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In todays video, I conducted interview with Kelly Vlahos, of the Quincy Institute For Responsible Statecraft. We spoke about the Media's role in starting and continuing the Iraq War and other conflicts after the Iraq War. We also touched on how the Media machine works, hiring ex-generals, lazy journalism and access. Previous Video - https://www.truthovercomfort.co.uk/post/naftali-bennett-let-s-the-cat-out-of-the-bag-about-the-west-and-ukraine Previous Interview - https://www.truthovercomfort.co.uk/post/iraq-afghanistan-the-system-that-continually-perpetuates-them-an-interview-with-daniel-l-davis Please feel free to comment if I have missed any links in the show notes. https://www.youtube.com/@truthovercomfort9162/videos https://www.bitchute.com/channel/jc56qKZUGuFj/ Twitter @truthovercomfo2 - https://twitter.com/truthovercomfo2 Instagram truthovercomfort30 - https://www.instagram.com/truthovercomfort30/ QUINCY INSTITUTE FOR RESPONSIBLE STATECRAFT BIO - Kelley Beaucar Vlahos comes to QI from The American Conservative, where for the last three years she served as the magazine’s executive editor. Before joining TAC in 2017, Vlahos served as a contributing editor to the magazine, reporting and publishing regular articles on US war policy, civil liberties, foreign policy, veterans, and Washington politics since 2007. She also organized the magazine’s major annual foreign policy conference for the last three years. Prior to that, Vlahos was director of social media and a digital editor at WTOP News in Washington, DC from 2013 to 2017. She spent 15 years as an online political reporter for FOX News at the channel’s Washington D.C. bureau, as well as Washington correspondent for Homeland Security Today magazine. She is on the board of PublicSquare.net, a non-profit media project promoting informed Left-Right debate. Her recent media appearances include C-SPAN’s Washington Journal, Tucker Carlson Tonight, NPR’s 1A, POTUS on Sirius XM, and Al Jazeera. Before moving to the nation’s capital, Vlahos earned her degree in Journalism-Mass Media at Central Connecticut State University and worked her way through local and regional newspapers in her home state of Connecticut, including The New Britain Herald and The Torrington Register Citizen. She is co-host of the Crashing the War Party podcast with Daniel Larison. Twitter - https://www.twitter.com/VlahosAtQuincy Show Notes Symposium: Aside from Bush & Cheney who is at fault for the Iraq War? (Quincy) Setting the record straight on the teeming media swamp that supported Iraq (Quincy) Scott Horton Show 3/24/23 Kelley Vlahos on Those Most Responsible for Iraq War II The Patriot Act - Wiki Political Opposition of Ron Paul THREATS AND RESPONSES: THE IRAQIS; U.S. SAYS HUSSEIN INTENSIFIES QUEST FOR A-BOMB PARTS Give this article By Michael R. Gordon and Judith Miller Sept. 8, 2002 NYT Bad News: How the Media Marched Us to War in Iraq and Beyond Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft YT US military admits killing 33 civilians in Afghanistan air strike This article is more than 14 years old US expresses regret for deaths last August but blames Taliban for taking position near village Matthew Weaver and agencies Thu 9 Oct 2008 The Guardian U.S. confirms 13 civilian deaths in Afghan raid U.S. military airstrikes in western Afghanistan killed 13 Afghan civilians and only three militants, the U.S. said Saturday, three days after an American general traveled to the site to investigate NBC Feb. 21, 2009 CIA Black Sites Bush: Saddam was not responsible for 9/11 Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington 12 Sep 2006 The Guardian "I am often asked why we are in Iraq when Saddam Hussein was not responsible for the 9/11 attacks. The answer is that the regime of Saddam Hussein was a clear threat. My administration, the Congress, and the United Nations saw the threat, and after 9/11, Saddam's regime posed a risk that the world could not afford to take. The world is safer because Saddam Hussein is no longer in power." SEPT. 11, 2001-2006; Remarks By Mr. Bush Sept. 12, 2006 NYT CIA’s final report: No WMD found in Iraq In his final report, the CIA’s top weapons inspector in Iraq said Monday that the hunt for weapons of mass destruction has gone “as far as feasible” and has found nothing NBC April 26, 2005 Bush admits there were no WMDs in IRAQ and no link to 911 YT Clip "part of the reason we went into Iraq was the main reason we went under direct at the time was we thought he had weapons of mass destruction it turns out he didn't but he had the capacity to make weapons... How Petraeus changed the U.S. military Peter Bergen, CNN National Security Analyst, Sun November 11, 2012 Admiral James Stavridis, USN (Ret) Church Commitee Behind TV Analysts, Pentagon’s Hidden Hand A PENTAGON CAMPAIGN Retired officers have been used to shape terrorism coverage from inside the TV and radio networks. By David Barstow April 20, 2008 NYT Biden’s winning the Afghan messaging By ALEXANDER WARD and QUINT FORGEY 09/13/2021 Politico (Sponsored by Lockheed Martin) How America Took Out The Nord Stream Pipeline The New York Times called it a “mystery,” but the United States executed a covert sea operation that was kept secret—until now SEYMOUR HERSH FEB 8, 2023 Intelligence Suggests Pro-Ukrainian Group Sabotaged Pipelines, U.S. Officials Say By Adam Entous, Julian E. Barnes and Adam Goldman March 7, 2023 NYT “The FBI Called Me”: Meet Aric Toler, the Bellingcat Sleuth Who Helped The New York Times Find Suspected Pentagon Leaker Jack Teixeira The Times publicly identified the man believed to have leaked intelligence documents before law enforcement did. Toler helped the paper’s Visual Investigations team—and dodged a meeting with the FBI. “They’re probably listening to me right now,” he said. BY CHARLOTTE KLEIN APRIL 18, 2023 Vanity Fair Bellingcat Tweet Russiagate was a hoax w/Matt Taibbi | The Chris Hedges Report The Real News Network John Kerry Leaked Tape Min 25 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4phB-_pXDM Quote in written form - https://www.truthovercomfort.co.uk/post/the-management-of-savagery-by-max-blumenthal Project Veritas Leaked Audio ABC Biden campaign, Blinken orchestrated intel letter to discredit Hunter Biden laptop story, ex-CIA official says April 21, 2023 In The News Brooke Singman House Gov Antony Blinken: ‘Spies who lie’ letter ‘wasn’t my idea, didn’t ask for it’ — still refuses to call Hunter laptop real By Steven Nelson May 1, 2023 NY Post

In todays video I interviewed Patrick Macfarlane, the Justin Raimondo Fellow at the Libertarian Institute and host of Vital Dissent. We discussed China, the new cold war, Taiwan, US/Western provocations, alliances and escalating tensions. Please check out our interview and his work. Patrick MacFarlane is the Justin Raimondo Fellow at the Libertarian Institute where he advocates a noninterventionist foreign policy. He is a Wisconsin attorney in private practice. He seeks to expose establishment narratives with well researched documentary-style content and insightful guest interviews. His work has appeared on antiwar.com and Zerohedge. Please feel free to comment if I have missed any links in the show notes. Previous Video - https://www.truthovercomfort.co.uk/post/naftali-bennett-let-s-the-cat-out-of-the-bag-about-the-west-and-ukraine Previous Interview - https://www.truthovercomfort.co.uk/post/iraq-an-interview-with-matthew-hoh https://www.youtube.com/@truthovercomfort9162/videos https://www.bitchute.com/channel/jc56qKZUGuFj/ https://www.truthovercomfort.co.uk/ Twitter @truthovercomfo2 - https://twitter.com/truthovercomfo2 Instagram truthovercomfort30 - https://www.instagram.com/truthovercomfort30/ Patrick's Links https://libertarianinstitute.org/ https://vitaldissent.com/ https://twitter.com/patmacfarlane_ Show Notes Chinese Civil War 1972 visit by Richard Nixon to China 203. Joint Statement Following Discussions With Leaders of the People’s Republic of China1 Shanghai, February 27, 1972 JOINT COMMUNIQUE ON THE ESTABLISHMENT OF DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA JANUARY 1, 1979 The August 17, 1982 U.S.-China Communiqué on Arms Sales to Taiwan Six Assurances H.Con.Res.88 - Reaffirming the Taiwan Relations Act and the Six Assurances as cornerstones of United States-Taiwan relations. 114th Congress (2015-2016) H.R.2479 - Taiwan Relations Act 96th Congress (1979-1980) Strategic Ambiguity Taiwan is Part of China Ep. 249 By Patrick MacFarlane U.S. to Expand Troop Presence in Taiwan for Training Against China Threat The Pentagon is helping Taiwan focus on tactics and weapon systems that would make the island harder to assault Taiwanese military personnel trained at a base in Taoyuan, Taiwan, this week WSJ RITCHIE B TONGO/SHUTTERSTOCK By Nancy A. Youssef and Gordon Lubold Feb. 23, 2023 Bolton praises Biden decision to send troops to Taiwan, but ‘we can do a lot more’ BY JULIA SHAPERO - 02/23/23 The Hill Pelosi’s ‘reckless’ Taiwan visit deepens US-China rupture The Guardian Sun 7 Aug 2022 08.00 BST Taiwan says China making simulated attack on main island The Guardian Sat 6 Aug 2022 February 15, 2023 State Department vows US will defend Philippines if necessary after China ship blinds crew with military laser Fox News October 31, 2022 U.S. plans to deploy B-52s to north Australia amid China tensions - source By Renju Jose and Lewis Jackson Reuters DOD BASE STRUCTURE REPORT - FISCAL YEAR 2015 BASELINE - 587 admitted overseas bases Page 7 US, Philippines agree to larger American military presence By JIM GOMEZ February 2, 2023 AP MAY 24, 2022 Quad Joint Leaders’ Statement Aukus deal: US, UK and Australia agree on nuclear submarine project Published 14 March Rishi Sunak Twitter China Thread https://vitaldissent.com/170-2 - Corbett Constitution of Japan We don’t want to decouple from China, but can’t be overreliant Germany will seek cooperation where it lies in our mutual interest, but we will not ignore controversies either BY OLAF SCHOLZ NOVEMBER 3, 2022 Politico BRICS Disney Lockheed Martin Apple https://www.truthovercomfort.co.uk/post/a-conversation-with-stuart-j-hooper-an-overview-of-the-military-industrial-complex UK’s HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier pictured in South China Sea Brad Lendon By Brad Lendon, CNN Fri July 30, 2021 Atlantic Council Strategy Paper Series December 16, 2020 Strategic context: The rules-based international system By Jeffrey Cimmino and Matthew Kroenig Gen. Mark Milley in Syria to Support U.S. Troops WSJ Gordon Lubold March 4, 2023 https://www.truthovercomfort.co.uk/post/interview-with-dave-de-camp-syria-the-war-on-terror-and-ukraine October 7, 2022 U.N. body rejects debate on China's treatment of Uyghur Muslims in blow to West Reuters Sen. Lindsey Graham defends calling for Russians to assassinate Putin The Kremlin pounced on Graham’s comments, labeling them "criminal," while some GOP members of Congress also criticized his remarks NBC March 4, 2022 By Rebecca Shabad NYET MEANS NYET: RUSSIA'S NATO ENLARGEMENT REDLINES Date:2008 February 1 WIKI Leaks - Tweet Venezuela: Maduro suffers setback in claim to gold at BoE Published 21 December 2021 BBC ‘Changing global order’: China’s hand in the Iran-Saudi deal China brokering a deal between longtime Gulf rivals is ‘a broader sign of a changing global order’, analysts say. By Mersiha Gadzo Published On 11 Mar 2023 11 Mar 2023 Fox March 1, 2023 FBI director says COVID pandemic 'most likely' originated from Chinese lab Clips https://twitter.com/ErikSolheim/status/1640949406106255360?s=20 - IN FULL: Former Australian PM, Paul Keating joins Laura Tingle in conversation on 'AUKUS' at the NPC 'Take him out': Graham intensifies calls to assassinate Putin | LiveNOW from FOX

In todays video, I conducted an interview with Daniel L Davis, about the Iraq & Afghanistan wars and his time there. Along with his on the ground experience, he also compliments this with excellent knowledge of the topic area. We focused on the system that feeds these wars, and continues to perpetuate them. The Generals telling congress & the media the war is going well, careerism, the media themselves, fear of speaking out, squad rotations, not wanting to be the one who admits failure and the financial incentives to keep the wars going. Previous Video - https://www.truthovercomfort.co.uk/post/naftali-bennett-let-s-the-cat-out-of-the-bag-about-the-west-and-ukraine Previous Interview - https://www.truthovercomfort.co.uk/post/obama-trump-qanon-and-hopium-an-interview-with-james-corbett Please feel free to comment if I have missed any links in the show notes. https://www.youtube.com/@truthovercomfort9162/videos https://www.bitchute.com/channel/jc56qKZUGuFj/ Twitter @truthovercomfo2 - https://twitter.com/truthovercomfo2 Instagram truthovercomfort30 - https://www.instagram.com/truthovercomfort30/ Bio - Daniel L. Davis is a senior fellow and military expert at Defense Priorities. Davis retired from the U.S. Army as a Lt. Col. after 21 years of active service. He was deployed into combat zones four times in his career, beginning with Operation Desert Storm in 1991, and then to Iraq in 2009 and Afghanistan twice (2005, 2011). He was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for Valor at the Battle of 73 Easting in 1991, and awarded a Bronze Star Medal in Afghanistan in 2011. He is the author of The Eleventh Hour in 2020 America. Davis gained some national notoriety in 2012 when he returned from Afghanistan and published a report detailing how senior U.S. military and civilian leaders told the American public and Congress the war was going well while, in reality, it was headed to defeat. Events since confirmed his analysis was correct. Twitter - https://twitter.com/danielldavis1 Books Eleventh Hour in 2020 America: How America's foreign policy got jacked up - and how the next Administration can fix it by Daniel L Davis Show Notes Afghanistan: An Interview With Matthew Hoh After Retreat, Iraqi Soldiers Fault Officers The New York Times By C. J. Chivers July 1, 2014 Fall of Mosul "I think at most, we’re looking at maybe 50 to 100, maybe less. There’s no question that the main location of al Qaeda is in tribal areas of Pakistan.” CIA Director Leon Panetta: Serious Problems With Afghanistan War but Progress Being Made, ABC News JACK DATE June 27, 2010 https://www.truthovercomfort.co.uk/post/afghanistan Plan To Add 40,000 Troops In Afghanistan Gains Traction November 11, 2009 NPR General Petraeus on Afghanistan 31 Aug. 2010 "Progress in Afghanistan has been slow but for the first time, we are getting the inputs right to achieve success", said ISAF Commander General David Petraeus during his first interview for NATOchannel.tv. Barack Obama: Afghanistan war is on track This article is more than 12 years old Review of troop surge strategy concludes US has made progress, but is a long way from winning the conflict Chris McGreal in Washington Thu 16 Dec 2010 The Guardian Petraeus applauds troops' work in Afghanistan By the CNN Wire Staff January 26, 2011 Afghan war effort ‘on track,’ general tells Congress BY KEN DILANIAN MARCH 20, 2012 LA Times Warlord, Inc. : extortion and corruption along the U.S. supply chain in Afghanistan Author: John F Tierney; United States. Congress. House. Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs. Publisher:[Washington, DC] : [U.S. House of Representatives], 2010 The War In Afghanistan Cost America $300 Million Per Day For 20 Years, With Big Bills Yet To Come Christopher Helman Forbes Staff Hank Tucker Forbes Staff 0 Aug 16, 2021 The Afghanistan Papers: A Secret History of the War By Craig Whitlock (truthovercomfort.co.uk) The Afghan Papers Lloyd J. Austin III > U.S. Department of Defense > Biography Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III Addresses Media in Baghdad, Iraq, on March 7, 2023 March 7, 2023 Pentagon chief, on surprise trip, says US troops to stay in Iraq In Baghdad, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin pledges continued US troop presence in fight against ISIL Al-Jazeera Slow Progress Being Made in Iraq, Petraeus Tells Congress Doug Mills/The New York Times By David Stout Sept. 10, 2007 "Warhorse" Soldiers participate in Military Salute to Service; attend Denver Bronco game By (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sergeant Andrew Porch, 2nd BCT PAO, 4th Inf. Div.) Army Mill November 20, 2012 General Dan Bolger says what the US does not want to hear: Why We Lost Spencer Ackerman in New York On Tuesday, the retired general who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan will publish a candid book likely to be unloved in military and political circles Spencer Ackerman Mon 10 Nov 2014 The Guardian "The Budget requests $842 billion in discretionary budget authority for 2024, a $26 billion or 3.2-percent increase from the 2023 enacted level. This growth enables DOD to make the investments necessary to execute the Administration’s 2022 National Security and National Defense Strategies." Budget of the U.S. Government FISCAL YEAR 2024 Page 68 Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling Military Analyst CNN MSNBC military analysts and experts Read the biographies of MSNBC’s military analysts and experts, who are helping us bring you complete and in-depth coverage of the showdown with Saddam. Link copied Dec. 17, 2003 MSNBC Milley Says War With China, Russia Not Inevitable March 29, 2023 DoD By David Vergun Air Force general predicts war with China in 2025, tells officers to prep by firing 'a clip' at a target, and 'aim for the head' “I hope I am wrong. My gut tells me will fight in 2025," said Gen. Mike Minihan in a memo sent to the officers he commands and obtained by NBC News Jan. 27, 2023 By Courtney Kube and Mosheh Gains Arms Sales By World’s Biggest Defense Companies Rise To Almost $600 Billion Dominic Dudley Contributor I write about business and politics in the Middle East and beyond Follow Dec 5, 2022 Forbes

