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December 19, 2008 at 09:11:46
Promoted to Headline (H2) on 12/19/08: by Dave Lindorff Page 1 of 1 page(s) |
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By Dave Lindorff A new congressional report is belatedly confirming what many have long known: that the White House and in particular then White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales, lied to Congress in 2004 when he told them the Bush administration was not repeatedly warned by the CIA not to make the claim that Saddam had tried to buy uranium ore from Niger. What is astonishing about this report, which documents that the CIA at least four times tried to prevent Bush and other top officials from presenting that lie to Congress and the American public in the run-up to the Iraq invasion, is not that it documents what has long been known, but that Congress and the corporate media are still pretending that the claim itself was an acceptable justification for launching a war. Set aside for the moment the fact that the claim that Saddam Hussein had tried to buy uranium ore (so-called yellowcake) from the desert nation of Niger was based upon forged documents which were almost certainly the work of Defense Department hacks in the Rumsfeld/Cheney-created Office of Special Plans (see my book The Case for Impeachment). Even if this fraudulent deal had been real, how on earth could it have been used as it was by President Bush and Vice President Cheney to justify an invasion of Iraq?
Consider that what was being asserted was that Iraq had attempted (not even succeeded!) to buy 400 tons of uranium ore. This claim was used by President Bush, in his Jan. 20, 2003 State of the Union address, to argue that Iraq had a nuclear weapons program. But in the case of a country that does not have a nuclear weapon, a program is years away, perhaps a decade or more away, from the reality of having a usable weapon.
As we have seen in the case of Iran, which has been refining uranium ore now for at least five years, the mere fact of possessing uranium ore, and even of having a quantity of gas centrifuges to refine out the minute quantities of the fissionable isotope U-235 are only the first and, technologically speaking, the easiest, steps towards actually constructing a bomb. (Experts say that after all this time, even if it is actually trying to build a nuclear bomb, which the Iranian government denies, the country remains years from that alleged goal.)
If Bush and Cheney had not been lying through their teeth, and Saddam had actually been buying yellowcake for the purpose of making a nuke weapon, he would still have had to obtain large numbers of centrifuges, would have had to power them up and run them for years, and would have then had to obtain the technology to build and test a bomb, none of which steps he was even alleged to have taken.
Yet Bush was claiming that there was an imminent threat to America posed by Saddam Hussein’s yellowcake purchase effort, and that an invasion had to be launched almost immediately. He used the term imminent because that is the legal requirement in the UN Charter, to which the US is a signatory and which is based upon the Nuremberg Charter established at the end of the Second World War. It states that no nation may invade another nation unless that nation poses an imminent threat to the would-be invader.
The yellowcake story, now definitively shown to have been a deliberate lie, even if true, could not have constituted such an imminent threat.
Yet not once has this key point been addressed by any member of Congress who voted to authorize an invasion. Nor does the point get mentioned in mainstream journalistic reports on the matter.
Average Americans, nearly half of whom reportedly believe that the earth was formed just 6000 years ago and a fair proportion of whom believe that the sun revolves around the earth, might be excused for not understanding this point, but clearly intelligent members of Congress like former Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry and future secretary of state Hillary Clinton, who both claim they might not have voted for war “had they had known then what they know now,” are themselves caught in a lie.
They and other war backers clearly knew in 2002 and 2003 that the yellowcake story, even if true, was no justification for war. So did editors and reporters (like Judith Miller and Michael Gordon of the New York Times, for example).
I have yet to see a single US corporate media outlet explain that the yellowcake story was simply never a justification for war. It will probably never happen, and yet many analysts have said it was that claim by Bush, Cheney, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and others (remember her dark warnings about not wanting a “smoking gun” to be a “mushroom cloud”?), more than any other that stampeded the nation into a war that has cost over $1 trillion over five years, and over 4000 US lives and one million innocent Iraqi lives.
Bush, Cheney, Rice, Gonzalez, Rumsfeld and others in the outgoing administration should all be impeached, tried and jailed for their lying and treason in embroiling the US in the pointless and criminal Iraq War, with the yellowcake story a key element in any indictments. But there needs to be some kind of reckoning too, for the willful ignorance and deceit on the part of the majority of Congress and of the press in pretending that an alleged scheme to buy uranium ore was a justification for launching a war of aggression, which five years on, is still continuing.
