[Azure]

Originally Posted by jammies

The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa." -- President Bush, Jan.28, 2003, in the State of the Union address.

Ok, here's one lie for you Azure - the truth would have been "A source previously discredited by our intelligence services has managed to sell his ridiculous story to the Brits. However, since his story is useful, it now behooves me to pretend to believe it."

The Brits still stand by that story.

Quite the lie, huh?

"We've learned that Iraq has trained al-Qaeda members in bomb-making and poisons and deadly gases ... Alliance with terrorists could allow the Iraqi regime to attack America without leaving any fingerprints." -- President Bush, Oct. 7, 2002

Here's another one - the truth would have been "We have absolutely no evidence for links between Iraq and al-Qaeda, and furthermore there is considerable evidence that the Iraqi government is actively opposed to their operations as it is perceived as a threat to Saddam's authority."

Right.

The Bush administration view, as defined by the Colin Powell speech before the UN, postulated that there might have been a cooperative relationship, but that Saddam was not supportive of the 9/11 attacks. Powell presented several credible intelligence reports vetted by the Intelligence Community showing contacts between Iraq's Intelligence Service and al-Qaeda. Powell pointed out that Saddam had already supported Islamic Jihad, a radical Islamist group and that there was no reason for him not to support al-Qaeda. Powell discussed concerns that Saddam may provide al-Qaeda with chemical or biological weapons.

It is obvious that what he asked for was evidence to support what he had already decided to do, and that this is what inflated dubious guesses into "facts" that were presented to him. As President, it is HIS responsibility to ensure he is not taking his nation into war unless it is justified, and whether these were knowing or unknowing lies is irrelevant, it was his actions that led to the lies being manufactured, and his voice that spoke them.

Still haven't proven any of this to be a lie.

The British still stand by their original claim, and the intelligence community provided Bush with the link between Saddam and Al Queda.

I guess if you believe that Bush forced all those agencies to manufacture evidence that would show such a link, you have a point.

Problem is, NOTHING has ever been said about Bush doing that. Perhaps he did manipulate it, and he certainly did make a rash decision about going to war, but again I stress that if my intelligence people came to me with evidence that Iraq had WMD, and that there was a 'credible' link between Saddam and Al Queda....knowing that Al Queda was responsible for the 9/11 attacks, I would have invaded Iraq as well.

Plus, we're basing our opinion on declassified reports released by the US government. How many more of those reports about the intelligence leading up to the war are still classified?

In other words, there is probably a lot we do not know.

Also, due to massive cuts made by Clinton during the 90's.....the CIA had no boots on the ground collecting 'proper' intelligence. Much of what they received came from foreign intelligence services, including the Mossad in Israel. Chances are the saw an opportunity to get rid of Saddam, and fed the CIA and other agencies with intelligence that would provide such a link.

In February 2007, the Pentagon's inspector general issued a report that concluded that Feith's Office of Special Plans, an office in the Pentagon run by Douglas Feith that was the source of most of the misleading intelligence on al-Qaeda and Iraq, had "developed, produced, and then disseminated alternative intelligence assessments on the Iraq and al Qaida relationship, which included some conclusions that were inconsistent with the consensus of the Intelligence Community, to senior decision-makers." The report found that these actions were "inappropriate" though not "illegal." Senator Carl Levin, Chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, stated that "The bottom line is that intelligence relating to the Iraq-al-Qaeda relationship was manipulated by high-ranking officials in the Department of Defense to support the administration's decision to invade Iraq. The inspector general's report is a devastating condemnation of inappropriate activities in the DOD policy office that helped take this nation to war."

Lies, all lies!