In todays video, I conducted an interview with James Corbett, about the concept of Hopium, and his documentary featuring it. We discuss Obama, Trump, Qanon, Musk and more. Hopium is intertwined with society in politics, religion, idols and general life. As with Obama and Trump, this belief of someone coming to save society, like a superhero or divine figure, followed a pattern of disappointment and egregious lies. The initial Echo on James does not continue. Feel free to skip in and check yourself. Also, the beeping from our previous interview has been fixed. I did edit in some text to state this, I am unsure why it is not appearing. The Corbett Report is an independent, listener-supported alternative news source. It operates on the principle of open source intelligence and provides podcasts, interviews, articles and videos about breaking news and important issues from 9/11 Truth and false flag terror to the Big Brother police state, eugenics, geopolitics, the central banking fraud and more. He started The Corbett Report website in 2007 as an outlet for independent critical analysis of politics, society, history, and economics. Since then he has written, recorded and edited thousands of hours of audio and video media for the website, including a podcast and several regular online video series. https://www.corbettreport.com/interview-1801-james-corbett-on-obama-trump-q-musk-and-hopium/ Previous Video - https://www.truthovercomfort.co.uk/post/naftali-bennett-let-s-the-cat-out-of-the-bag-about-the-west-and-ukraine Previous Interview - https://www.truthovercomfort.co.uk/post/iraq-part-2-an-interview-with-matthew-hoh Please feel free to comment if I have missed any links in the show notes. https://www.youtube.com/@truthovercomfort9162/videos https://www.bitchute.com/channel/jc56qKZUGuFj/ Twitter @truthovercomfo2 - https://twitter.com/truthovercomfo2 Instagram truthovercomfort30 - https://www.instagram.com/truthovercomfort30/ Show Notes Mass Media Course https://www.truthovercomfort.co.uk/post/the-media-an-interview-with-james-corbett Episode 404 - A Brief History of Hopium President Woodrow Wilson The Twenty Eighth President of the United States of America 1913–1921 US Army - Page 2 Obama calls Bush’s leadership catastrophic Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama told voters Saturday that in the wake of President Bush’s “catastrophic failure of leadership” the nation needs a candid leader like himself, not rival Hillary Rodham Clinton’s calculated politics NBC Nov. 4, 2007 Pelosi: Bush Impeachment `Off the Table’ PRINT By Susan Ferrechio Published: November 8, 2006 NYT Obama on Investigating Bush Crimes: "Need to Look Forward" Clip Aide: Obama Won't Prosecute Bush Officials APRIL 20, 2009 CBS Pakistani man who was tortured by the CIA is released from Guantanamo Bay February 3, 2023 NPR The Nobel Peace Prize 2009 Barack H. Obama NATO and Afghanistan 31 Aug. 2022 Obama’s Nobel peace prize didn’t have the desired effect, former Nobel official reveals By Adam Taylor September 17, 2015 Bailed out banks The Treasury Department has invested about $200 billion in hundreds of banks through its Capital Purchase Program in an effort to prop up capital and support new lending. Here's a list of the banks that got bailed out CNN Money Obama’s Final Drone Strike Data by Micah Zenko January 20, 2017 CFR Operation Timber Sycamore Behind the Sudden Death of a $1 Billion Secret C.I.A. War in Syria By Mark Mazzetti, Adam Goldman and Michael S. Schmidt Aug. 2, 2017 NYT Obama: ‘We tortured some folks Obama says he has 'full confidence' in CIA Director John Brennan. By JOSH GERSTEIN 08/01/2014 Politico President Obama: "We tortured some folks." (C-SPAN) QAnon Q Clearance Episode 395 - Precedent Trump Syria: US, UK and France launch strikes in response to chemical attack This article is more than 5 years old Witnesses report loud bangs moments after Trump said he had ordered retaliatory strikes Military strikes launched against Assad regime – ulian Borger in Washington and Peter Beaumont Sat 14 Apr 2018 The Guardian https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/449525268529815552?t=N1nB1U43ebIkpbPfhE07LA&s=19 - Vaccine Autism Tweet Video Trump Autism Vaccine CNN The origins of Donald Trump’s autism/vaccine theory and how it was completely debunked eons ago WAPO By Ariana Eunjung Cha September 17, 2015 Trump team denies skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was asked to head vaccine commission By Dan Merica, CNN Updated 6:17 PM EST, Tue January 10, 2017 Trump appears to abandon vaccine sceptic group denounced by scientists Robert F Kennedy Jr claimed to be leading a review of links to autism – a widely debunked claim – but now says he hasn’t heard from the White House in months David Smith in Washington The Guardian Wed 21 Feb 2018 Operation Warp Speed Trump hails the COVID-19 vaccine as 'one of the greatest achievements of mankind' and rejects vaccine skepticism in new interview Oma Seddiq Dec 23, 2021 Business Insider The American Deep State: Wall Street, Big Oil, and the Attack on U.S. Democracy Peter Dale Scott US drone strike ordered by Trump kills top Iranian commander in Baghdad Zachary Cohen Hamdi Alkhshali Angela Dewan By Zachary Cohen, Hamdi Alkhshali, Kareem Khadder and Angela Dewan, CNN Sat January 4, 2020 Who Is Bill Gates? (Full Documentary, 2020) WHO Funding UNITED STATES OF AMERICA vs MICROSOFT CORPORATION, Civil Action No. 98-1232 (Antitrust) COMPLAINT Filed: May 18, 1998 Arpanet SpaceX Wins NASA $2.9 Billion Contract to Build Moon Lander Elon Musk’s company bested Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and others in the contest to carry American astronauts to the lunar surface NYT By Kenneth Chang Published April 16, 2021 Elon Musk Cameo Scene - Iron Man (2010) Movie Clip HD Elon Musk reportedly planning to launch AI rival to ChatGPT maker Tesla and Twitter boss said to be bringing together team, weeks after co-signing letter demanding pause in AI research Miranda Bryant Sat 15 Apr 2023 The Guardian Tesla Energy Department Loans Episode 429 - Meet Elon Musk, Technocratic Huckster Elon Musk wants to offer Americans an ‘everything app’ like China’s WeChat. One hurdle? Habits BYBARBARA ORTUTAY AND THE ASSOCIATED PRESS October 15, 2022 Fortune

In todays video, I conducted an interview with James Corbett, about the Media, his recent video "The Media Are The Terrorists" and the Werther effect (copy cat effect ). We discuss the reasons why the media are seemingly incapable of telling the truth for certain subjects, the societal effect of the media and how tragic events are often a televised movie like event in peoples minds. Previous Video - https://www.truthovercomfort.co.uk/post/naftali-bennett-let-s-the-cat-out-of-the-bag-about-the-west-and-ukraine Previous Interview - https://www.truthovercomfort.co.uk/post/china-an-interview-with-patrick-macfarlane Please feel free to comment if I have missed any links in the show notes. For the full interview and show notes go to - https://www.truthovercomfort.co.uk/post/the-media-an-interview-with-james-corbett https://www.youtube.com/@truthovercomfort9162/videos https://www.bitchute.com/channel/jc56qKZUGuFj/ https://www.truthovercomfort.co.uk/ Twitter @truthovercomfo2 - https://twitter.com/truthovercomfo2 Instagram truthovercomfort30 - https://www.instagram.com/truthovercomfort30/

In todays video, I conducted an interview with James Corbett, about the Media, his recent video "The Media Are The Terrorists" and the Werther effect (copy cat effect ). We discuss the reasons why the media are seemingly incapable of telling the truth for certain subjects, the societal effect of the media and how tragic events are often a televised movie like event in peoples minds. Previous Video - https://www.truthovercomfort.co.uk/post/naftali-bennett-let-s-the-cat-out-of-the-bag-about-the-west-and-ukraine Previous Interview - https://www.truthovercomfort.co.uk/post/china-an-interview-with-patrick-macfarlane Please feel free to comment if I have missed any links in the show notes. For the full interview and show notes go to - https://www.truthovercomfort.co.uk/post/the-media-an-interview-with-james-corbett https://www.youtube.com/@truthovercomfort9162/videos https://www.bitchute.com/channel/jc56qKZUGuFj/ https://www.truthovercomfort.co.uk/ Twitter @truthovercomfo2 - https://twitter.com/truthovercomfo2 Instagram truthovercomfort30 - https://www.instagram.com/truthovercomfort30/

In todays video, I conducted an interview with James Corbett, about the Media, his recent video "The Media Are The Terrorists" and the Werther effect (copy cat effect ). We discuss the reasons why the media are seemingly incapable of telling the truth for certain subjects, the societal effect of the media and how tragic events are often a televised movie like event in peoples minds. Previous Video - https://www.truthovercomfort.co.uk/post/naftali-bennett-let-s-the-cat-out-of-the-bag-about-the-west-and-ukraine Previous Interview - https://www.truthovercomfort.co.uk/post/china-an-interview-with-patrick-macfarlane Please feel free to comment if I have missed any links in the show notes. For the full interview and show notes go to - https://www.truthovercomfort.co.uk/post/the-media-an-interview-with-james-corbett https://www.youtube.com/@truthovercomfort9162/videos https://www.bitchute.com/channel/jc56qKZUGuFj/ https://www.truthovercomfort.co.uk/ Twitter @truthovercomfo2 - https://twitter.com/truthovercomfo2 Instagram truthovercomfort30 - https://www.instagram.com/truthovercomfort30/

In todays video, I conducted an interview with James Corbett, about the Media, his recent video "The Media Are The Terrorists" and the Werther effect (copy cat effect ). We discuss the reasons why the media are seemingly incapable of telling the truth for certain subjects, the societal effect of the media and how tragic events are often a televised movie like event in peoples minds. Previous Video - https://www.truthovercomfort.co.uk/post/naftali-bennett-let-s-the-cat-out-of-the-bag-about-the-west-and-ukraine Previous Interview - https://www.truthovercomfort.co.uk/post/china-an-interview-with-patrick-macfarlane Please feel free to comment if I have missed any links in the show notes. For the full interview and show notes go to - https://www.truthovercomfort.co.uk/post/the-media-an-interview-with-james-corbett https://www.youtube.com/@truthovercomfort9162/videos https://www.bitchute.com/channel/jc56qKZUGuFj/ https://www.truthovercomfort.co.uk/ Twitter @truthovercomfo2 - https://twitter.com/truthovercomfo2 Instagram truthovercomfort30 - https://www.instagram.com/truthovercomfort30/

In this video, I discuss the recent admissions ex-Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett made about the west blocking peace and ceasefire efforts at the start of the Russia-Ukraine war. He was mediating between Ukraine and Russia at the start of the war, to try and broker a peace deal, while coordinating with western allies. He discusses how both Ukraine and Russia made huge concessions to each other, however, the west curbed these negotiations and preferred to strike Russia. If there was a genuine chance for peace and the west blocked it, how can they say they care about Ukrainians? Previous Interview - https://www.truthovercomfort.co.uk/post/the-media-an-interview-with-james-corbett https://www.youtube.com/@truthovercomfort9162/videos https://www.bitchute.com/channel/jc56qKZUGuFj/ https://www.truthovercomfort.co.uk/ Twitter @truthovercomfo2 - https://twitter.com/truthovercomfo2 Instagram truthovercomfort30 - https://www.instagram.com/truthovercomfort30/ Please feel free to comment if I have missed any links in the show notes. Bennett Speaks Out 240:33-2:43;03 Zelensky's Life, War Broke out because not NATO Wish Renouncing Concessions (Territorial and Ukraine defense guantreas were an issue too) 2:55:20-257:25 Different leaders have different perspectives 259:28-302:34 the west curbed a ceasefire for wrong or right in his mind French, German leaders to visit Russia and Ukraine amid tension Diplomatic push by Macron and Scholz comes as US accuses Kremlin of plotting a ‘false flag attack’ to justify military action Al Jazeera Feb 5th 2022 U.S. Security Cooperation with Israel FACT SHEET BUREAU OF POLITICAL-MILITARY AFFAIRS JULY 30, 2021 Kremlin dismisses Boris Johnson's claim Vladimir Putin threatened to kill him with missile in call ahead of Russian invasion of Ukraine Sky News Operation Northwoods Department Press Briefing – February 3, 2022 NED PRICE, DEPARTMENT SPOKESPERSON FEBRUARY 3, 2022 Heated Exchange Between State Dept. & Media on Evidence Russia Fabricating Attacks by Ukraine Coping With Russia Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon speaking about Russia at St Andrews University 2 February 2017 (Rules Based International Order) Lord Mayor’s Defence and Security Speech - Thursday 10 June 2021 Chief of the General Staff, General Sir Mark Carleton-Smith, delivered the 2021 Annual Defence and Security Lecture at the Mansion House 22nd June 2021 Monroe Doctrine "Everyone in the West told me we do not have any chance of NATO EU membership, I asked them not to try the Ukrainian people into a corner, because our people are brave and the West should also be brave in telling directly to the Ukrainian people, that well you are not going to be NATO EU member. They did not have a consolidated position and I requested this personally. I requested them personally to try to say directly that we are going to accept you into NATO or NATO in a year or two or five. Just say it directly and clearly or just say no. And the response was very clear. You're not going to be a NATO EU member, but publicly the doors will remain open" On GPS: Could Ukraine have averted war by abandoning its NATO quest? Fareed Zakaria Interview with Ukraine President Zelensky on joining NATO CNN 20th of March 2022 - Twitter Minute 2:40

