History-like hindsight-is supposed to be 20:20, but the deliberate partisan, political divide regarding the invasion of Iraq makes that hard.
It’s not a new phenomenon. Long ago it was said that the true story of a war can’t be told until the last of its veterans has passed away, and only a few months ago did the last World War One veteran go to his great reward. For decades after the Civil War (and some would argue even today) the debate raged on, and the healing of Southern Reconstruction didn’t really start culturally until the unity of the Spanish-American War turned foes into brothers-in-arms.
Conspiracy theories-often fueled by politics-still rage over the 911 attacks, the invasion of Iraq, whether or not Roosevelt deliberately allowed the Pearl Harbor attack to happen, whether or not the U.S. Navy knew the U.S.S. Maine had a boiler explosion and wasn’t sunk by a mine. People still think that the Lusitania was set on a suicide mission to get the United States into World War One. These myths will always remain, and it’s good that they do because they spark investigation and a search for understanding of these world changing events. The relationship between the 911 attacks and the invasion of Iraq is interesting in that both have a long list of conspiracy theories attacked to each, and yet the abstract, more indirect relationship between the two events is dismissed out of hand. To that end, even if one believes the relationship between Iraq War and 911 attacks is a conspiracy theory, it’s worthwhile to examine if for no other reason than harvesting a better understanding. Read the rest of this entry »
Three events, occuring within days of each other, have revealed a growing impotency by the Obama administration on the world stage. Two have received wide press -Scotland’s release of the convicted Lockerbie bomber, and the O’admin’s puzzling change of heart by refusing to futher contest the ACLU’s FOIA demand that the WH release the CIA EIT detailed report on interrogation techniques. The third is a story running silent, running deep – the ongoing fate of Gitmo detainees, quietly released, using US judicial standards for evidence.
The three combined events do indeed document a “change” in tone by this administration when it comes to the “overseas operations contingencies”. But it also highlights our deteriorating relationships with, heretofore, close allies. The question now is whether that tone “change” is in the best interests of US national security.
LONDON (Reuters) – Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair will be asked to testify to a panel investigating the Iraq war, the head of the inquiry said Thursday.
Former civil servant John Chilcot said the inquiry, set up by Prime Minister Gordon Brown, would look at British involvement in the war, covering the period from the summer of 2001 to the end of July this year.
“The people we invite to give evidence will be those we judge … are best placed to supply the information we need to conduct our task thoroughly,” the inquiry chairman told a news conference.
Blair’s decision to send 45,000 troops to join the U.S.-led invasion to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein six years ago provoked massive anti-war protests in London and the resignations of ministers.
No Truth Commissions here in the US (though if Obama’s poll numbers take another hit, and Healthcare fails…it’s a good bet there’ll be more dancing & calling for one from the distraction driven Dems.
Call me Tony. I’m happy to help w the timeline & pics
This is one of those articles that I really REALLY hope people will read before just commenting on the headline or the quoted sections. In fact, I think it’s one of the best articles I’ve seen on this subject in half a decade. Yes, it’s long, detailed, and forces many readers to question their previously held beliefs about regime ties to the Al Queda terrorist network, but it’s not the typical anti-Bush/anti-war piece or a woohoo-Bush-was-right piece either. It is EXACTLY why: members of the 911 Commission, Sen Intel Com, as well as others (and why every investigation into the subject of regime ties) have called for MORE investigation (while specifically saying the matter should not be closed). Mark’s done a fantastic piece of work here, and it deserves reading.
-Scott
During a series of email and telephone exchanges Matthew Degn relayed to www.regimeofterror.com… his vast array of experiences working with intelligence issues relating to the current and former situation in Iraq. Among his responsibilities during his years in Iraq Degn worked as a civilian interrogator attached to the U.S. Army in Iraq before working as a Senior Policy/Intelligence Adviser to Deputy General Kamal and other top intelligence officials with the Iraq’s Ministry of Interior. Degn, currently working on a book about his experiences in Iraq (personal website here), continues to argue against those that feel there was no link between terrorism and Saddam Hussein’s regime based on his involvement with hundreds of interrogations in Iraq and his involvement with many of the Iraqi Intelligence officials with the Ministry of Interior. Degn says that much of the public perception about Saddam Hussein’s regime and terrorism are incorrect.
Degn is currently the Director of the Intelligence Studies Program and a professor at American Military University currently a professor at American Military University whose testimony about events in Iraq has been cited by NPR, ABC News, the Washington Post and elsewhere.
~~~
Another reason for conflicting reports that Degn pointed out is both the chain of command in the U.S. government’s many agencies and compartmentalization of information (”need to know”). Degn said he saw firsthand how these two factors led to vital wartime information being “watered down” before it mades its way to official reports and investigations.
