Cheney: Threat Posed by Hussein Justified Invasion (washingtonpost.com): "Ignoring threats posed by Saddam Hussein would have been 'irresponsible in the extreme,' Vice President Dick Cheney said today, doing his part to defend the Bush administration's mission in Iraq.'"
No one was ignoring the threats posed by Saddam Hussein. Iraq had been under strict sanctions since 1991. Its air space was largely patrolled by US and UK war planes. They regularly attacked Iraqi positions on the ground. The US had attacked Iraq with many missiles in the late 1990's after it called for the inspectors to leave. The CIA was getting almost all its information about Iraq from the inspectors. And before the war, the world was united in having the inspectors go back to Iraq. And the Iraqi's were co-operating fully. They were destroying Al Samud missiles. Even so, despite all that, the Bush bullies invaded.
Cheney claims that the intelligence available pointed out the threat to America. He fails to point to the intelligence that said if we invaded we would face a guerilla war. He fails to point to the evidence that contradicted the intelligence he cites, even though he had it before the war.
I note that retired intelligence officials have called for his resignation, and I concur. Please resign Mr. Cheney. And take Mr. Bush with you when you're going. You've done enough damage.

"Bush, his top aides and GOP congressional leaders have been aggressively trying to counter embarrassing questions about prewar intelligence and the performance of Bush's national security team. The administration's campaign has focused on how Iraqis have been liberated -- how the war has made the world safer -- and away from questions about Iraqi weapons programs and why no weapons of mass destruction have been found.

That effort has been hampered by an ever-changing White House story -- from first blaming the CIA and then the British to new revelations by Stephen Hadley, deputy national security adviser, that contradict earlier statements by his boss, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice."
- posted by geoff @ #