Dick Cheney blindsided the CIA, the State Department, and Colin Powell, making a statement (which was unvetted by either Bush or the CIA and later proved to be a full-on lie) that Iraq was developing nuclear weapons. The state department official who gathered the intelligence Cheney based this on denied this was the conclusion of his report. Cheney's office then vengefully leaked the CIA identity of the man's wife, Valerie Plame (Scooter Libby was later sentenced to prison but pardoned by Bush).
David Albright, respected nuclear physicist who had investigated Iraq's nuclear weapons program after the first Gulf War, said there was no evidence for nuclear weapons and that the press wasn't looking into the facts. Bush ignored him.
Secretary of State Colin Powell broke with Dick Cheney and said we should do inspections instead of an invasion. Bush ignored him.
House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-TX), opposed to military action against Iraq, told Bush that Iraq would be a quagmire. Bush ignored him.
James Webb, a former assistant secretary of defense and secretary of the Navy published an op-ed in the Washington Post warning that the neoconservatives' plan to invade Iraq would commit the US to a long term occupation of Iraq. Bush ignored him.
William Rivers Pitt, a journalist, and Scott Ritter, a former US Marine and UN inspector in Iraq publish a book against invading Iraq, stating "The case for war against Iraq has not been made." Bush ignored them.
During the Middle East Institute's annual conference, retired Marine General Anthony Zinni presents an extensive argument against the Bush administration's plans for invading Iraq. Bush ignored him.
Former US diplomat Joseph Wilson warns in an interview with Knight Ridder that a post-Saddam occupation could turn into "a very, very nasty affair." Bush ignored him.
John Brady Kiesling, a career diplomat of 20 years, resigned from his post as a political counselor at the United States Embassy in Athens, citing his opposition to the administration's Iraq policy. Bush ignored him. John Brown, PhD.--a career US diplomat of 22 years, who served in London, Prague, Krakow, Kiev, Belgrade and Moscow--submitted his letter of resignation to Secretary of State Colin Powell, citing his opposition to the Iraq war. Bush ignored him.
Tony McPeak, a retired four-star general who headed the US Air Force during Desert Storm, criticized the Bush administration's failure to build a multilateral coalition to disarm Iraq. Bush ignored him. When Rumsfeld said we could invade with a small force, the Pentagon said it would take hundreds of thousands of troops to hold Iraq. Bush ignored them.
This was all before the invasion of Iraq.
A senior national security professional at one of America's military-sponsored think tanks told journalist James Fallows that the Bush adminstration was "full of shit" and said: "In my view we are much, much worse off now than when we went into Iraq. That is not a partisan position. I voted for these guys. But I think they are incompetent, and I have had a very close perspective on what is happening." Autumn 2004
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2008-05-18 05:35 pm (UTC)David Albright, respected nuclear physicist who had investigated Iraq's nuclear weapons program after the first Gulf War, said there was no evidence for nuclear weapons and that the press wasn't looking into the facts. Bush ignored him.
Secretary of State Colin Powell broke with Dick Cheney and said we should do inspections instead of an invasion. Bush ignored him.
House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-TX), opposed to military action against Iraq, told Bush that Iraq would be a quagmire. Bush ignored him.
James Webb, a former assistant secretary of defense and secretary of the Navy published an op-ed in the Washington Post warning that the neoconservatives' plan to invade Iraq would commit the US to a long term occupation of Iraq. Bush ignored him.
William Rivers Pitt, a journalist, and Scott Ritter, a former US Marine and UN inspector in Iraq publish a book against invading Iraq, stating "The case for war against Iraq has not been made." Bush ignored them.
During the Middle East Institute's annual conference, retired Marine General Anthony Zinni presents an extensive argument against the Bush administration's plans for invading Iraq. Bush ignored him.
Former US diplomat Joseph Wilson warns in an interview with Knight Ridder that a post-Saddam occupation could turn into "a very, very nasty affair." Bush ignored him.
John Brady Kiesling, a career diplomat of 20 years, resigned from his post as a political counselor at the United States Embassy in Athens, citing his opposition to the administration's Iraq policy. Bush ignored him. John Brown, PhD.--a career US diplomat of 22 years, who served in London, Prague, Krakow, Kiev, Belgrade and Moscow--submitted his letter of resignation to Secretary of State Colin Powell, citing his opposition to the Iraq war. Bush ignored him.
Tony McPeak, a retired four-star general who headed the US Air Force during Desert Storm, criticized the Bush administration's failure to build a multilateral coalition to disarm Iraq. Bush ignored him. When Rumsfeld said we could invade with a small force, the Pentagon said it would take hundreds of thousands of troops to hold Iraq. Bush ignored them.
This was all before the invasion of Iraq.
A senior national security professional at one of America's military-sponsored think tanks told journalist James Fallows that the Bush adminstration was "full of shit" and said: "In my view we are much, much worse off now than when we went into Iraq. That is not a partisan position. I voted for these guys. But I think they are incompetent, and I have had a very close perspective on what is happening." Autumn 2004