Over the past many months a number of interviews, documents, admissions and other revelations have come to light that continue to undermine the notion that al Qaeda and al Qaeda linked groups were not able to operate inside Iraq during the rule of Saddam Hussein. These findings match up with older reports on the hotly contested that may now deserve re-examination.
These documents match the testimony of what a former overseer of Iraqi prisons, Dan Bordenkircher, claims he was told by numerous prisoners. In an interview with Ryan Mauro, Bordenkircher says that he was told that al Qaeda was not limited to areas beyond Saddam Hussein’s control but was present in Mosul and Kirkuk and received assistance from one of Saddam Hussein’s sons.
In an interview with FrontPage magazine, Osama al Magid, a former police officer in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq from 1992-2003, said that al Qaeda was present and protected in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq.
FP: How about Al Qaeda in Iraq?
Al-Magid: Al Qaeda and other people who believed the same as Al Qaeda had been in Iraq for many years. When I say “believed” I mean people who hated America and wanted to destroy the U.S. Saddam had this in common with Al Qaeda and this is why he provided them protection.
“We can’t compare that to the situation we have now with all these different types of organizations running around all over the country. Before there was nothing like an Al Qaeda organization here. I mean, they were here, but they were secretive, they were not in the field, they were not recognized yet. But now we feel that they are serious, that something big is going on.”
Propaganda is described in many ways, but one of those has got to be the kneejerk reliance and subsequent marketing of half quotes as whole truths. A half quote is a half truth, and this poor excuse for honest, factually accurate information is no doubt why newspapers are failing, and why their writers are fleeing to the Obama Administration for PR employment as spinmeisters. Take for example this article:
WASHINGTON — Former Vice President Dick Cheney’s defense Thursday of the Bush administration’s policies for interrogating suspected terrorists contained omissions, exaggerations and misstatements.
In his address to the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative policy organization in Washington, Cheney said that the techniques the Bush administration approved, including waterboarding — simulated drowning that’s considered a form of torture — forced nakedness and sleep deprivation, were “legal” and produced information that “prevented the violent death of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of innocent people.”
[NOTE President Bush’s Sept 6, 2006 address on this topic listed specific examples of this. Also, recently declassified CIA documents show that Congress was briefed on the “actionable intelligence” that the EIT program yielded. A partial list of thwarted attacks is available here.] Read the rest of this entry »
In a world filled with media seemingly unable to multitask, the nation’s consumption is steadily subsisting on a diet of Pelosi. Unfortunately, there are some far more viable events going on that are having a hard time breaking the surface. So here… a round up of three alternative issues. Obama’care… Legal Scholarly Advice to the Media on How to Kneecap the Internet… and Larry Wilkerson’s War on Dick Cheney[Wilkerson is Colin Powell's former State Dept. sidekick]
NYT’s Robert Pear is reporting on the detailed approach both House and Senate are taking for Obama’s “reform”. And for the ingenues who believe that Obama and his minions are not out for universal health care, they should stop listening to the honey-tongued “just words” and start getting a grip on reality by reading.
The Senate version is mandating everyone carry health care as of 2013… exempting only illegal immigrants and those opposed for religious reasons. Odd concept since in some parts of the country, it is the illegal immigrant population driving up the costs.
All employers will be mandated to provide insurance to their workers, or face a “special tax”. Additionally, the government will be mandating the four levels of coverage provided by that employer… from lowest to highest. And no annual or lifetime limitations allowed either.
I don’t have a timeline/list of which Al Queda detainees have been captured and when, and the Obama Admin is refusing to release any information that shows if any of these attacks were thwarted by the use of Enhanced Interrogation Techniques (”torture”). However, I do know of several instances in which an Al Queda leader was captured and/or EIT used, and then days later an attack was thwarted. Sheer coincidence? Perhaps, but I don’t believe in a pattern of coincidences.
For a full view of this timeline, please email me at smalensek@neo.rr.com… , and I’ll be happy to send you an Excel version w references, links etc. Sometimes (as in the case of thwarted attacks claimed by the Bush WH), dates could not be nailed down other than by year. Perhaps the Obama Admin will open up those documents and be transparent rather than hide information that counters their spin?
circa date detail
circa 10/1/1997 A meeting is held in Sudan between Bin Ladin, Ayman al-Zawahiri, and Hasan al-Turabi, leader of Sudan’s National Islamic Front regime, about the construction of a CBW factory.
circa 8/1/1998 John Gannon, chairman of the National Intelligence Council, reveals that the CIA discovered that Bin Ladin had attempted to acquire unspecified CW for use against U.S. troops stationed in the Persian Gulf.