Iraq War 2003 WMDS, Propaganda Lies And Deceivery "A deadly poison said to be at the heart of a terrorist conspiracy against Britain led to a dire warning of another al-Qa'ida attack in the West. The Government was swift to act on the fear that such a find generated. But, as Severin Carrell and Raymond Whitaker report, far from being a major threat, the real danger existed only in the mind of a misguided individual living in a dingy north London bedsit. It was a weapon of mass destruction, a warning that we all needed to be "vigilant and alert". Weeks before the invasion of Iraq, it was presented as the final proof that Saddam Hussein was in league with al-Qa'ida. Anyone wanting to exploit the politics of fear could scarcely conjure up anything more potent than the news that a suspected terrorist cell had been making ricin, one of the deadliest poisons known to man, in a north London flat. But there was no ricin - a fact suppressed for more than two years. There was no terrorist cell, just one deluded and dangerous man who killed a police officer during a bungled immigration raid." Ricin: The plot that never was The Independant Sunday 17 April 2005 Downing Street Memo "C reported on his recent talks in Washington. There was a perceptible shift in attitude. Military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy. The NSC had no patience with the UN route, and no enthusiasm for publishing material on the Iraqi regime’s record. There was little discussion in Washington of the aftermath after military action… The Foreign Secretary said he would discuss this with Colin Powell this week. It seemed clear that Bush had made up his mind to take military action, even if the timing was not yet decided. But the case was thin. Saddam was not threatening his neighbors, and his WMD capability was less than that of Libya, North Korea or Iran. We should work up a plan for an ultimatum to Saddam to allow back in the UN weapons inspectors. This would also help with the legal justification for the use of force." The Secret Downing Street MemoSECRET AND STRICTLY PERSONAL - UK EYES ONLY DAVID MANNING From: Matthew Rycroft Date: 23 July 2002 - The Times We should work up a plan for an ultimatum to Saddam to allow back in the UN weapons inspectors. This would also help with the legal justification for the use of force… The Prime Minister said that it would make a big difference politically and legally if Saddam refused to allow in the UN inspector" The Secret Downing Street MemoSECRET AND STRICTLY PERSONAL - UK EYES ONLY DAVID MANNING From: Matthew Rycroft Date: 23 July 2002 - The Times 911 And Terrorism "You know, I've heard this theory about everything was just fine until we arrived, and kind of "we're going to stir up the hornet's nest" theory. It just doesn't hold water, as far as I'm concerned. The terrorists attacked us and killed 3,000 of our citizens before we started the freedom agenda in the Middle East. Question: What did Iraqi have to do with that? Bush: What did Iraq have to do with what? Question: The attack upon the World Trade Center. Bush: Nothing, except for it's part of -- and nobody has ever suggested in this administration that Saddam Hussein ordered the attack. Iraq was a -- the lesson of September the 11th is, take threats before they fully materialize, Ken. Nobody has ever suggested that the attacks of September the 11th were ordered by Iraq. I have suggested, however, that resentment and the lack of hope create the breeding grounds for terrorists who are willing to use suiciders to kill to achieve an objective. I have made that case." Transcript of Bush's News Conference WSJ Aug. 21, 2006 "In terms of complicity with 9/11, absolutely none," Tenet says. "It never made any sense. We could never verify that there was any Iraqi authority, direction and control, complicity with al Qaeda for 9/11 or any operational act against America. Period." "The president, in October of 2002, quote: 'We need to think about Saddam Hussein using al Qaeda to do his dirty work.' Is that what you're telling the president?" Pelley asks. "Well, we didn't believe al Qaeda was gonna do Saddam Hussein's dirty work," Tenet says. "January '03, the president again, [said] quote: 'Imagine those 19 hijackers this time armed by Saddam Hussein.' Is that what you're telling the president?" Pelley asks. "No," Tenet says." CBS News, ‘George Tenet: At the Centre of the Storm’, 25 April 2007. (Ex CIA Director) "The Central Intelligence Agency has no evidence that Iraq has engaged in terrorist operations against the United States in nearly a decade, and the agency is also convinced that President Saddam Hussein has not provided chemical or biological weapons to Al Qaeda or related terrorist groups, according to several American intelligence officials. The officials said they believe that the last terrorist operation tried by Iraq against the United States was the assassination attempt against the first President Bush during his visit to Kuwait in 1993. That plot was disrupted before it could be carried out. American intelligence officials believe that Mr. Hussein has been reluctant to use terrorism again for fear of being detected." A NATION CHALLENGED: IRAQ; Terror Acts By Baghdad Have Waned, U.S. Aides Say NYT By James Risen Feb. 6, 2002 "The danger is, is that they work in concert. The danger is that Al-Qaeda becomes an extension of Saddam's madness and his hatred and his capacity to extend weapons of mass destruction around the world. Both of them need to be dealt with. The war on terror, you can't distinguish between al Qaeda and Saddam when you talk about the war on terror" President George W. Bush, Remarks In A Photo Opportunity With Colombian President Uribe, Washington, DC, 9/25/02). Press Release - The Rest of the Story: Iraq's Links to Al Qaeda September 15, 2006 "We've learned that Iraq has trained al Qaeda members in bomb-making and poisons and deadly gases. And we know that after September the 11th, Saddam Hussein's regime gleefully celebrated the terrorist attacks on America… Iraq could decide on any given day to provide a biological or chemical weapon to a terrorist group or individual terrorists. Alliance with terrorists could allow the Iraqi regime to attack America without leaving any fingerprints… The evidence indicates that Iraq is reconstituting its nuclear weapons program. Saddam Hussein has held numerous meetings with Iraqi nuclear scientists, a group he calls his "nuclear mujahideen" -- his nuclear holy warriors. Satellite photographs reveal that Iraq is rebuilding facilities at sites that have been part of its nuclear program in the past. Iraq has attempted to purchase high-strength aluminum tubes and other equipment needed for gas centrifuges, which are used to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons." October 7, 2002 President Bush Outlines Iraqi Threat Remarks by the President on Iraq Cincinnati Museum Center - Cincinnati Union Terminal Cincinnati, Ohio "Analysts feel more politicized and more pushed than many of them can ever remember. . . . The guys at the Pentagon shrieked on issues such as the link between Iraq and Al-Qaeda. There has been a lot of pressure to write on this constantly and not to let it drop." CIA Feels Heat on Iraq Data BY GREG MILLER AND BOB DROGIN OCT. 11, 2002 "Although Bush had heard about al Qaeda in intelligence reports before the attack he had spent little time learning about the sources and nature of the movement. His immediate instinct after the attacks was, naturally, to hit back. His framework, however, was summed up by his famous line "you are either with us or against us" and his early focus on dealing with Iraq as a way of demonstrating America's power. I doubt that anyone ever had the chance to make the case to him that attacking Iraq would actually make America less secure and strengthen the broader radical Islamic terrorist movement. Certainly he did not hear that from the small circle of advisors who alone are the people whose views he respects and trusts." Richard Clarke Against All Enemies Inside America's War on Terror Page 244 (President Bush Counter Terrorism Chief) " But what I want to bring to your attention today is the potentially much more sinister nexus between Iraq and the Al Qaida terrorist network, a nexus that combines classic terrorist organizations and modern methods of murder" February 5, 2003 Colin Powell U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell Addresses the U.N. Security Council WMDS Since 1998 Iraq has been fundamentally disarmed; 90-95% of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction have been verifiably eliminated. This includes all of the factories used to produce chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, and long-range ballistic missiles; the associated equipment of these factories; and the vast majority of the products coming out of these factories." Even if Iraq managed to hide these weapons, what they are now hiding is harmless goo’ The Guardian 18 Sep 2002 "dismantled extensive nuclear weapons-related facilities. We neutralized Iraq’s nuclear program. We confiscated its weapon-usable material. We destroyed, removed or rendered harmless all its facilities and equipment relevant to nuclear weapons production" Inspections Are the Key By Mohamed El BaradeiOctober 21, 2002 Washington Post chief nuclear inspector for ensuring Iraq's disarmament "Iraqi officials, including the chief of the Iraqi Intelligence Service, had told the businessman that they wanted Washington to know that Iraq no longer had weapons of mass destruction, and they offered to allow American troops and experts to conduct a search. The businessman said in an interview that the Iraqis also offered to hand over a man accused of being involved in the World Trade Center bombing in 1993 who was being held in Baghdad. At one point, he said, the Iraqis pledged to hold elections… Mr. Obeidi told Mr. Hage that Iraq would make deals to avoid war, including helping in the Mideast peace process. ''He said, if this is about oil, we will talk about U.S. oil concessions,'' Mr. Hage recalled. ''If it is about the peace process, then we can talk. If this is about weapons of mass destruction, let the Americans send over their people. There are no weapons of mass destruction.'' THE STRUGGLE FOR IRAQ: DIPLOMACY; Iraq Said to Have Tried to Reach Last-Minute Deal to Avert War NYT Nov. 6, 2003 "Rather: Let me come directly to point. Does Iraq possess nuclear weapons? Aziz: No. No we do not possess any nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons. We are not interested in them. My president has made it clear. We don't have, and we are ready to challenge anybody who makes allegations contrary to what I am saying. But it should be done in a perfect manner, not done by the means of UNSCOM and by the means Mr. Blix is suggesting because they will not report the truth. They will not reach a conclusion about realities. Let us think if the American government is genuinely concerned about that let them come and propose any credible manner to come and inspect and search and then reach the conclusion about the reality. We are ready to discuss with them, with the American government, all reliable efficient means to reach the conclusion." Aziz: Abu Nidal Committed Suicide CBS AUGUST 22, 2002 "And, indeed, in order to make the case absolutely clear that Iraq was no longer in possession of any such…weapons. Iraq accepted to agree to deal with that resolution. That is why, when you talk about such missiles, these missiles have been destroyed. There are no missiles that are contrary to the prescription of the United Nations in Iraq. These missiles were des - missiles that were proscribed - have been destroyed and are no longer there." Transcript: Saddam Hussein Interview, Pt. 1 CBS 26th of February 2003, Dan Rather interviews Saddam Hussein PELLEY : And what did he tell you about how his weapons of mass destruction had been destroyed? PIRO : He told me that most of the WMD had been destroyed by the U.N. inspectors in the ’90s, and those that hadn’t been destroyed by the inspectors were unilaterally destroyed by Iraq. PELLEY : He had ordered them destroyed? PIRO : Yes. PELLEY : So why keep the secret? Why put your nation at risk? Why put your own life at risk to maintain this charade?" CBS 27th of January 2008 60 minutes Scott Pelly interviewing George Piro (Team Leader and Lead Interrogator of the Saddam Hussein Interrogation Team in 2004) Minute 1:50 "Gen. Hussein Kamel, the former head of Iraq's secret weapons program and a son-in-law of President Saddam Hussein, told a United Nations delegation in a secret meeting in Amman, Jordan, on Aug, 22, 1995, that Iraq had halted the production of VX nerve agent in the late 1980s and destroyed its banned missiles, stocks of anthrax and other chemical agents and poison gases soon after the Persian Gulf War." Iraqi Defector Claimed Arms Were Destroyed by 1995, The Washington Post March 1, 2003 "And increasingly, we believe that the United States may well become the target of those activities. . . . I think the accurate thing to say is, we don't know when he might actually complete that process. All of the experience we have points in the direction that, in the past, we've underestimated the extent of his program. We've underestimated the speed at which it was developing. . . This just isn't a guy who is now back trying once again to build nuclear weapons. It's the fact that we had also seen him in these other areas — in chemicals, but also especially in biological weapons — increase his capacity to produce and deliver these weapons upon his enemies" With Few Variations, Top Bush Advisers Present Their Case Against Iraq NYT Sept. 9, 2002, Dick Cheyney How do I know that? How can I say that? Let me give you a closer look. Look at the image on the left. On the left is a close-up of one of the four chemical bunkers. The two arrows indicate the presence of sure signs that the bunkers are storing chemical munitions. The arrow at the top that says “security” points to a facility that is the signature item for this kind of bunker. Inside that facility are special guards and special equipment to monitor any leakage that might come out of the bunker. The truck you also see is a signature item. It’s a decontamination vehicle in case something goes wrong. This is characteristic of those four bunkers. The special security facility and the decontamination vehicle will be in the area, if not at any one of them or one of the other, it is moving around those four, and it moves as it needed to move, as people are working in the different bunkers. Now, look at the picture on the right. You are now looking at two of those sanitized bunkers. The signature vehicles are gone, the tents are gone, it’s been cleaned up, and it was done on the 22nd of December, as the U.N. inspection team is arriving, and you can see the inspection vehicles arriving in the lower portion of the picture on the right." Full text of Colin Powell's speech US secretary of state's address to the United Nations security council Part 2 Part 3 The Guardian Feb 2003 "However, I am afraid that there is such a person and he cannot be allowed access to those weapons. If we can possibly find the means of removing him, we will." Hansard Iraq Volume 322: debated on Thursday 17 December 1998 Tony Blair "Strapped to the polygraph machine was Adnan Ihsan Saeed al-Haideri, a forty-three-year-old Iraqi who had fled his homeland in Kurdistan and was now determined to bring down Saddam Hussein. For hours, as thin mechanical styluses traced black lines on rolling graph paper, al-Haideri laid out an explosive tale. Answering yes and no to a series of questions, he insisted repeatedly that he was a civil engineer who had helped Saddam's men to secretly bury tons of biological, chemical and nuclear weapons… It was damning stuff -- just the kind of evidence the Bush administration was looking for. If the charges were true, they would offer the White House a compelling reason to invade Iraq and depose Saddam. That's why the Pentagon had flown a CIA polygraph expert to Pattaya: to question al-Haideri and confirm, once and for all, that Saddam was secretly stockpiling weapons of mass destruction. There was only one problem: It was all a lie… Al-Haideri, in fact, was the product of a clandestine operation -- part espionage, part PR campaign -- that had been set up and funded by the CIA and the Pentagon for the express purpose of selling the world a war. And the man who had long been in charge of the marketing was a secretive and mysterious creature of the Washington establishment named John Rendon. Rendon is a man who fills a need that few people even know exists. Two months before al-Haideri took the lie-detector test, the Pentagon had secretly awarded him a $16 million contract to target Iraq and other adversaries with propaganda. One of the most powerful people in Washington, Rendon is a leader in the strategic field known as "perception management," manipulating information -- and, by extension, the news media -- to achieve the desired result. His firm, the Rendon Group, has made millions off government contracts since 1991, when it was hired by the CIA to help "create the conditions for the removal of Hussein from power." Working under this extraordinary transfer of secret authority, Rendon assembled a group of anti-Saddam militants, personally gave them their name -- the Iraqi National Congress -- and served as their media guru and "senior adviser" as they set out to engineer an uprising against Saddam. It was as if President John F. Kennedy had outsourced the Bay of Pigs operation to the advertising and public-relations firm of J. Walter Thompson." The Man Who Sold the War,” Rolling Stone, November 18, 2005 (Authenticity is Denied by the The Rendon Group) "Former Prime Minister Netanyahu testified about potential military action in Iraq. Among the topics he addressed were nuclear weapons development in Iraq, Iraqi support of terrorist networks, potential Israeli reaction to a preemptive strike against Iraq, and the potential use o chemical and biological weapons