Dubya's 10 Lies, 1000 Dead US Soldiers....

[JoseCuervo]

Ten Bush lies, 1,000 American deaths
More than 1,000 American men and women are now dead as a result of George W. Bush's flagrant, calculated lies "justifying" the war in Iraq.

John Kerry's speech in Cincinnati today outlined just how badly that decision has hurt America. Let's revisit another Cincinnati speech — the one George W. Bush gave on Oct. 2, 2002 — just as Congress was deciding whether to give Bush authorization to attack Iraq. Here are the ten lies that jump-started the wrong war—one that has killed 1000 Americans.

1. Bush lied about weapons of mass destruction.

FACT: David Kay said no stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction existed in Iraq. Kay said Bush should give up "delusional" hope that WMD will be found. [Kay Testimony, 9-11 Commission, 1/28/04; Reuters, 7/28/04]

2. Bush lied about an Iraq/Al Qaeda relationship .

FACT: The 9/11 Commission Report said no "collaborative operational relationship" existed between Iraq and Al Qaeda, while the Senate Intelligence Committee report found no "established, formal" relationship between Iraq and Al Qaeda. [9/11 Commission Final Report, 7/22/04; LATimes, 7/10/04]

FACT: A national security expert called conflation of Iraq and Al Qaeda a "strategic error of the first order." [Dr. Jeffrey Record (professor, Air Force's Air War College), "Bounding the Global War on Terror," December 2003, Army Strategic Studies Institute]

3. Bush suggested Iraq might have nuclear weapons and was planning to attack the U.S.

FACT: The Senate Intelligence Committee reported that previous U.S. intelligence estimates said Iraq did not have nuclear weapons. [Senate Intelligence Committee Report, Conclusion #27; Wash Post, 7/10/04]

4. Bush claimed Iraqi scientists were reconstituting nuclear weapons.

FACT: Scientists were working on non-nuclear projects. [Washington Post, 8/10/03]

FACT: Saddam's scientist said Saddam gave up weapons in 1991. [AFP, 8/12/04]

5. Bush claimed Iraq was using aluminum tubes to produce weapons.

FACT: Senate Intelligence report found aluminum tubes were not being used to reconstitute nuclear weapons. [LATimes, 7/10/04]

FACT: No evidence that Iraq's nuclear program was being reconstituted. [CEIP: "WMD In Iraq," 1/2004]

6. Bush claimed Iraq was developing unmanned aerial vehicles to attack the U.S.


FACT: Air Force was never convinced Iraq had effective drones. [Wall Street Journal, 9/10/03]


FACT: United Nations chief weapons inspector concluded that no evidence of unmanned aerial program existed. [Wash Post, 9/5/04]

7. Bush promised to plan for war and build a real coalition.

FACT: The U.S. is carrying the burden in Iraq — nearly 90 percent of the troops there are American. [Washington Post, 6/20/04; AP, 9/6/04; Brookings Institution, "Iraq Index," Updated 8/16/04]

FACT: Officials admit Bush administration never had a concrete plan for post-war Iraq. [Newsweek, 7/21/03; Knight Ridder , 7/12/03]

FACT: Secret Joint Chiefs Report: Pentagon planners were not given enough time to consider reconstruction in post-war Iraq. [Washington Times, 9/3/03, emphasis added]

FACT: Bush is losing coalition forces in Iraq. Eight countries are planning to or have already withdrawn troops from the coalition in Iraq. In all, nearly 3,000 troops have pulled out or planning to pull out of Iraq this month. [AP, 8/13/04]

FACT: The Pentagon ignored early State Department predictions of postwar problems. [New York Times, 10/19/03]

FACT: Bush admits that he miscalculated the conditions in post-war Iraq. [New York Times, 8/27/04]

8. Bush said going to war with Iraq was crucial to the war on terror.

FACT: The war in Iraq has hurt the war on terror. Former Bush counterterrorism coordinator Richard Clarke believes that by going to war in Iraq, "we delivered to Al Qaeda the greatest recruitment propaganda imaginable." [Newsweek, 4/12/04; Clarke 9/11 Commission Testimony, 3/24/04]

FACT: Al Qaeda Is Regenerating. "For the past several months, the president has claimed that much of Al Qaeda's leadership has been killed or captured; the new evidence suggests that the organization is regenerating and bringing in new blood." [New York Times, 8/10/04]

FACT: A national security expert said the war on terror was "strategically unfocused… promises much more than it can deliver, and threatens to dissipate scarce U.S. military and other means over too many ends." [Dr. Jeffrey Record (professor, Air Force's Air War College), "Bounding the Global War on Terror," December 2003, Army Strategic Studies Institute]

FACT: Troops were diverted from Bin Laden hunt to Iraq. [USA Today, 3/29/04, KnightRidder/Tribune News Service 9/5/03]

FACT: Franks told Graham that resources were being diverted to Iraq 14 months before the invasion. [AP, 9/5/04]

9. Bush said the Congressional vote on Iraq would not necessarily lead to war.

FACT: Bush mischaracterized Kerry's vote. [Bush remarks, 9/1/04]

10. Bush claimed Iraq possessed long-range missiles that could threaten Americans living in Saudi Arabia, Israel, Turkey, and other nations.

FACT: Inspectors Findings Disprove Bush Claims "Inspectors have found that the Al Samoud-2 missiles can travel less than 200 miles — not far enough to hit the targets Bush named. Iraq has not accounted for 14 medium-range Scud missiles from the 1991 Persian Gulf War, but the administration has not presented any evidence that they still exist." [Washington Post, 3/18/03]

 

[2fastnaz]

k

 

[JoseCuervo]

2-Fast,

Kind of hard to argue the evidence???

 

[cjcj]

Hey Gunner, Do you think the world/Iraq is better off with Saddam out of power?

 

[JoseCuervo]

Probably worse, if you consider the world. If you consider the Iraqi people, I think the jury is still out.

When he was in power, we had an ally that we could fund and keep Iraq in check with. We used his regime for lots of Middle East instability, thru the years.

And after that little "Kuwait thing", he kind of became a non-factor, as we kept him bottled up between the no-fly zones. He was getting old, and could likely have been toppled without 1000 US troops dying, and without creating a nation of Islamaic Terrorists who want to kill Americans.

But unfortunately, when Dubya announced his "crusade" the rest of the Islamic world is now more sympathetic toward helping preserve Islam from Dubya's "crusade"s.

The world became safer when the Taliban were removed, and if Dubya hadn't pulled our resources from hunting Al-Quaida and BinLaden in order to avenge some personal vendetta, we would have a safer world.

 

[Michaelr]

"coughbullshitcough"

 

[JoseCuervo]

Brilliant Michael, absolutely brilliant....