The American people themselves also need to reflect deeply, not just on how ill served we are by our elected officials and by our media, but on how gullible we have become, and how ignorant.
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DAVE LINDORFF is a Philadelphia-based journalist and columnist. His latest book is “The Case for Impeachment” (St. Martin’s Press, 2008 and now available in paperback). His work is available at www.thiscantbehappening.net
http://www.thiscantbehappening.net
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WHO PAID FOR THIS? WHO BENEFITTED? WHO CARES?!
Reflect Deeply, Reflect Deeply, Reflect Deeply, Reflect Deeply A Pointless and Criminal Iraq War A Pointless and Criminal Iraq War Imminent Threat to America, Imminent Threat to America Bush, Cheney, Rice, Gonzalez, Rumsfeld and others in the outgoing administration should all be impeached, tried and jailed for their lying and treason THE REALITY, THE HORROR, THE REALITY, THE HORROR Cost One Million {1,000,000}Innocent Iraqi LIVES Cost One Million {1,000,000}Innocent Iraqi LIVES IF EACH LINE REPRESENTS A HUMAN LIFE, HOW MANY PAGES OF LIFE WAS WIPED OUT…BY US? THE REALITY, THE HORROR A Pointless and Criminal Iraq War * Reflect Deeply, Reflect Deeply Cost One Million {1,000,000}Innocent Iraqi LIVES Cost Over 4000 US Lives, Shattered Hundreds of Thousands Minds Cost Over 4000 US Lives, Shattered Hundreds of Thousands Minds THE REALITY, THE HORROR Cost Over $1 TRILLION Taxpayer Dollars (1 $TRILLION OF POSITIVE HUMANITARIAN ACTIVITIES – WASTED! A Pointless and Criminal Iraq War THE REALITY -- Imminent Threat to America Bush, Cheney, Rice, Gonzalez, Rumsfeld and others in the outgoing administration should all be impeached, tried and jailed for their lying and treason THE REALITY, THE HORROR, REFLECT DEEPLY USA – STAND FOR JUSTICE…U & I – ACKNOWLEDGE & REPAIR THE REALITY, THE HORROR…REFLECT DEEPLY by boomerang (0 articles, 7 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 556 comments [215 recommended, 1 rejected]) on Friday, Dec 19, 2008 at 1:14:06 PM  (0+)
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Depleted Uranium Weapons
This is another war crime, that I have not seen much of, in a commentary on the issue. The USA has used depleted uranium bullets, which are safe while in bullet form, but as soon as they hit a target, they explode, releasing neclear contamination to the immediate area. Thousands of them have been used, with our troops walking through the contaminated area. Expect to see thousands of our troops, Iraqi civilians, etc, to come down with radiation poisoning. God damn, we used neclear weapons in Iraq, and most likely in Afganistan. How about investigating the use of deleted uranium shells/bullets on the battlefield.? These bastards need to be prosecuted, imprissoned, and or put to death for these war crimes. The list will include, most of the Administration, plus Congressmen and Senators who authorized it, allowed it, supported it, and funded it, Republicans and Democrats alike. We must get them all. Appoint Bugliosi (spelling) as the prosecutor, and let the chips fall where they may. Will we continue to be "AMERICA", or will we become something much less? Right now, we are, "very much", something less. Is this going to take another American Revolution? When you read the Constitution, and our Bill of Rights, and compare them to the Patriot Act, the Military Commisions Act, and others, you will come to the conclusion that the two, "do not agree". Which will you support? The Constitution, the Bill of Rights, or will you support the Patriot Act, the Military Commissions Act, and others, that are in complete opposition to the Constitution and our Bill of Rights? Don't set there and say, "I will wait to see what happens?". I will be compliant until the last minute. Hey folks, this is the last minute. Either stand up now, or lay down and accept what is coming. by Al Ulmer (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 19 comments) on Friday, Dec 19, 2008 at 1:43:33 PM (0+)
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Boomerang doesn't seem to realize