against Israel" C-Span, “Israeli Perspective on Conflict with Iraq,” September 12, 2002 "Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised. This regime has already used weapons of mass destruction against Iraq's neighbors and against Iraq's people." March 17, 2003 President Says Saddam Hussein Must Leave Iraq Within 48 Hours Remarks by the President in Address to the Nation The Cross Hall "Hard-liners are alarmed that American intelligence underestimated the pace and scale of Iraq's nuclear program before Baghdad's defeat in the gulf war. Conscious of this lapse in the past, they argue that Washington dare not wait until analysts have found hard evidence that Mr. Hussein has acquired a nuclear weapon. The first sign of a ''smoking gun,'' they argue, may be a mushroom cloud… Still, Mr. Hussein's dogged insistence on pursuing his nuclear ambitions, along with what defectors described in interviews as Iraq's push to improve and expand Baghdad's chemical and biological arsenals, have brought Iraq and the United States to the brink of war." THREATS AND RESPONSES: THE IRAQIS; U.S. SAYS HUSSEIN INTENSIFIES QUEST FOR A-BOMB PARTS By Michael R. Gordon and Judith Miller Sept. 8, 2002 "Yet the 28-page public document turned estimates into facts, left out or watered down the dissent within the government about key weapons programs, and exaggerated Iraq's ability to strike the United States, the investigation by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence found… The report also notes that the White Paper dropped such qualifiers as "we judge" and "we assess," making best estimates appear as fact. Thus the classified report's language, "We assess that Baghdad has begun renewed production of mustard, sarin, cyclosarin, and VX . . . " became "Baghdad has begun renewed production . . . " Also, the words "we have little specific information on Iraq's CW [chemical weapons] stockpile" were removed from the unclassified paper. "Removing caveats such as 'we judge' and 'we assess' changed many sentences in the unclassified paper to statements of fact rather than assessments," the report noted. In doing so, the White Paper "misrepresented [the intelligence community's] judgments to the public," the Senate panel concluded… Yesterday, speaking on NBC's "Meet the Press," the Senate committee's chairman, Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), said that had Congress known before the vote to go to war what his committee has since discovered about the intelligence on Iraq, "I doubt if the votes would have been there." Roberts characterized some of the redacted parts of the Senate report as "specific details that would make your eyebrows even raise higher." Report Says CIA Distorted Iraq Data By Dana Priest July 12, 2004 Transcript for July 11 Guests: Senator Pat Roberts, (R-Kan.) Chairman, Intelligence Committee; Senator Jay Rockefeller, (D-W.Va.) Vice Chairman, Intelligence Committee ; David Broder, The Washington Post; Ron Brownstein, Los Angeles Times; William F. Buckley, Editor Emeritus, National Review; and Jack Germond, Baltimore Sun. NBC July 11, 2004 White House ‘lied about Saddam threat Julian Borger in Washington Wed 9 Jul 2003 "AFTER SECRETARY OF STATE Colin L. Powell's presentation to the United Nations Security Council yesterday, it is hard to imagine how anyone could doubt that Iraq possesses weapons of mass destruction. Mr. Powell left no room to argue seriously that Iraq has accepted the Security Council's offer of a "final opportunity" to disarm. And he offered a powerful new case that Saddam Hussein's regime is cooperating with a branch of the al Qaeda organization that is trying to acquire chemical weapons and stage attacks in Europe" The Washington Post Irrefutable Feb 6th 2003 Deceivery "A Senior Pentagon policy maker created an unofficial "Iraqi intelligence cell" in the summer of 2002 to circumvent the CIA and secretly brief the White House on links between Saddam Hussein and al-Qa'eda, according to the Senate intelligence committee… The cell appears to have been set up by Mr Feith as an adjunct to the Office of Special Plans, a Pentagon intelligence-gathering operation established in the wake of 9/11 with the authority of Paul Wolfowitz. Its focus quickly became the al-Qa'eda-Saddam link. On occasion, without informing the then head of the CIA, George Tenet, the group gave counter-briefings in the White House. Sen Jay Rockefeller, the most senior Democrat on the committee, said that Mr Feith's cell may even have undertaken "unlawful" intelligence-gathering initiatives." Fury Over Pentagon Cell That Briefed White House on Iraq’s ‘Imaginary’ al-Qaeda links,” Daily Telegraph, July 11, 2004 Neocon Mindset "It was clear that the critiques of him as a dumb, lazy rich kid were somewhere off the mark. When he focused, he asked the kind of questions that revealed a results-oriented mind, but he looked for the simple solution, the bumper sticker description of the problem. Once he had that, he could put energy behind a drive to achieve his goal. The problem was that many of the important issues, like terrorism, like Iraq, were laced with important subtlety and nuance. These issues needed analysis, and Bush and his inner circle had no real interest in complicated analyses; on the issues that they cared about, they already knew the answers; it was received wisdom" Richard Clarke Against All Enemies Inside America's War on Terror Page 243 (President Bush Counter Terrorism Chief) Pre-Planned? "From the very first instance, it was about Iraq. It was about what we can do to change this regime," says Suskind. "Day one, these things were laid and sealed." …"It was all about finding a way to do it. That was the tone of it. The president saying 'Go find me a way to do this,'" says O'Neill. "For me, the notion of pre-emption, that the U.S. has the unilateral right to do whatever we decide to do, is a really huge leap."" Bush Sought 'Way' To Invade Iraq? 60-minutes BY REBECCA LEUNG JANUARY 9, 2004 "The Bush administration, in a secret policy review completed early this year, has ordered the Pentagon to draft contingency plans for the use of nuclear weapons against at least seven countries, naming not only Russia and the "axis of evil"--Iraq, Iran, and North Korea--but also China, Libya and Syria. In addition, the U.S. Defense Department has been told to prepare for the possibility that nuclear weapons may be required in some future Arab-Israeli crisis. And, it is to develop plans for using nuclear weapons to retaliate against chemical or biological attacks, as well as "surprising military developments" of an unspecified nature. These and a host of other directives, including calls for developing bunker-busting mini-nukes and nuclear weapons that reduce collateral damage, are contained in a still-classified document called the Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), which was delivered to Congress on Jan. 8." LA Times Secret Plan Outlines the Unthinkable March 10th 2002 "Since the collapse of the Soviet empire, this [American security] perimeter has expanded slowly but inexorably. . . . In the Persian Gulf region, the presence of American forces, along with British and French units, has become a semipermanent fact of life. Though the immediate mission of those forces is to enforce the no-fly zones over northern and southern Iraq, they represent the long-term commitment of the United States and its major allies to a region of vital importance. Indeed, the United States has for decades sought to play a more permanent role in Gulf regional security. While the unresolved conflict with Iraq provides the immediate justification, the need for a substantial American force presence in the Gulf transcends the issue of the regime of Saddam Hussein." PNAC, Rebuilding America's Defences Page 14 True Motivations? Regional Presence And Dominance "If Saddam Hussein did not exist, we would have to invent him. He is the linchpin of American policy in the Mideast. Without him, Washington would be stumbling in the desert sands. . . . If not for Saddam, would the Saudi royal family, terrified of being seen as an American protectorate (which in a sense it is), allow American troops on their soil? Would Kuwait house more than 30,000 pieces of American combat hardware, kept in readiness should the need arise? Would the King of Jordan, the political weather vane of the region, allow the Marines to conduct exercises within his borders? . . . [T]he end of Saddam Hussein would be the end of the anti-Saddam coalition. Nothing destroys an alliance like the disappearance of the enemy. . . . Imagine American policy in the Middle East if we didn’t have Saddam Hussein to kick around anymore." Thank Goodness For A Villain BY FAREED ZAKARIA ON 9/15/96 Newsweek (Ex-CNN broadcaster, CFR) "Since the collapse of the Soviet empire, this [American security] perimeter has expanded slowly but inexorably. . . . In the Persian Gulf region, the presence of American forces, along with British and French units, has become a semipermanent fact of life. Though the immediate mission of those forces is to enforce the no-fly zones over northern and southern Iraq, they represent the long-term commitment of the United States and its major allies to a region of vital importance. Indeed, the United States has for decades sought to play a more permanent role in Gulf regional security. While the unresolved conflict with Iraq provides the immediate justification, the need for a substantial American force presence in the Gulf transcends the issue of the regime of Saddam Hussein." PNAC, Rebuilding America's Defences Page 14 "Wolfowitz said we [have] learned we can intervene militarily in the Middle East with impunity... We’ve got about five to ten years to take out these old Soviet “surrogate” regimes - Iraq, Syria, and the rest before the next superpower comes along to challenge us in the region." W. Clark, Don’t Wait for the Next War Paul Wolfowitz (Neocon Official) to General Wesley Clark Oil And Currency "A bizarre political statement by Saddam Hussein has earned Iraq a windfall of hundreds of million of euros. In October 2000 Iraq insisted on dumping the US dollar - 'the currency of the enemy' - for the more multilateral euro… Almost all of Iraq's oil exports under the United Nations oil-for-food programme have been paid in euros since 2001. Around 26 billion euros (£17.4bn) has been paid for 3.3 billion barrels of oil into an escrow account in New York… At the time of the change the UN issued a report saying that the move could cost Iraq up to £270 million. Independent experts questioned the value of buying into a plummeting currency. 'It was seen as economically bad because the entire global oil trade is conducted in dollars,' says Fadhil Chalabi, executive director of the Centre for Global Energy Studies." The Guardian Iraq nets handsome profit by dumping dollar for euro’, 16 February 2003. "by 2020 we could be dependent on imported energy for three quarters of our total primary energy needs… Of the worlds leading industrial nations only two - Canada and the UK are net energy exporters." Department of Trade and Industry, ‘Our Energy Future – Creating a Low Carbon Economy’, Energy White Paper, February 2003 Page 9 Foreward by Tony Blair "promote conditions for foreign direct investment through stable financial regimes, transparent legal frameworks, predictable domestic energy policies and predictable foreign investment terms. Promoting the liberalization of energy markets including through the World Trade Organization" Department of Trade and Industry, ‘Our Energy Future – Creating a Low Carbon Economy’, Energy White Paper, February 2003 Page 83 Rebuilding of Iraqi Pipeline as Disaster Waiting to Happen By James Glanz April 25, 2006 NYT Bush’s economic invasion of Iraq BY ANTONIA JUHASZ AUG. 14, 2005 LA Times Contractors "Halliburton, the company formerly headed by Vice President Cheney, has won contracts worth more than $1.7 billion under Operation Iraqi Freedom and stands to make hundreds of millions more dollars under a no-bid contract awarded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, according to newly available documents" Halliburton's Deals Greater Than Thought By Michael Dobbs August 28, 2003 The Washington Post Security Companies: Shadow Soldiers in Iraq was reported by David Barstow, James Glanz and Kate Zernike April 19, 2004 NYT The Invasion "All the decades of deceit and cruelty have now reached an end. Saddam Hussein and his sons must leave Iraq within 48 hours. Their refusal to do so will result in military conflict commenced at a time of our choosing. .. It is too late for Saddam Hussein to remain in power. It is not too late for the Iraq military to act with honor and protect your country, by permitting the peaceful entry of coalition forces to eliminate weapons of mass destruction. Our forces will give Iraqi military units clear instructions on actions they can take to avoid being attack and destroyed. I urge every member of the Iraqi military and intelligence services: If war comes, do not fight for a dying regime that is not worth your own life. And all Iraqi military and civilian personnel should listen carefully to this warning: In any conflict, your fate will depend on your actions. Do not destroy oil wells, a source of wealth that belongs to the Iraqi people. Do not obey any command to use weapons of mass destruction against anyone, including the Iraqi people. War crimes will be prosecuted, war criminals will be punished and it will be no defense to say, "I was just following orders." Should Saddam Hussein choose confrontation, the American people can know that every measure has been taken to avoid war and every measure will be taken to win it." Bush: 'Leave Iraq within 48 hours' Tuesday, March 18, 2003 Posted (CNN) -- Here is a transcript of President George W. Bush's Monday night televised address to the nation "This is basically an assassination programme. That is what is being conceptualised here. This is a hunter-killer team," said a former senior US intelligence official, who added that he feared the new tactics and enhanced cooperation with Israel would only inflame a volatile situation in the Middle East. "It is bonkers, insane. Here we are - we're already being compared to Sharon in the Arab world, and we've just confirmed it by bringing in the Israelis and setting up assassination teams." Israel Trains US Assassination Squads in Iraq,” Guardian, December 8, 2003 Basra Prison Incident Chaos And Breakdown of Society "Stuff happens" Donald Rumsfield response to Iraq Looting APRIL 11, 2003 DEFENSE DEPARTMENT BRIEFING "For the most part they are grass-roots forces without uniforms, bases or standardized training. They appear at makeshift checkpoints throughout the country, guarding the perimeter of hospitals and airports, and persecute their rivals under the guise of "neighborhood watches."" Iraq's Little Armies By Matt Sherman March 8, 2006 NYT Damage To The Country People And Troops "BAGHDAD -- The Bush administration does not intend to seek any new funds for Iraq reconstruction in the budget request going before Congress in February, officials say. The decision signals the winding down of an $18.4 billion U.S. rebuilding effort in which roughly half of the money was eaten away by the insurgency, a buildup of Iraq's criminal justice system and the investigation and trial of Saddam Hussein. Just under 20 percent of the reconstruction package remains unallocated. When the last of the $18.4 billion is spent, U.S. officials in Baghdad have made clear, other foreign donors and the fledgling Iraqi government will have to take up what authorities say is tens of billions of dollars of work yet to be done merely to bring reliable electricity, water and other services to Iraq's 26 million people. "The U.S. never intended to completely rebuild Iraq," Brig. Gen. William McCoy, the Army Corps of Engineers commander overseeing the work, told reporters at a recent news conference. In an interview this past week, McCoy said: "This was just supposed to be a jump-start." U.S. Has End in Sight on Iraq Rebuilding Documents Show Much of the Funding Diverted to Security, Justice System and Hussein Inquiry The Washington Post January 2, 2006 "Dramatic increases in infant mortality, cancer and leukaemia in the Iraqi city of Fallujah, which was bombarded by US Marines in 2004, exceed those reported by survivors of the atomic bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, according to a new study. Iraqi doctors in Fallujah have complained since 2005 of being overwhelmed by the number of babies with serious birth defects, ranging from a girl born with two heads