8/16/1998 A leaked intelligence report states that Bin Ladin allegedly paid over two million British Pounds to a middle-man in Kazakhstan for a “suitcase” bomb. Read the rest of this entry »
I’m sorry, but I simply MUST post this. Memories of A Few Good Men…(ht Hot Air)
Watch this, and consider that we’re not talking about beating up a Marine, but getting rough with the people who planned and executed the 911 attacks, who tried to kill hundreds of thousands of Americans, who SUCCESSFULLY MURDERED 3000 civilians.
Even if this was off the cuff, it’s not going to go over well with the sports bosses at CBS. The network’s golf analyst, David Feherty, writing a column in D Magazine about the George and Laura Bush moving to the Dallas area, says U.S. soldiers would shoot Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid:
“From my own experience visiting the troops in the Middle East, I can tell you this, though: despite how the conflict has been portrayed by our glorious media, if you gave any U.S. soldier a gun with two bullets in it, and he found himself in an elevator with Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and Osama bin Laden, there’s a good chance that Nancy Pelosi would get shot twice, and Harry Reid and bin Laden would be strangled to death.”
I post this to point out that American “troops” that I’ve spoken with are not at all enamored with Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Reid. It might be because Pelosi worked against their efforts to succeed in Iraq, and Harry Reid flat out said the war was lost at the very same moment it was being won. It might be because they both tried to cut off supplies to American forces in combat just to get some good political PR. There’s probably a lot of reasons, but the point here is that the by and large the “troops” were not supported IN EFFECT or even in rhetoric by Democratic Party leaders, and many people-myself included-often hear from “troops” that the frustration is much much MUCH higher than Democrats and opponents of the American forces efforts to succeed in Iraq might realize.
Maybe now that President Obama’s in charge of the war in Iraq, and there’s no need to lie, distort, or half quote truths to oppose the war (can’t oppose it if it’s run by a Democrat)…maybe now people will realize:
1) the matter was never closed by any investigation
2) there’s hundreds of times more information demonstrating ties than there is dismissing them
BAGHDAD — The government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki said Al Qaida worked closely with former operatives in Saddam Hussein regime.
Officials said leading members of the Al Qaida network have coordinated operations with Saddam aides since 2003. They said Al Qaida and Saddam forces attacked Shi’ites in an effort to spark a civil war in Iraq.
The Al Qaida-Saddam link, asserted by then-U.S. President George Bush in 2002, came in wake of the reported capture of a leading Al Qaida commander in Iraq.
At the very least, it’s 100% clear (hindsight is 20-20) that yes, Saddam’s regime and the Al Queda network did have operational ties in 2003, and that means the invasion of Iraq HAS ALWAYS BEEN PART OF THE WAR ON TERROR. ht regimeofterror
Mark Eichenlaub
Strangely enough, this one doesn’t look so political as it does humanitarian, AND (you better sit down for this) it looks like it doesn’t portray American soldiers as Haliburton stormtroopers, imperialists, neocon tools, or war criminals. I know, I couldn’t believe it either. Such a 180 turn in tone couldn’t possibly be because Bush isn’t in power anymore. Nahhh
The war in Iraq is no longer a good political football for Democrats (they opposed it in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, and in 2009 got power/responsibility so they support it now). Apparently that makes it ok for even the New York Times to admit that YES, Saddam’s regime (albeit in exile) is working directly, cooperationally, operationally with Al Queda groups-groups that even Democrats admit were in Iraq before the invasion.
“In an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation on Monday, Mr. Maliki said all of the recent attacks had resulted from coordination between Qaeda militants and elements of Mr. Hussein’s Baathists.
Of course, other Iraqi PMs have said this as well. They’ve even claimed to have documents and captured regime members who trained Al Queda musclemen to take the planes on 911, BUT that was all moot and bs before. Now that a D is in the White House, and Democrats have complete, unchecked, unstoppable power…now it’s PC to admit the obvious; to admit what soldiers, Marines, and spooks have been telling us for years.
There’s a lot of big things happening right now-LOTS, and it’s hard to get a grasp for even seasoned newshounds to keep track of exactly where we are and where we’re going. However, the story that dominates of late-the story w the most legs is the torture allegations. To that end, I think the best piece I’ve read on it is this one, and I hope everyone reads it…especially as just yesterday some people forgot, and now we’ve got fresh images of a NYC in panic as a low-flying jetliner is chased by Air Force fighters over the skies of Manhattan.
Make Terrorists Choose Between Jumping or Burning: Now That Would Be Torture
So now the president is considering show trials of Bush Administration officials who issued opinions on permissibility of “harsh” interrogation techniques on Al Qaeda terrorists.
