Anti-war protesters from the 'Stop the War' group, wearing masks
former U.S. president George W. Bush, former British prime minister
Tony Blair and current British Prime Minister Gordon Brown outside
the location of the Iraq War inquiry on November 24, 2009.
London, England - As Britain’s inquiry into the role the country played in the orchestration of the Iraq War commenced on Tuesday, it was brought to light that the United States under then-president George W. Bush and then-vice president Dick Cheney had an early objective to remove Saddam Hussein from his role a leader of Iraq, regardless a lack of evidence of WMDs in Iraq, or without a link between Iraq and al-Qaeda.
As early as February of 2001, one month into the Bush presidency, those who testified stated that the White House was interested in regime change in Iraq. Furthermore, according to the Associated Press, witnesses stated that the United States was not confident that weapons inspectors would succeed in their ability to find evidence of a WMD program.
Chairman of Britain's Joint Intelligence Committee in 2001, Sir Peter Ricketts, stated, “We were conscious that there were other voices in Washington, some of whom were talking about regime change.”
Britain’s view of Hussein’s removal from office was more subdued. Head of the Middle East department at the Foreign Office in 2001, Sir William Patey, stated, “Our policy was to stay away from that. We didn't think Saddam was a good thing, and it would be great if he went, but we didn't have an explicit policy for trying to get rid of him.”
A further development reported by BBC News on Wednesday found that Britain knew that Iraq and al-Qaeda were not allies. Tim Dowse, who was the Foreign Office's Director of Counter-Proliferation between 2001 and 2003, stated that although members of al-Qaeda had visited Iraq in the late 1990’s, there was “nothing that looked like a relationship between the Iraqis and al-Qaeda.” He also said, “After 9/11 we concluded that Iraq had stepped further back and they did not want to be associated with al-Qaeda. They were not natural allies.”
Sir William Ehrman, who was the Foreign Office's director general for defence and intelligence between 2002 and 2004, testified, “Our view was that there was no evidence to suggest serious collaboration of any sort between Iraq and al-Qaeda.” Furthermore, he said that these findings were discussed with Washington, D.C.
The primary focus of the inquiry is on the role that Britain played in planning the Iraq War, and whether policy rather than events and facts dictated the British involvement in the U.S. led invasion of Iraq in 2003. The inquiry is expected to last approximately one year.
In his opening statement, Chairman John Chilcot said, “The Iraq Inquiry was set up to identify the lessons that should be learned from the UK's involvement in Iraq, to help future governments who may face similar situations. To do this, we need to establish what happened.”
This inquiry is does not have any legal authority to prosecute anyone should they find any illegal activities occurred. However, it does have the capacity to determine whether illegal actions did occur.
Copyright © 2009 by Raymond Gellner
Comments
It has never ceased to amaze me how well the Bush administration convinced masses of Americans that going to war in Iraq was somehow a war on "terror" once there were no WMDs found. It amazes me that people aren't aware that we were the people who set Hussein into power in the first place and that further, he was, if not an enemy of al Queda, certainly no supportive or friendly in any way.
You FAILED to note that Bill Clinton called for the removal of Hussein Oct 31, 1999. It has been LONG standing in the Fed Government.
"Yesterday, Clinton signed into law HR 4655, the "Iraq Liberation Act
of 1998." In a presidential statement, issued by the White House,
Clinton said, "This Act makes clear that it is the sense of the Congress
that the United States should support those elements of the Iraqi
opposition that advocate a very different future for Iraq than the
bitter reality of internal repression and external aggression that the
current regime in Baghdad now offers. . . . On October 21, 1998, I
signed into law the Omnibus Consolidated and Emergency Supplemental
Appropriations Act, 1999, which made $8 million available for assistance
to the Iraqi democratic opposition. ."
www.fas.org/news/iraq/1998/11/01/981101-in.htm
Karen Harper LIES TOO!
In March 1998, after Bin Ladin's public fatwa against the United States, two Al Qaeda members reportedly went to Iraq to meet with Iraqi intelligence. In July, an Iraqi delegation traveled to Afghanistan to meet first with the Taliban and then with Bin Ladin. Sources report that one or perhaps both of these meetings was apparently arranged through Bin Ladin's Egyption deputy Zawahiri, who had ties of his own to the Iraqis. -- 9-11 Commission Report
When I see people like this Examiner and Harper write storied SUPPORTING their president, I MAY just start to listen to them.
They continue to write about people who do not hold elected office, age old stories, anyone on the right and other topics but never write about THEIR party and the problems they cause.
There is LITTLE about this president you can write positive or uplifting stories about so you resort to attacking anyone not in power. Very sad!
George W. Bush is no longer the President....unfortunately, Barack Obama is. If only he would start acting like one.
In any event, quit blaiming Bush; Obama needs to own his failures:
---Unemployment at 10.2%
---Deficit for this fiscal year at $1.4 trillion
---China, Russia both refusing to help Obama on Iran
---Collapsing value of the dollar, as gold soars in value.
---A country more polarized and divided than at any time since Vietnam
History will be kind to Mr. Obama....once we've recovered from this calamity, it will forget him.
Why is the Mainstream Media not Demanding the Truth About 9/11?
911truthbikers{dot}com
Talk about pumping an empty well!
Clinton advertised the need to zap Sadam. Iraq broke more than enough UN sanctions that WMD or no WMD they could have been taken over fairly.
Karen is a big dope. I am amazed she can breath all on her own! We entered Iraq and whatever little twists happened after that do not matter much.
I like when MSM tries to attack birthers for asking for something so incredibly simple to produce and somehting that should have been produced a long time ago but then ignore the incredibly silly Democrats that believe 911 was an inside job. 35% of all democrats believe in this so we all know which party is the party of nut bags.
George W. Bush is no longer the President....unfortunately, Barack Obama is. If only he would start acting like one.
In any event, quit blaiming Bush; Obama needs to own his failures:
---Unemployment at 10.2%
---Deficit for this fiscal year at $1.4 trillion
---China, Russia both refusing to help Obama on Iran
---Collapsing value of the dollar, as gold soars in value.
---A country more polarized and divided than at any time since Vietnam
History will be kind to Mr. Obama....once we've recovered from this calamity, it will forget him.
Any stories coming up on the GW/CC FRAUD?
We all know Ray is not permitted to stray from the DNC script. Individual thinking is not allowed. Maybe Ray will tell us what entertainers will be at the White house or what veggies are growing in the white house garden. You know, the really important stuff. No need to talk about ACRON or Honduras or the Climate emails. Why talk about that when we have the image of consensus.
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