to paralysis of the lower limbs. They said they were also seeing far more cancers than they did before the battle for Fallujah between US troops and insurgents."Independent , ‘Toxic Legacy of US Assault on Fallujah Worse Than Hiroshima’, 24 July 2010 "The 24 Iraqi civilians killed on Nov. 19 included children and the women who were trying to shield them, witnesses told a Washington Post special correspondent in Haditha this week and U.S. investigators said in Washington. The girls killed inside Khafif's house were ages 14, 10, 5, 3 and 1, according to death certificates." In Haditha, Memories of a Massacre Iraqi Townspeople Describe Slaying of 24 Civilians by Marines in Nov. 19 Incident By Ellen Knick meyer May 27, 2006 "In his comments, Mr. Maliki said violence against civilians had become a "daily phenomenon" by many troops in the American-led coalition who "do not respect the Iraqi people." "They crush them with their vehicles and kill them just on suspicion," he said. "This is completely unacceptable." Attacks on civilians will play a role in future decisions on how long to ask American forces to remain in Iraq, the prime minister added" Iraqi Assails U.S. for Strikes on Civilians NYT By Richard A. Oppel Jr.June 2, 2006 The Growth Of Terrorism And Terrorist Groups "a training ground, a recruitment ground, the opportunity for enhancing technical skills. . . . There is even, under the best scenario, over time, the likelihood that some of the jihadists who are not killed there will, in a sense, go home, wherever home is, and will therefore disperse to various other countries." Iraq New Terror Breeding Ground The Washingtno Post January 14, 2005, David B. Low, the national intelligence officer for transnational threats "The al Qaeda membership that was distinguished by having trained in Afghanistan will gradually dissipate, to be replaced in part by the dispersion of the experienced survivors of the conflict in Iraq.” BBC 14 January, 2005, National Intelligence Council report Mapping the Global Future "[Iraq are ] going to have to show us that [they] are willing and ready to try and maintain a unified Iraqi government that is based on compromise. We’re not going to let them create some caliphate through Syria and Iraq. But we can only do that if we know that we have got partners on the ground who are capable of filling the void." Obama on the world NYT August 8th 2014 "What my constant cry was that our biggest problem was our allies. Our allies in the region were our largest problem in Syria. The Turks were great friends, and I’ve a great relationship with [Turkish President Recep] Erdoğan, who I’ve just spent a lot of time with, the Saudis, the Emiratis, etc. What were they doing? They were so determined to take down Assad and essentially have a proxy Sunni-Shia war, what did they do? They poured hundreds of millions of dollars and tens of thousands of tons of weapons into anyone who would fight against Assad, except that the people who were being supplied were al-Nusra, and al Qaeda, and the extremist elements of jihadis coming from other parts of the world. If you think I’m exaggerating, take a look. Where did all of this go? So now what’s happening? All of a sudden, everybody is awakened because this outfit called ISIL, which was al Qaeda in Iraq, which when they were essentially thrown out of Iraq, found open space and territory in eastern Syria, work with al-Nusra, who we declared a terrorist group early on, and we could not convince our colleagues to stop supplying them. So, what happened? Now, all of a sudden [now that ISIS has taken over western Iraq]—I don’t want to be too facetious—but they have seen the lord. Now we have—the president’s been able to put together a coalition of our Sunni neighbors, because America can’t once again go into a [Sunni] Muslim nation and be the aggressor. It has to be led by Sunnis. To go and attack a Sunni organization. And so, what do we have for the first time? Now Saudi Arabia has stopped the funding from going in. Saudi Arabia is allowing training on its soil of American forces under Title 10, open training. The Qataris have cut off their support for the most extreme elements of the terrorist organizations. And the Turks, President Erdoğan told me—he is an old friend—said, “You were right; we let too many people through. Now we are trying to seal the border.” VP Joe Biden 2014 talk to Harvard University Delivers remarks on foreign policy "Abdel-Hakim al-Hasidi, the Libyan rebel leader, has said jihadists who fought against allied troops in Iraq are on the front lines of the battle against Muammar Gaddafi's regime. Abdel-Hakim al-Hasidi, the Libyan rebel leader, has said jihadists who fought against allied troops in Iraq are on the front lines of the battle against Muammar Gaddafi's regime. In an interview with the Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore, Mr al-Hasidi admitted that he had recruited "around 25" men from the Derna area in eastern Libya to fight against coalition troops in Iraq. Some of them, he said, are "today are on the front lines in Adjabiya". Mr al-Hasidi insisted his fighters "are patriots and good Muslims, not terrorists," but added that the "members of al-Qaeda are also good Muslims and are fighting against the invader" Daily Telegraph , ‘Libyan rebel commander admits his fighters have al-Qaeda links’, 25 March 2011 "German troops involved in a coalition training mission in Iraq have reported that Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) fighters have used chemical weapons on a Kurdish militia. The German commanders, who have been mentoring the Kurds on Isil’s front lines in northern Iraq, sent an urgent message to the German defence ministry in Berlin after hearing that the Kurds had been attacked on Wednesday. The Kurdish fighters, whose militia is known as the Peshmerga, told the Germans that some had suffered severe burns to their bodies, while others had difficulty breathing." Daily Telegraph , ‘ISIL used chemical weapons against Kurds in Iraq, say German troops’, 14 August 2015. "There is a growing belief within the US government that the Islamic State militant group is making and using crude chemical weapons in Iraq and Syria, a US official has told the BBC. The US has identified at least four occasions on both sides of the Iraq-Syria border where IS has used mustard agents, the official said." BBC Online, ‘US official: IS making and using chemical weapons in Iraq and Syria’, 11 September 2015. “But as time went on, every time there was a problem in the camp, he was at the centre of it,” Abu Ahmed recalled. “He wanted to be the head of the prison – and when I look back now, he was using a policy of conquer and divide to get what he wanted, which was status. And it worked.” By December 2004, Baghdadi was deemed by his jailers to pose no further risk and his release was authorised. “He was respected very much by the US army,” Abu Ahmed said. “If he wanted to visit people in another camp he could, but we couldn’t. And all the while, a new strategy, which he was leading, was rising under their noses, and that was to build the Islamic State. If there was no American prison in Iraq, there would be no IS now. Bucca was a factory. It made us all. It built our ideology.” Guardian , ‘ISIS: The Inside Story’, 11 December 2014 "As Isis has rampaged through the region, it has been led by men who spent time in US detention centres during the American occupation of Iraq – in addition to Bucca, the US also ran Camp Cropper, near Baghdad airport, and, for an ill-fated 18 months early in the war, Abu Ghraib prison on the capital’s western outskirts. Many of those released from these prisons – and indeed, several senior American officers who ran detention operations – have admitted that the prisons had an incendiary effect on the insurgency. “I went to plenty of meetings where guys would come through and tell us how well it was all going,” said Ali Khedery, a special aide to all US ambassadors who served in Iraq from 2003-11, and to three US military commanders. But eventually even top American officers came to believe they had “actually become radicalising elements. They were counterproductive in many ways. They were being used to plan and organise, to appoint leaders and launch operations… We had so much time to sit and plan,” he continued. “It was the perfect environment. We all agreed to get together when we got out. The way to reconnect was easy. We wrote each other’s details on the elastic of our boxer shorts. When we got out, we called. Everyone who was important to me was written on white elastic. I had their phone numbers, their villages. By 2009, many of us were back doing what we did before we were caught. But this time we were doing it better" Guardian , ‘ISIS: The Inside Story’, 11 December 2014 "Doubts are growing about the authenticity of an edict attributed to the Sunni Islamist group Isis controlling the Iraqi city of Mosul about female genital mutilation (FGM). A top UN official quoted from a statement saying that Isis wanted all females aged between 11 and 46 in the northern city to undergo the procedure. Jacqueline Badcock said the decree was of grave concern. But media analysts say the decree seen on social media may be a fake. It has typos and language mistakes and is signed by "The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant", a name the group no longer uses, instead referring to itself as the Islamic State." BBC Online, ‘Doubts grow over ISIS FGM edict in Iraq’, 24 July 2014. "A RADICAL plan by Al-Qaeda to take over the Sunni heartland of Iraq and turn it into a militant Islamic state once American troops have withdrawn is causing alarm among US intelligence officials. A power struggle has emerged between the self-styled Islamic State of Iraq, an organisation with ambitions to become a state which has been set up by Al-Qaeda, and more moderate Sunni groups. They are battling for the long-term control of central and western areas which they believe could break away from Kurdish and Shi'ite-dominated provinces once the coalition forces depart. According to an analysis compiled by US intelligence agencies, the Islamic State has ambitions to create a terrorist enclave in the Iraqi provinces of Baghdad, Anbar, Diyala, Salah al-Din, Nineveh." The Times , ‘Al-Qaeda planning militant Islamic state within Iraq’, 13 May 2007 "We could do a very significantly increased level of activity without going anywhere near putting combat troops on the ground. And one of the points that I make in the essay is that if you look at the average rate of international air strikes since last August into Syria and Iraq, it's about 10 per day. If you compare that to Libya in 2011, it was 45 per day. In Afghanistan in 2001, it was 83 per day. And in the Kosovo campaign, which people may remember from 1999, was 250 per day. So without even going close to putting troops on the ground, we could be doing a very significantly greater amount to deal with the Islamic State" ABC (Australia), ‘Islamic State look increasingly like a state warns expert’, 18 May 2015 David Kilcullen (Ex- US Official) "There is no doubt that the situation over Iraq has imposed particular difficulties for the U.K., and for the wider coalition against terrorism," the report said. "It gave a boost to the Al Qaeda network's propaganda, recruitment and fundraising." Britain Assails Critical Report on Role in Iraq,” New York Times, July 19, 2005 Chatham House Report Iraqi Police, Army And Government "Mr. Bremer said he repeatedly complained in National Security Council meetings chaired by Ms. Rice and attended by cabinet secretaries that the quality of police training was poor and focused on producing high numbers. "They were just pulling kids off the streets and handing them badges and AK-47's," Mr. Bremer said." Misjudgments Marred U.S. Plans for Iraqi Police By Michael Moss and David Rohde May 21, 2006 NYT Beleaguered Premier Warns U.S. to Stop Interfering in Iraq's Politics NYT By Edward Wong March 30, 2006 Rejection And Opposition Of The Invasion "The erosion of support for the Coalition has accelerated over the past three months," I said in that meeting, "despite progress on the political process, the TAL, and glimmerings of reconstruction activity— at last." The reason was quite simply the increase in insurgent attacks. I warned that we were sure to face more such attacks in the coming weeks as the enemy tried to derail progress along the path to democracy. "So the message to most Iraqis is that the Coalition can't provide them the most basic government service: security'," I concluded. "We've become the worst of all things — an ineffective occupier" My year in Iraq : the struggle to build a future of hope by Paul Bremer Page 358 (He led the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) following the 2003 invasion of Iraq by the United States, from May 2003 until June 2004) Saddam Hussein Trial Iraq Court Hears Testimony Of Witness Herald Tribune December 2005 Prosecutors in Hussein Case Tie Him to Order to Kill By Robert F. Worth March 1, 2006 Shia-Sunni Conflict “The United Nations said an average of 100 Iraqi civilians were being killed each day in Iraq, "the overwhelming majority" of them in Baghdad. On the streets, the tallies are borne out in flesh and blood. Each day, the bodies pile up at Baghdad's main morgue: burned with acid, riddled with bullets, blindfolded, handcuffed, drilled with holes. For much of the city, the Tigris River forms the sectarian boundary, the Sunnis on the west and the Shiites in the east. Many Baghdad residents will no longer stray from their own neighborhoods. Shops in most neighborhoods close by 2 p.m., if they open at all. Gun-toting militiamen from the Mahdi Army roam the streets unmolested." Baghdad’s Chaos Undercuts Tack Pursued by U.S. By Dexter Filkins Aug. 6, 2006 NYT "I cannot talk with you," said Sajid Saad Hassan, a professor at Basra University's agriculture college. "I haven't joined a party and no militia is protecting me."" Oil, Politics and Bloodshed Corrupt an Iraqi City By Sabrina Tavernise and Qais Mizher June 13, 2006 NYT Failed Projects

The Gulf War And Sanction Years 1990-2003 Pre-1991 Claims Of Neutrality "GLASPIE: I think I understand this. I have lived here for years. I admire your extraordinary efforts to rebuild your country. I know you need funds. We understand that and our opinion is that you should have the opportunity to rebuild your country. But we have no opinion on the Arab-Arab conflicts, like your border disagreement with Kuwait." CONFRONTATION IN THE GULF; Excerpts From Iraqi Document on Meeting With U.S. EnvoyThe New York Times Sept. 23, 1990 "Mr Kelly: We have no defense treaty relationship with any Gulf country. That is clear. We support the security and independence of friendly states in the region. Ever since the Truman administration, we have maintained Naval forces in the Gulf because of our interest in stability in that region. We are calling for a peaceful resolution of any differences in that area and we hope and trust and believe that the sovereignty of every state in the Gulf ought to be respected. Mr. HAMILTION: Do we have a commitment to our friends in the Gulf in the event that they are engaged in oil or territorial disputes with their neighbors ? Mr. KELLY: As I said, Mr. Chairman, we have no defense treaty relationships with any of the countries. We have historically avoided taking a position on border disputes or on internal OPEC deliberations, but we have certainly, as have all administrations, resoundingly called for the peaceful settlement of disputes and differences in the area. Mr. HAMILTON: If Iraq, for example, charged across the border into Kuwait, for whatever reason, what would be our position with regard to the use of U.S. forces ? Mr. KELLY: That, Mr. Chairman, is a hypothetical or a contingency, the kind of which I can't get into. Suffice it to say we would be extremely concerned, but I cannot get into the realm of '' what if answers. Mr. HAMILTON: In that circumstance, it is correct to say, however, that we do not have a treaty commitment which would obligate us to engage U.S. forces ? Mr. KELLY: That is correct. Mr. HAMILTON: That is correct, is it not ? Mr. KELLY: That is correct , sir ..” Developments in the Middle East, July 1990: Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Europe and the Middle East of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, House of Representatives, One Hundred First Congress, Second Session, July 31, 1990, Volume 4 Page 14 Evidence The US Never Intended To Be Neutral And Warnings Of An Invasion "On Oct. 31, Iraq released what it claimed