is zero chance that the US won't find WMD in Iraq (unless he got them all to Syria but I find that hard to believe). Paul