In an angry and nasty interview with Wolf Blitzer on Wednesday, Dick Cheney snapped on Blitzer several times claiming it was “hogwash” to suggest that President Bush’s credibility was on the line because of mistakes made in Iraq. He seems to be the only one in the world, along with Bush and a few other loyalists, who are confident in the Iraq war. It seems most prominent Republicans are now turning on the Bush administration, including George Pataki and Chuck Hagel. John McCain said "Cheney hasn't been serving the president." So it seems Republicans will now start playing the blame game, placing the blame off onto the more unpopular Dick Cheney. But let's remind them that they supported the war too.
Let's refresh Cheney's memory with things his president gave as reasons for going to war:
“The Iraqi dictator must not be permitted to threaten America and the world with horrible poisons and diseases and gases and atomic weapons.”
George W. Bush, Oct. 7, 2002
“The evidence indicates that Iraq is reconstituting its nuclear weapons program. 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.” -President Bush, Oct. 7, 2002, in Cincinnati.
“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.
“The Iraqi regime possesses biological and chemical weapons...And according to the British government, the Iraqi regime could launch a biological or chemical attack in as little as 45 minutes.”
-President Bush on September 26, 2002
“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
To remind yourself, watch the following: http://www.bushflash.com/right.html
The Truth
“It is somewhat puzzling that you have 100% certainty about WMD’s existence and 0 certainty of where they are.”
-Hans Blix
The administration has not apologized but they have insinuated that there were some “problems with intelligence.” Ok, let’s assume for just a moment that I am wrong, along with the CIA, FBI, and other government officials as well as many other governments from around the world who believe they lied for political and financial gain. Let’s forget about the proof of their connections to the oil industry and Halliburton. Let’s forget about the facts and pretend for a moment that the administration was right. Let’s pretend Bush went into Iraq because he really thought there were WMD and links to terrorism? Now what does that say? This would mean that there was indeed a major intelligence failure. Wait! Wasn’t 9/11 a major intelligence failure also?
THE TRUTH
• The CIA had warned the BAD, “The intelligence is not good enough.”
• The U.S. invaded Iraq after only 3 ½ months of inspections.
• Iraq NEVER had the capability for making long range missiles.
• Iraq had NO connection to religious fanatics or terrorist organizations, in fact it’s quite the opposite, Hussein didn’t allow any of them in his country. Hussein and Laden were enemies. Hussein made sure there were no terrorist or Al Qaeda activity.
• Serin made in 1990/91 only had a shelf life of 3 years at best.
Cheney acknowledged that the situation in Iraq was very unstable but said toppling Saddam Hussein was the right thing to do. (maybe for Halliburton it was the right thing to do, they've made millions: www.Halliburtonwatch.org ) But it wasn't the right thing to do for American troops.
Elsewhere in the news, after spewing more lies on the State of the Union the other night, it is now revealed that the Bush administration's new energy plan to reduce gasoline demand by 20 percent could have an unintended side effect — increasing greenhouse gas emissions, California environmental officials say. Officials with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration say the president's strategy to wean the country from its dependence on foreign oil falls short of environmental reform.
It was the latest shot at the Bush administration by the Republican governor and his administration, which has chastised the president and the previous Republican Congress for failing to act on global warming.
"We think it not only does not go far enough but may actually, in some cases, if not done right, will increase greenhouse gas emissions," California Environmental Protection Agency Secretary Linda Adams said during a news conference Wednesday. "Without a cap or some kind of a carbon standard, we think the Bush plan falls short." http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16806206/