was a captured Kuwaiti intelligence document reporting on a week of meetings held with American officials, including CIA Director William Webster, during mid-November last year. The document reads, “We agreed with the American side that it was important to take advantage of the deteriorating economic structure in Iraq in order to put pressure on that country’s government to delineate our common border.” The CIA acknowledged that Webster had received a “routine courtesy call” from senior Kuwaiti officials on the indicated date but insisted that nothing about Kuwait’s relations with Iraq had been discussed “at that meeting.”" Congress Must Take a Hard Look at Iraq’s Charges Against Kuwait : Geopolitics: Before the U.S. exercises the ‘war option,’ we must assess the regional belief that Hussein was responding to provocative Kuwaiti policies. BY G. HENRY M. SCHULER DEC. 2, 1990 IRAQI CHARGES ALLEGED KUWAITI MEMO PROVES A CIA PLOT AGAINST BAGHDAD By George Lardner The Washington Post Jr.November 1, 1990 "We agreed with the American side that it was important to take advantage of the deteriorating economic situation in Iraq in order to put pressure on that country’s government to delineate our common border. The Central Intelligence Agency gave us its view of appropriate means of pressure, saying that broad cooperation should be initiated between us on condition that such activities be coordinated at a high level." CIA Says Iraq’s Kuwait Document Won’t Wash : Intrigue: It describes a meeting that never took place, U.S. says. Baghdad cited the paper as proof of a conspiracy. LA Times NOV. 1, 1990 "When a reporter asked Mashat to assess why the memo seemed to run directly opposite to the thrust of Glaspie’s meeting with Hussein, the ambassador said that the Glaspie meeting “is part and parcel of the setup.” Critics of the State Department have charged that Glaspie’s message, delivered on the instructions of her superiors, gave a “green light” to the Iraqi aggression" CIA Says Iraq’s Kuwait Document Won’t Wash : Intrigue: It describes a meeting that never took place, U.S. says. Baghdad cited the paper as proof of a conspiracy. LA Times NOV. 1, 1990 "As Iraqi forces massed along Kuwait's border on Aug. 1, a Central Intelligence Agency analyst named Charlie Allen walked into the offices of the National Security Council's Middle East staff. "This is your final warning," he is reliably said to have told them. Iraq, he said, would invade Kuwait by day's end. It was not the first time that Mr. Allen, a 32-year C.I.A. veteran with the ominous-sounding title of national intelligence officer for warning, had sounded the Kuwait alarm. Until the last hours of Iraq's sword-rattling, when a handful of others joined him, Mr. Allen had been the leading doomsayer among analysts tracking Iraq's military preparations. For Mr. Allen, associates say, shunning the beaten path is standard fare. So, apparently, is what happened next. His forecast was disregarded, and top White House and Pentagon officials were surprised at home when Iraq marched into Kuwait on the morning of Aug. 2." Washington at Work; C.I.A. Sidelines Its Gulf Cassandra NYT Jan. 24, 1991 "Despite the qualifiers that Kelly put into place about America’s preference for peaceful solutions to disputes, the only thing the Iraqi regime heard was that we had no legal obligation or even any mechanism to react to an invasion. That had far more effect than anything April Glaspie may or may not have said in her meeting with Saddam Hussein.” The Politics of Truth: Inside the Lies That Put the White House on Trial and Betrayed My Wife's CIA Identity Joseph Wilson (Diplomat to US Iraq Ambassador to Iraq Glaspie) Propaganda And Lies "While I was there, I saw the Iraqi soldiers come into the hospital with guns. They took the babies out of the incubators, took the incubators and left the children to die on the cold floor. It was horrifying. I could not help but think of my nephew who was born premature and might have died that day as well. After I left the hospital, some of my friends and I distributed flyers condemning the Iraqi invasion until we were warned we might be killed if the Iraqis saw us. The Iraqis have destroyed everything in Kuwait. They stripped the supermarkets of food, the pharmacies of medicine, the factories of medical supplies, ransacked their houses and tortured neighbors and friends. I saw and talked to a friend of mine after his torture and release by the Iraqis. He is 22 but he looked as though he could have been an old man. The Iraqis dunked his head into a swimming pool until he almost drowned. They pulled out his fingernails and then played [sic] electric shocks to sensitive private parts of his body. He was lucky to survive. If an Iraqi soldier is found dead in the neighborhood, they burn to the ground all the houses in the general vicinity and would not let firefighters come until the only ash and rubble was left. The Iraqis were making fun of President Bush and verbally and physically abusing my family and me on our way out of Kuwait. We only did so because life in Kuwait became unbearable. They have forced us to hide, burn or destroy everything identifying our country and our government. I want to emphasize that Kuwait is our mother and the Emir our father. We repeated this on the roofs of our houses in Kuwait until the Iraqis began shooting at us, and we shall repeat it again. I am glad I am 15, old enough to remember Kuwait before Saddam Hussein destroyed it and young enough to rebuild it Thank you." Nayirah testimony, Video "He said Americans ″are held in direct contravention of international law. Many of them reportedly staked out as human shields near possible military targets, brutality that I don’t believe Adolf Hitler ever participated in anything of that nature."" Bush Says Saddam Even Worse Than Hitler TOM RAUM AP News November 1, 1990 "The United States will be in a box if the Iraqis agree to withdraw unconditionally," said a diplomat who has been following the issue closely. He said it was unlikely that the international coalition sponsoring the war under United Nations authorization would approve further large-scale military action under such circumstances, whatever the view in Washington" PEACE PLAN POSES RISKS FOR U.S.-SOVIET RELATIONS By Don Oberdorfer February 21, 1991 The Washington Post Budget, Arms, Oil, NATO And Other Potential Motivations "Less than a year after political changes in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union sent the defense industry reeling under the threat of dramatic cutbacks, executives and analysts say the crisis in the Persian Gulf has provided military companies with a tiny glimmer of hope. "If Iraq does not withdraw and things get messy, it will be good for the industry. You will hear less rhetoric from Washington about the peace dividend," said Michael Lauer, an analyst with Kidder, Peabody & Co. in New York" DEFENSE INDUSTRY SEES SPARK OF HOPE August 10, 1990 Washington Post "The President should be aware that, while most Americans are laboring very hard to support him, a mood of cynicism is just beneath their veneer of respect. Many are claiming that the buildup is little more than a “Pentagon budget drill,” designed to preclude cutbacks of an Army searching for a mission as bases in NATO begin to disappear." In the Gulf, the Danger of a Diplomatic Solution And the Horrors of a Desert War By James Webb.Sept. 23, 1990 NYT (James Webb was Assistant Secretary of Defense and Secretary of the Navy in the Reagan Administration) Damage To The Country, People And Sanctions "I and the members of my mission were fully conversant with media reports regarding the situation in Iraq and, of course, with the recent WHO/UNICEF report on water, sanitary and health conditions in the Greater Baghdad area. It should, however, be said at once that nothing that we had seen or read had quite prepared us for the particular form of devastation which has now befallen the country. Recent conflict has wrought near-apocalyptic results upon the economic infrastructure of what had been, until January 1991, a rather highly urbanized and mechanized society. Now, most means of modern life support have been destroyed or rendered tenuous. Iraq has, for some time to come, been relegated to a pre-industrial age, but with all the disabilities of post-industrial dependency on an intensive use of energy and technology." United Nations, “Report to the Secretary-General on Humanitarian Needs in Kuwait and Iraq in the Immediate Post-crisis Environment by a Mission to the Area Led by Mr. Martti Ahtisaari, Under-Secretary-General for Administration and Management, Dated 20 March 1991,” $/22366 para 8 "Two world renowned child psychologists stated that the children in Iraq were ‘the most traumatized children of war ever described’. Nearly two-thirds of children interviewed believe they will not survive to be adults" Humanitarian Crisis in Iraq: Challenge for U.S. Policy : Hearing Before the International Task Force of the Select Committee on Hunger, House of Representatives, One Hundred Second Congress, First Session, Hearing Held in Washington, DC, November 13, 1991 Page 40 "The strategic bombing of Iraq, described in wartime briefings as a campaign against Baghdad's offensive military capabilities, now appears to have been broader in its purposes and selection of targets. Amid mounting evidence of Iraq's ruined infrastructure and the painful consequences for ordinary Iraqis, Pentagon officials more readily acknowledge the severe impact of the 43-day air bombardment on Iraq's economic future and civilian population. Their explanations these days of the bombing's goals and methods suggest that the allies, relying on traditional concepts of strategic warfare, sought to achieve some of their military objectives in the Persian Gulf War by disabling Iraqi society at large. Though many details remain classified, interviews with those involved in the targeting disclose three main contrasts with the administration's earlier portrayal of a campaign aimed solely at Iraq's armed forces and their lines of supply and command. Some targets, especially late in the war, were bombed primarily to create postwar leverage over Iraq, not to influence the course of the conflict itself. Planners now say their intent was to destroy or damage valuable facilities that Baghdad could not repair without foreign assistance. Many of the targets in Iraq's Mesopotamian heartland, the list of which grew from about 400 to more than 700 in the course of the war, were chosen only secondarily to contribute to the military defeat of Baghdad's occupation army in Kuwait. Military planners hoped the bombing would amplify the economic and psychological impact of international sanctions on Iraqi society, and thereby compel President Saddam Hussein to withdraw Iraqi forces from Kuwait without a ground war. They also hoped to incite Iraqi citizens to rise against the Iraqi leader. Because of these goals, damage to civilian structures and interests, invariably described by briefers during the war as "collateral" and unintended, was sometimes neither. The Air Force and Navy "fraggers" who prepared the daily air-tasking orders in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, took great care to avoid dropping explosives directly on civilians -- and were almost certainly more successful than in any previous war -- but they deliberately did great harm to Iraq's ability to support itself as an industrial society. The worst civilian suffering, senior officers say, has resulted not from bombs that went astray but from precision-guided weapons that hit exactly where they were aimed -- at electrical plants, oil refineries and transportation networks. Each of these targets was acknowledged during the war, but all the purposes and consequences of their destruction were not divulged. Among the justifications offered now, particularly by the Air Force in recent briefings, is that Iraqi civilians were not blameless for Saddam's invasion of Kuwait. "The definition of innocents gets to be a little bit unclear," said a senior Air Force officer, noting that many Iraqis supported the invasion of Kuwait. "They do live there, and ultimately the people have some control over what goes on in their country." "When they discuss warfare, a lot of folks tend to think of force on force, soldier A against soldier B," said another officer who played a central role in the air campaign but declined to be named. Strategic bombing, by contrast, strikes against "all those things that allow a nation to sustain itself." ...For critics, this was the war that showed why the indirect effects of bombing must be planned as discriminately as the direct ones. The bombardment may have been precise, they argue, but the results have been felt throughout Iraqi society, and the bombing ultimately may have done as much to harm civilians as soldiers. Pentagon officials say that military lawyers were present in the air campaign's "Black Hole" planning cell in Riyadh and emphasize that the bombing followed international conventions of war. Defense Secretary Richard B. Cheney, at a recent breakfast with reporters, said every Iraqi target was "perfectly legitimate" and added, "If I had to do it over again, I would do exactly the same thing." A growing debate on the air campaign is challenging Cheney's argument on two fronts. Some critics, including a Harvard public health team and the environmental group Greenpeace, have questioned the morality of the bombing by pointing to its ripple effects on noncombatants. The Harvard team, for example, reported last month that the lack of electrical power, fuel and key transportation links in Iraq now has led to acute malnutrition and "epidemic" levels of cholera and typhoid. In an estimate not substantively disputed by the Pentagon, the team projected that "at least 170,000 children under five years of age will die in the coming year from the delayed effects" of the bombing" ALLIED AIR WAR STRUCK BROADLY IN IRAQ June 23, 1991 NYT "deliberately did great harm to Iraq's ability to support itself as an industrial society. The worst civilian suffering, senior officers say, has resulted not from bombs that went astray but from precision-guided weapons that hit exactly where they were aimed -- at electrical plants, oil refineries and transportation networks. Each of these targets was acknowledged during the war, but all the purposes and consequences of their destruction were not divulged. Among the justifications offered now, particularly by the Air Force in recent briefings, is that Iraqi civilians were not blameless for Saddam's invasion of Kuwait. "The definition of innocents gets to be a little bit unclear," said a senior Air Force officer, noting that many Iraqis supported the invasion of Kuwait. "They do live there, and ultimately the people have some control over what goes on in their country." ALLIED AIR WAR STRUCK BROADLY IN IRAQ June 23, 1991 NYT "Pentagon officials declined two written requests for a review of the 28 electrical targets and explanations of their specific military relevance. "People say, 'You didn't recognize that it was going to have an effect on water or sewage,' " said the planning officer. "Well, what were we trying to do with {United Nations-approved economic} sanctions -- help out the Iraqi people? No. What we were doing with the attacks on infrastructure was to accelerate the effect of the sanctions." Col. John A. Warden III, deputy director of strategy, doctrine and plans for the Air Force, agreed that one purpose of destroying Iraq's electrical grid was that "you have imposed a long-term problem on the leadership that it has to deal with sometime." "Saddam Hussein cannot restore his own electricity," he said. "He needs help. If there are political objectives that the U.N. coalition has, it can say, 'Saddam, when you agree to do these things, we will allow people to come in and fix your electricity.' It gives us long-term leverage." Said another Air Force planner: "Big picture, we wanted to let people know, 'Get rid of this guy and we'll be more than happy to assist in rebuilding. We're not going to tolerate Saddam Hussein or his regime. Fix that, and we'll fix your electricity.' " ALLIED AIR WAR STRUCK BROADLY IN IRAQ The Washington Post June 23, 1991 The War We Left behind WGBH frontline1991 October 29th Sanctions "Leslie Stahl: "We have heard that a half million children have died (as a result of sanctions against Iraq). I mean, that is more children than died in Hiroshima. And, you know, is the price worth it?" Madeleine Albright: "I think this is a very hard choice, but the price, we think the price is