IRAQ
Lies of Bush and Co Revealed by Bob Woodward, the only guy who had the Cojones to go after Bushs predecessor as Liar-In-Chief, Tricky Dick Nixon.
Exposing previous White House denials as lies, journalist Bob Woodward this weekend revealed parts of his new book which provide evidence the Bush Administration began plans for an Iraq invasion immediately after 9/11; overhyped intelligence; and appeared to circumvent the Constitution to pursue its goals. In Woodward's account, which includes a three-and-a-half hour interview with President Bush, it is revealed that the President personally ordered plans for the Iraq war to be drawn up in November of 2001 (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/04/17/iraq/main612400.shtml) . While the White House has called such statements " revisionist history (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/03/20040323-4.html) ," Woodward's account is consistent with accounts given by Richard Clarke (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/03/19/60minutes/main607356.shtml) , former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill (http://abcnews.go.com/sections/wnt/US/oneill_charges_040113.html) , former Bush State Department official Richard Haass (http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?030331fa_fact) , former British Ambassador Christopher Meyer (http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=508178) , and an earlier CBS News report (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/09/04/september11/main520830.shtml) . Woodward's book explores the depth of White House cover-up efforts, showing how the Administration persuaded even top military officials to lie. For instance, at the same time General Tommy Franks was secretly developing the President's Iraq war plan, he was "simultaneously publicly denying that he was ever asked to do any plan." For instance, at the same time General Tommy Franks was secretly developing the President's Iraq war plan, he was "publicly denying that he was ever been asked to do any plan." Just as troubling, Woodward points out that the decision to go to war with Iraq was shared with Saudi Prince Bandar (who has milked his ties to the Bush Administration despite being under the microscope for money laundering (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A20942-2004Apr17.html) ) and RNC consultant Karen Hughes before it was shared with Secretary of State Colin Powell.
UNANSWERED -- MANIPULATING OIL PRICES FOR BUSH CAMPAIGN?: Woodward also reveals that the Saudi Arabian government -- the same government with potential ties to terror (http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/080303A.shtml) - "promised Bush that his country would lower oil prices before the November 2 presidential election." Woodward said Bandar specifically wanted Bush to know that the Saudis hope to "fine-tune oil prices" for the 2004 election (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...u=/afp/20040419/ts_alt_afp/us_vote_saudi_bush) . Recently, the Saudis led the charge to cut OPEC oil production (http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2004-04-02-oil-prices_x.htm) , which has raised gas prices (http://www.indystar.com/articles/0/136344-2960-031.html) in America. Was that move meant to artificially raise the price, so that it could be lowered closer to the election?
PROOF - BUSH/CHENEY DELIBERATELY OVERHYPED INTELLIGENCE: According to Woodward's book, the President told aides in December of 2002, "Make sure no one stretches to make our case" about WMD. But a look at the record shows it was Bush and Vice President Cheney who, well before this cautionary statement, were aggressively hyping intelligence. For instance, Bush claimed in October 2002 that Iraq had "a growing fleet of manned and unmanned aerial vehicles (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/10/20021007-8.html) that could be used to disperse chemical or biological weapons" -- a claim that was rejected at the time (http://www.theolympian.com/home/specialsections/War/20030927/110326.shtml) by the Air Force intelligence unit most knowledgeable about the issue. He also claimed definitively that Iraq "possesses and produces chemical and biological weapons," despite warnings from U.S. intelligence agencies that there was no solid proof (http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=24889) . Similarly, Vice President Cheney was even more assertive, claiming without proof in August 2002 "there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has WMD (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/08/20020826.html) . There is no doubt he is amassing them to use against our friends, against our allies, and against us." Even after Bush made his cautionary statement, the overhyping continued, with Cheney saying, " Iraq has, in fact, reconstituted nuclear weapons (http://www.unwire.org/UNWire/20040317/449_14108.asp) ," Bush claiming " We found the WMD (http://www.whitehouse.gov/g8/interview5.html) ," and Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld saying "We know where the WMDs are." See other examples of how the White House ignored warnings (http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=24889) that its WMD case for war was weak.