worth it." 60 minutes Interview with Madeline Albright 1996 Clinton's secretary of state, commenting on the sanctions on Iraq "Mr. Gates, who has been nominated to be Director of Central Intelligence, said of Mr. Hussein, "Iraqis will pay the price while he is in power." "All possible sanctions will be maintained until he is gone," Mr. Gates continued. He said Iraq "will be nothing but a pariah state" as long as Mr. Hussein rules and that "Iraqis will not participate in post-crisis political, economic and security arrangements until there is a change in regime." AFTER THE WAR; Bush Links End Of Trading Ban To Hussein Exit NYT May 21, 1991 "Children lie on filthy hospital beds, murmuring in pain as they die of diarrhea and pneumonia. Some of the Arab world's finest artists peddle their work for as little as $12 a painting. A 50-year-old re- tired policeman, victim of a stroke a year ago, limps from merchant to merchant in a food market looking for what he can afford on a pension driven down by inflation to the equivalent of $2 a month, barely enough to buy one chicken. . . . Unable to sell its oil and buy food, medicine and spare parts except under United Nations con- ditions that it refuses to accept, Iraq faces famine and economic collapse… Despite the hardships being heaped on the population, Mr. Hussein, his two sons and potential political heirs, Uday and Qusay, and his Takriti family clan continue to rule Iraq virtually as royalty. Behind the walls of sumptuous palaces and cordons of security men, Mr. Hussein remains invulnerable to public dissent, protected by an intelligence and security apparatus directed by Qusay and a handful of first cousins and other relatives." Baghdad's Burden -- A special report.; Iraq Is Near Economic Ruin But Hussein Appears Secure By Youssef M. Ibrahim NYT Oct. 25, 1994 Calls For The Iraqi People To Rise Up And Regime Change Policy "But there's another way for the bloodshed to stop. And that is for the Iraqi military and the Iraqi people to take matters into their own hands -- to force Saddam Hussein, the dictator, to step aside" Remarks to the American Association for the Advancement of Science 1991-02-15 President George H W Bush - Audio "And you're asking me if I foresaw the size of the Kurdish refugee problem? The answer is no, I did not. But do I think that the United States should bear guilt because of suggesting that the Iraqi people take matters into their own hands, with the implication being given by some that the United States would be there to support them militarily? That was not true. We never implied that." President George H. W. Bush, April 16, 1991, White House Briefing Min 9:30 (Lie, see above) "Do I think the answer is now for Saddam Hussein to be kicked out? Absolutely because there will not be -- may I finish,please? -- there will not be normalized relations with the United States, and I think this is true for most coalition partners, until Saddam Hussein is out of there. And we will continue the economic sanctions." President George H. W. Bush, April 16, 1991, White House Briefing Min 9:50 Post Gulf War Bombings "When U.S. bombs and missiles fell on Iraq on the evening of Dec. 16, one of their principal targets was Saddam Hussein's sleeping quarters on the outskirts of Baghdad. But that was only one of the sites on the military's list of places to bomb in the sprawling Radwaniyah complex adjacent to the now-vacant Saddam International Airport. The targeting list was stunning in its specificity. Bombs were dropped on separate buildings that house secret units of the infamous Special Security Organization (SSO) and the Special Republican Guards (SRG), including the barracks of the 5th Battalion of the 1st Brigade, the 8th Battalion of the 2nd Brigade, the 3rd Artillery Battalion, and the 1st Armored Battalion of the 4th Brigade. Thanks to the hard work of the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM), U.S. targeters know a lot more about the Iraqi regime today than they did during the Gulf War in 1991. The United States and Britain now have a diagrammatic understanding of the Iraqi government structure, as well as of the intelligence, security and transport organizations that protect the Iraqi leadership. The same mission folders that UNSCOM put together to inspect specific buildings and offices in its search for concealed Iraqi weapons of mass destruction (WMD) became the basis for the targeting folders that missile launchers and pilots used in December. Welcome to the true Operation Desert Fox. It is clear from the target list, and from extensive communications with almost a dozen officers and analysts knowledgeable about Desert Fox planning, that the U.S.-British bombing campaign was more than a reflexive reaction to Saddam Hussein's refusal to cooperate with UNSCOM's inspectors. The official rationale for Desert Fox may remain the "degrading" of Iraq's ability to produce weapons of mass destruction and the "diminishing" of the Iraqi threat to its neighbors. But careful study of the target list tells another story" The Difference Was in the Details Saddam Hussein Iraqi President Saddam Hussein By William M. Arkin Special to The Washington Post Sunday, January 17, 1999; Page B1 (William Arkin, an independent defense analyst, spent two months in Iraq after the Gulf War)

British Colonialism 1950 -1980 Born about 1937. First came into prominence when chosen by the Ba'ath Party leadership in 1959 to assassinate Kassem and wounded in the attempt. Provisional Secretary General of the thereafter Ba'ath Command after November 1963. Established himself progressively as leading Party theorist in the background, emerging into the limelight in 1969. Headed Iraqi delegation to Libya immediately after the Libyan revolution. Appointed Vice Chairman of the R.C.c, and deputy to the President November 1969, when he was also confirmed as Deputy Secretary General of the Iraqi Ba'ath. A presentable young man initially regarded as a Party extremist, but responsibility may mellow him. Nephew of Khairallah President Dalfah, the Muhafiz of Baghdad and thus related to of those Bakr by marriage, Connected, as a Tikriti, with many in the corridors of power" Biographic sketch of Saddam Hussein by British Embassy Baghdad, November 15, 1969 Source: Public Record Office, London, FCO 17/871 "He walked with me towards the door repeating in earnest terms his hope that Anglo/Iraqi relations would take a real turn for the better, and when I said my final piece (as reported in my telegram) about oil, he stood still for some time nodding his head with that peculiar air of concentration which, it had seemed to me throughout our talk, set him apart from most of his colleagues. Indeed, he struck me as a much more serious character than other Batathist leaders; and his engaging smile, when he deployed it, seemed part and parcel of his absorption with the subject in hand and not, as with so many of the others, a matter of superficial affability. I should judge him, young as he is, to be a formidable, single-minded and hard-headed member of the Batathist hierarchy, but one with whom, if only one could see more of him, it would be possible to do business It may have been an "act"; but if so, it was a skilful performance for someone with so little experience of the outside world" Telegram from British Embassy Baghdad to Foreign and Commonwealth Office, "Saddam Hussein," December 20, 1969 Source: Public Record Office, London, FCO 17/871 Page 4 "[Iraq is] suddenly projecting the image of a country that wants to play a very dynamic and accurate [sic] role in the Arab world. . . Hussein is a rather remarkable person. He's 38 years old and holds no government position. He's the Vice President of the Command Council, but he is running the show; and he's a very ruthless and recently, obviously — pragmatic, intelligent power. I think we're going to see Iraq playing more of a role in the area than it has for many years" Alfred L. Atherton, Jr Transcript, "Secretary's Principals and Regionals Staff Meeting," April 28, 1975 (Excerpt)Source: National Archives, RG 59, Department of State Records, Transcripts of Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger Staff Meetings, 1973-1977 page 3-4 "Hammadi: We read in the newspapers the United States was providing weapons to the Kurdish movement in the north of Iraq. Our attitude is not based on that; we have a reason to believe the US was not out of this. What is your view? Kissinger: When we thought you were a Soviet satellite, we were not opposed to what Iran was doing in the Kurdish area. Now that Iran and you have resolved it, we have no reason to do any such thing, I can tell you we will engage in no such activity against Iraq's territorial integrity ,and are not. Hammadi: This is a result of that agreement. That you think we are not satellites Kissinger: We have a more sophisticated understanding now. We think you are a friend of the Soviet Union but you act on your own principles" Memorandum of Conversation, Henry Kissinger et al with Iraqi Minister of Foreign Affairs Sa'dun Hammadi, December 17, 1975 Source: National Archives, RG 59, Department of State Records, Records of Henry Kissinger, 1973-1977, Box 13, Dec 1975 NODIS Memcons Page 6-7 "Both sides are mistaken. Washington's policy traces an even longer, more shrouded and fateful history. Forty years ago, the Central Intelligence Agency, under President John F. Kennedy, conducted its own regime change in Baghdad, carried out in collaboration with Saddam Hussein… From 1958 to 1960, despite Kassem's harsh repression, the Eisenhower administration abided him as a counter to Washington's Arab nemesis of the era, Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt -- much as Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush would aid Saddam Hussein in the 1980's against the common foe of Iran. By 1961, the Kassem regime had grown more assertive. Seeking new arms rivaling Israel's arsenal, threatening Western oil interests, resuming his country's old quarrel with Kuwait, talking openly of challenging the dominance of America in the Middle East -- all steps Saddam Hussein was to repeat in some form -- Kassem was regarded by Washington as a dangerous leader who must be removed. In 1963 Britain and Israel backed American intervention in Iraq… In Cairo, Damascus, Tehran and Baghdad, American agents marshaled opponents of the Iraqi regime. Washington set up a base of operations in Kuwait, intercepting Iraqi communications and radioing orders to rebels. The United States armed Kurdish insurgents. The C.I.A.'s ''Health Alteration Committee,'' as it was tactfully called, sent Kassem a monogrammed, poisoned handkerchief, though the potentially lethal gift either failed to work or never reached its victim. Then, on Feb. 8, 1963, the conspirators staged a coup in Baghdad. For a time the government held out, but eventually Kassem gave up, and after a swift trial was shot; his body was later shown on Baghdad television. Washington immediately befriended the successor regime. ''Almost certainly a gain for our side,'' Robert Komer, a National Security Council aide, wrote to Kennedy the day of the takeover… According to the former Baathist leader Hani Fkaiki, among party members colluding with the C.I.A. in 1962 and 1963 was Saddam Hussein, then a 25-year-old who had fled to Cairo after taking part in a failed assassination of Kassem in 1958. According to Western scholars, as well as Iraqi refugees and a British human rights organization, the 1963 coup was accompanied by a bloodbath. Using lists of suspected Communists and other leftists provided by the C.I.A., the Baathists systematically murdered untold numbers of Iraq's educated elite -- killings in which Saddam Hussein himself is said to have participated. No one knows the exact toll, but accounts agree that the victims included hundreds of doctors, teachers, technicians, lawyers and other professionals as well as military and political figures. The United States also sent arms to the new regime, weapons later used against the same Kurdish insurgents the United States had backed against Kassem and then abandoned. Soon, Western corporations like Mobil, Bechtel and British Petroleum were doing business with Baghdad -- for American firms, their first major involvement in Iraq… Serving on the staff of the National Security Council under Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon in the late 1960's, I often heard C.I.A. officers -- including Archibald Roosevelt, grandson of Theodore Roosevelt and a ranking C.I.A. official for the Near East and Africa at the time -- speak openly about their close relations with the Iraqi Baathists.This history is known to many in the Middle East and Europe, though few Americans are acquainted with it, much less understand it. Yet these interventions help explain why United States policy is viewed with some cynicism abroad. George W. Bush is not the first American president to seek regime change in Iraq. Mr. Bush and his advisers are following a familiar pattern." A Tyrant 40 Years in the Making By Roger Morris March 14, 2003 NYT (Similar discussions in book) (Ex- National Security Council under Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon in the late 1960's) "On February 8, Komer sent a memorandum to President Kennedy that reads in part: “While it’s still early, Iraqi revolution seems to have succeeded. It is almost certainly a net gain for our side.” FOREIGN RELATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES, 1961–1963, VOLUME XVIII, NEAR EAST, 1962–1963 153. Memorandum From Stephen O. Fuqua of the Bureau of International Security Affairs, Department of Defense, to the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs (Sloan) Washington, February 8, 1963 Abandoning the Kurds The CIA had early information which suggested that our ally would abandon the ethnic group the minute he came to an agreement with his enemy over border disputes. Two months after initiating the project a CIA memo of 17 Oct., 1972 states: "|Our ally] has apparently used [another governments] Foreign Minister to pass word to [his enemy| that he would be willing to allow peace to prevail [in the area] if [his enemy] would publicly agree to abrogate [a previous treaty concerning their respective borders]." In addition, CIA memos and cables characterize our ally's views of the ethnic group as "a card to play" in his dispute with his neighbor. And, a CIA memo of 22 March, 1974 characterizes the ethnic group as "a uniquely useful tool for weakening [our ally's enemies] potential for international adventurism." The Pike Report, reprinted as "The Select Committee's Investigative Record," February 16, 1976 Page 666, 671 Iran-Iraq War 1980-88 Potential Green Light For Iraq From The US "It was also interesting to confirm that President Carter gave the Iraqis a green light to launch the war against Iran through Fahd.” Talking Points, State Department, "Talking Points" [for Alexander Haig meeting with Ronald Reagan], Top Secret/Sensitive, circa April 1981 Arming, Funding, Training Iraq "Mr. GONZALEZ. Mr. Speaker, last week I showed that this administration, President Bush's administration, deliberately and not inadvertently helped to arm Iraq by allowing United States technology to be shipped to the Iraqi military and to the Iraqi weapons factories. Throughout the course of the Bush administration, United States and foreign firms were granted export licenses to ship United States technology directly to Iraqi weapons facilities, despite ample evidence showing that these factories were producing weapons. I also showed how the President misled the Congress and the public about the role United States firms played in arming Iraq. Today I will show that the highest levels of the Bush administration, including the President himself, had specific knowledge of Iraq's military industrialization plans, and despite that knowledge, the President mandated the policy of coddling Saddam Hussein as spelled out in National Security Directive 26 (NSD-26) issued in October 1989. This policy was not changed until after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, by which time the Bush administration had sent Saddam Hussein billions of dollars in United States financial assistance, technology and useful military intelligence information." 138 Cong. Rec. (Bound) - July 27, 1992 Page 19437 "Former Reagan administration National Security Council staff member Howard Teicher says that after Ronald Reagan signed a national security decision directive calling for the U.S. to do whatever was necessary to prevent Iraq's defeat in the Iran-Iraq war, Director of Central Intelligence William Casey personally led efforts to ensure that Iraq had sufficient weapons, including cluster bombs, and that the U.S. provided Iraq with financial credits, intelligence, and strategic military advice. The CIA also provided Iraq, through third parties that included Israel and Egypt, with military hardware compatible with its Soviet-origin weaponry." Document 61: United States District Court (Florida: Southern District) Affidavit. "United States of America, Plaintiff, v. Carlos Cardoen [et al.]" [Charge that Teledyne Wah Chang Albany Illegally Provided a Proscribed Substance, Zirconium, to Cardoen Industries and to Iraq], January 31, 1995 "CIA Director Casey personally spearheaded the effort to ensure Iraq had sufficient military weapons, ammunition and vehicles to avoid losing the Iran-Iraq war.'" Document 61 United States District Court (Florida: Southern District) Affidavit. "United States of America, Plaintiff, v. Carlos Cardoen [et al.]" [Charge that Teledyne Wah Chang Albany Illegally Provided a Proscribed Substance, Zirconium, to Cardoen Industries and to Iraq], January 31, 1995 Page 2 NSDD 114 [U.S. Policy toward Iran-Iraq War] "The Central Intelligence Agency has been secretly supplying Iraq with detailed intelligence, including data from sensitive U.S. satellite reconnaissance photography, to assist Iraqi bombing raids on Iran's oil terminals and power plants in the war between the two nations, according to informed sources." Cia Aiding Iraq In Gulf War Bob Woodward The Washington Post December 15th 1986 Knowledge And Selling Of Chemical Weapons “confirming Iraqi use of chemical weapons. We also know that Iraq has acquired CW production primarily from Western firms, including possibly a U.S. foreign subsidiary” “Iraq Use of Chemical Weapons,” unclassified memo from Jonathan Howe to the secretary of state, November 1, 1983, National Security Archives, www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB82/iraq24.pdf. "bilateral relations were sharply set back by our March 5 condemnation of Iraq for CW use, despite our repeated warnings that this issue would emerge sooner or later" Shaking Hands with Saddam Hussein: The U.S. Tilts toward Iraq, 1980-1984 Briefing Notes For Rumsfeld Meeting in Baghdad Document 48 "SUBJECT: UN Human Rights Commission: Item 12: Iranian Resolution On Use Of Chemical Weapons By Iraq Dept: Endorses General Strategy Described Reftel, Para 3. Usdel (US Delegation). Should Work To Develop General Western Position In Support Of A Motion To Take "No Decision” On Iranian Draft Resolution On Use Of Chemical Weapons By Iraq. If Such A Motion Gets Reasonable And Broad Support And Sponsorship, Usdel Should Vote In Favor. Failing Western Support For “No Decision,” Usdel CONFIDENTIAL "In Either Case, Usdel (US delegation) Should Make A Strong Explanation Of Vote Drawing Upon Dept Press Statement Of March & On Iraqi Use Of Chemical Weapons.. Usdel Should Underscore’ The Following Points: The UN Human Rights Commission is an Inappropriate Forum For Matters Dealing With Chemical Weapons Usg (US Government) Even Handedly Condemns The Prohibited Use Of ChemicaL Weapons Whenever It Occurs. USG Deplores The Tragic Loss Of Life And Bloodshed In Both Iran And Iraq, Of Which The Carnage Caused By Chemical Weapons Is Only A Part." Department of State press briefing, March 19, 1984 "Col. Walter P. Lang, retired, the senior defense intelligence officer at the time, said he would not discuss classified information, but added that both D.I.A. and C.I.A. officials ''were desperate to make sure that Iraq did not lose'' to Iran. ''The use of gas on the battlefield by the Iraqis was not a matter of deep strategic concern,'' he said. What Mr. Reagan's aides were concerned about, he said, was that Iran not break through to the Fao Peninsula and spread the Islamic revolution to Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Colonel Lang asserted that the Defense Intelligence Agency ''would have never accepted the use of chemical weapons against civilians, but the use against military objectives was seen as inevitable in the Iraqi struggle for survival.'' Senior Reagan administration officials did nothing to interfere with the continuation of the program, a former participant in the program said… One officer said, ''They had gotten better and better'' and after a while chemical weapons ''were integrated into their fire plan for any large operation, and it became more and more obvious." The Pentagon ''wasn't so horrified by Iraq's use of gas,'' said one veteran of the program. ''It was just another way of killing people -- whether with a bullet or phosgene, it didn't make any difference,'' he said." Patrick E. Tyler, "Officers Say U.S. Aided Iraq in War Despite Use of Gas," New York Times, August 18, 2002 "The United States had gone to war declaring it must destroy an active weapons of mass destruction program. Instead, American troops gradually found and ultimately suffered from the remnants of long-abandoned programs, built in close collaboration with the West. . . . The discoveries of these chemical weapons did not support the government’s invasion rationale. . . . [D]uring the long occupation, American troops began encountering old chemical munitions in hidden caches and roadside bombs. Typically 155-millimeter artillery shells or 122-millimeter rockets, they were remnants of an arms program Iraq had rushed into production in the 1980s during the Iran-Iraq war. All had been manufactured before 1991, participants said. . . . Participants in the chemical weapons discoveries said the United States suppressed knowledge of finds for multiple reasons, including that the government bristled at further acknowledgment it had been wrong. “They needed something to say that after Sept. 11 Saddam used chemical rounds,” Mr. Lampier said. “And all of this was from the pre-1991 era.” Others pointed to another embarrassment. In five of six incidents in which troops were wounded by chemical agents, the munitions appeared to have been designed in the United States, manufactured in Europe and filled in chemical agent production lines built in Iraq by Western companies." The Secret Casualties of Iraq’s Abandoned Chemical Weapons BY C. J. CHIVERS October 14th 2014 NYT The Kurdish victims caught unaware by cyanide David Hirst Tue 22 Mar 1988 The Guardian "That leaves Washington with a modest military success but with no apparent progress on confining, let alone ending, the Gulf war. Further, the United States is increasingly embarrassed by Iraq, its ostensible partner. In March, for instance, the Iraqis killed as many as 5,000 people with chemical weapons. The United States condemned this atrocity -- not Iraq's first -- but, to keep the diplomatic focus on the broader war, prevented Iran from raising the chemical question as a special item of Security Council debate. Now, claim the Iranians, Iraq is employing chemicals again" The Gulf The Battle The War Washington Post April 20 1988 "This is a campaign of extermination aimed against an ancient ethnic group that wants only to keep its own language and customs in sarbasti - freedom. A classic example of genocide is under way, and the world does not give a damn." ESSAY; Stop the Iraqi Murder of the Kurds By William Safire Sept. 5, 1988 NYT "Not just a whiff but the stench of genocide drifts from the Kurdish areas of Iraq and the green hills of Burundi, homeland of the Hutu tribe. Those who commit such acts should know the world watches, that sovereignty cannot legitimize genocide …Enough silence."Murder Within Sovereign Borders NYT Sept. 5, 1988 "But Redman said the United States has received no information to confirm Kurdish allegations of widespread Iraqi use of chemical weapons against the Kurds. "If they were to be true, of course we would strongly condemn the use of chemical weapons as we have in the past. The use of chemical weapons is deplorable. It's barbaric," Redman said. "There is no justification for its use." U.S. CONCERN IS EXPRESSED TO BAGHDADBy David B. Ottaway September 7, 1988 The Washington Post State Department spokesman Charles E. Redman "The State Department spokesman, Charles E. Redman, said the United States was certain of Iraq's use of such weapons within its own borders. ''As a result of our evaluation of the situation, the United States Government is convinced that Iraq has used chemical weapons in its military campaign against Kurdish guerrillas,'' Mr. Redman said. ''Any use in this context is abhorrent and unjustifiable.'' No Details Are Given" U.S. ASSERTS IRAQ USED POISON GAS AGAINST THE KURDSBy Julie Johnson, Special To the New York Times Sept. 9, 1988 "QUESTION: Two quick questions. You were in the Reagan Administration and I'm curious as to why the Administration's response to Halabja was so weak. And on to the second one, do you have any thoughts as to what type of chemical weapon Saddam Hussein used here in 1988? SECRETARY POWELL: At the time, Halabja was commented on by the Administration. And it was commented on both by the White House at that time, as well as by the State Department. Strongly condemned. And there was no effort on the part of the Reagan Administration at that time to either ignore it or not take note of it." Secretary Colin L. Powell, Halabja, Iraq, September 15, 2003, Press Release, U.S. Department of State A Reporter at Large September 30, 1991 Issue AFTER THE LIBERATION By Milton Viorst September 22, 1991 The Fighting "The Iranian front lines tend to be scenes of chaos and dedication, with turbaned mullahs, rifles slung on their backs, rushing about on brightly colored motorcycles encouraging the troops. Religious slogans are posted everywhere, and sometimes reinforcements arrive cheerfully carrying their own coffins as a sign of their willingness to be ''martyred.''" Iraqis Stalled By A Tenacious Enemy NYT Feb 28 1986 Weapons To Iran "No precise estimate of the volume of goods shipped could be made. But in interviews, Israeli and American intelligence officials acknowledged that weapons, spare parts and ammunition worth several billion dollars flowed to Iran each year during the early 1980's… "We were getting literally daily reports of Israeli sales to Iran," a former high-level Reagan Administration intelligence official said. "It was so routine I didn't think twice about it. It was pretty clear that all the key players knew." The Iran Pipeline: A Hidden Chapter/A special report.; U.S. Said to Have Allowed Israel to Sell Arms to Iran By Seymour M. Hersh Dec. 8, 1991 Business Interests "Summary: Husayn Kahil, Saddak Hussein's son-in~ law and minister of industry, fulminated to Bechtel representatives september 10 about the senate's passage of the genocide bill. In lengthy diatribe, kahil denied charge of cw use and described senate action as part of zionist conspiracy to embarrass and underlined Iraq after its "victory" over Iran. BECHTEL representatives said that if economic sanctions contained in senate act are signed into law, Bechtel will turn to NON-U.S. suppliers of technology and continue to do business in Iraq. End summary. CONFIDENTIAL" Cable from U.S. embassy, Baghdad, to State Department, "Minister of Industry Blasts Senate Action," September 13, 1988 Document 11 "Our administration's review of the previous Iraq policy was not immune from domestic economic considerations. From its modest inception in the Reagan administration, the policy of extending grain credit guarantees to Iraq had expanded dramatically. The Department of Agriculture's Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) was now extending more than $1 billion a year in credit guarantees to Iraq to buy American foodstuffs. By 1989, Iraq had become the ninth-largest purchaser of U.S. agricultural products. These programs were immensely popular on Capitol Hill and with farm state politicians… Had we attempted to isolate Iraq, we would have also isolated American businesses, particularly agricultural interests, from significant commercial opportunities. " The Politics of Diplomacy: Revolution, War, and Peace, 1989-1992 Page 263 James Baker (10th White House Chief of Staff and 67th United States Secretary of the Treasury under President Ronald Reagan and the 61st U.S. Secretary of State before returning as the 16th White House Chief of Staff under President George H. W. Bush) "Judge Shoob criticized the Government's portrayal of Mr. Drogoul as the mastermind of the loans, while the bank's top executives in Rome were depicted as innocent victims. The judge wrote: "There are grave questions as to how the prosecutors made their decisions in this case -- both as to the nature of the charges and whom to prosecute." He challenged the assertions by Federal prosecutors in Atlanta that they alone had made the key decisions in the case. "It is apparent that decisions were made at the top levels of the United States Justice Department, State Department, Agriculture Department and within the intelligence community to shape this case," Judge Shoob wrote, "and that information may have been withheld from local prosecutors seeking to investigate the case or used to steer the prosecution." He noted that the Justice Department had canceled investigators' trips to Italy and Turkey, where they had intended to interview bank officials. Judge Shoob noted that the local prosecutor received "highly unusual and inappropriate telephone calls" from the White House Office of Legal Counsel, "indicating the potential embarrassment level of the case." The White House has said the calls were not intended to influence the prosecutors" U.S. IS CRITICIZED ON IRAQ LOAN CASE By Martin Tolchin Oct. 6, 1992 NYT "Judge Shoob said he believed there was strong evidence of a far-ranging conspiracy involving the governments of the United States, Italy and Britain to aid Iraq. He said the only way to find out what really happened would be the appointment of an independent prosecutor. But with the Clinton Administration's view of the case, as expressed today, it seems unlikely that that would happen and probable that the case will soon simply come to a halt. Objections by Prosecutors. Judge Shoob backed up his sharp words, by refusing to sentence the five bankers to jail. They had pleaded guilty to various felony counts, but Judge Shoob said he would not sentence them to jail because the Government's contention that they defrauded the parent bank in Rome was incredible. Prosecutors objected, saying the bankers were largely responsible for the secret loans. But Judge Shoob characterized them as merely "pawns and bit players in a far more wide-ranging conspiracy." …The case before Judge Shoob involves six former officials of the Atlanta branch of an Italian bank which financed nearly $5 billion in loans that Iraq used to buy arms. The prosecution of the Atlanta bankers is at the heart of accusations that the Bush Administration covertly armed Iraq then sought to cover up that policy after its army invaded Kuwait in August 1990… Judge Shoob has complained in the past that he was lied to by the intelligence agency and the Bush Administration." Judge Scoffs at Defense of Bush on Iraq By Neil A. Lewis Aug. 24, 1993 NYT "Normal relations between the United States and Iraq would serve our longer-term interests and promote stability in both the Gulf and the Middle East. The United States Government should propose economic and political incentives for Iraq to moderate its behavior and to increase our influence with Iraq. At the same time, the Iraqi leadership must understand that any illegal use of chemical and/or biological weapons will lead to economic and political sanctions, for which we would seek the broadest possible support from our allies and friends. Any breach by Iraq of IAEA safeguards in its nuclear program will result in a similar response. Human rights considerations should continue to be an important element in our policy toward Iraq. In addition, Iraq should be urged to cease its meddling in external affairs, such as in Lebanon, and be encouraged to play a constructive role in negotiating a settlement with Iran and cooperating in the Middle East peace process. (5) We should pursue, and seek to facilitate, opportunities for U.S. firms to participate in the reconstruction of the Iraqi economy, particularly in the energy area, where they do not conflict with our non-proliferation and other significant objectives. Also, as a means of developing access to and influence with the Iraqi defense establishment, the United States should consider sales of non-lethal forms of military assistance, é.g., training courses and medical exchanges, on a case by case basis." NSD 26 10/02/1989 U.S. Policy Toward the Persian Gulf (3 pages)