this is just more of business as usual where-ever the Imperialistic misguided foreign policies the USA deems necessary to project its "Strategic" interests. From the "Banana Wars" of Central America to the current farce War Of Terror based on lies and deceit in the Middle East, the intent of these illegal occupations is to cause chaos and mayhem to those that don't tow the line. So those half way around the world can enjoy the "American Dream" lifestyle not realizing the second word says it all. Former Reagan "Freedom Fighter's" Saddam Hussein, Osma Bin Laden Manuel Noriega and others were busy doing the dirty work of the Iran-Contra weapons for cocaine scandle. While the wife and political party swapping senile sap was busy welcoming the Shah of Iran and Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines to US shores. There pockets full of billions of $'s in allocated US humanitarian aid money and subsidized shoes. Then when these "Tyrants" are no longer needed, they are re-labeled as "Terrorist's" by the GOP "Greed & Oppression Party", with some being hunted down and hung, others going to prison, while another doesn't even have a warrant out for his arrest by the FBI, even though the Bu$h II cabal accuse him of masterminding 9/11 from the depths of a cave in Afghanistan. To infiltrate the supposed most secure airline transportation system in the world. If the "Fascist's Goon's & Thug's" had been behind bars for their Treason fomenting crimes of 28 years ago, then there would be no self-appointed Bu$h & Co. administration today, that have wasted trillions of $'s, with billions unaccounted for and millions of innocent killed. While the lives of law abiding, tax paying American citizens have been pried open with the un-patriotic shredding of the Constitution along with the laws passed by Congress and the signing statements that Bu$h has used to run roughshod over the separation of government operations. They not only deserve Impeachment, but all former and current members of this junta should have their trials of Treason before being marched off to the Hague for War Crimes too. Then have these "Enemy Combatant's" spend their life sentences at Gitmo enduring what its current occupants of non-substantiated Cheney accused "Terrorist's" have. Force them to forfeit their illegally amassed fortunes to be given to UN humanitarian projects where they have waged their joke of a "War". Then the USA will have made real progress in its fight against "Terrorism" and the country's that harbor them. by Stanimal (2 articles, 226 quicklinks, 38 diaries, 1254 comments [233 recommended, 2 rejected]) on Friday, Dec 19, 2008 at 1:54:04 PM (0+)
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Reply: Actually -- of course I get it.
I was just trying to make a point. I know you get it Stanimal. I'm just pissed and cynical about the entire sordid display of corruption, greed and conscienceless politiking -- kind of like Mr. M whom I "get". I do not know the 'mechanism' for cleaning out the corruption and sociopaths, but the entire system needs to be broken and recreated. by boomerang (0 articles, 7 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 556 comments [215 recommended, 1 rejected]) on Friday, Dec 19, 2008 at 8:50:27 PM (0+)
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White House Lied About Iraqi Yellowcake, Buy, Buth Thats No
I live in Cleveland Ohio. Dennis Kucinich is my rep from congress. How many times has he tried to have Bush and Cheyney impeached and been turned by Nancy Pelosi and others as being a riduculous idea. I am a very strong Democrat, but Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, need to be ashamed of themselves, because they have continued to turn down Congressman Kucinich's ideas and statements regarding this administration's behavior. What a tragedy!!!!! by Suzi (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 5 comments) on Friday, Dec 19, 2008 at 2:59:20 PM (0+)
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Again and Again
This is the perfect example of why the middle class of the U.S. is doomed and we are destined to be a Third World Country! Mad Max, Here we come. No matter who you try to reach, who you try to enlighten, who you try to scare, they'll just crack open another beer, sit down to another football game, go out and play golf or whatever their device of distraction happens to be and go on with their pathetic, short lived existence. They may still have a job and believe that we're all wacked and paranoid or they don't have a job and they're in the bottom of a bottle or the end of a pipe but they are not going to involve themselves in our delusions. They're the ones who we'll have to watch out for and distance ourselves from when the sh*t hits the fan,, or when Blackwater and the National Guard hit the streets. It's already been decided, the rest of our civil rights are worth the price of a quarter oz of Snow White. No One Cares. Citizens have become so goddam ambivilent as to who's who they can no longer be bothered. "Leave me alone,, let me play my Nintendo"!!!! If they don't care that Bush may as well have ordered planes to fly into the towers and the pentagon, that he lied outright to our faces on tv, that he started an honest to God war, which all means that he murdered hundreds of thousands of innocents, then why would they care if he lied about Saddam buying Uranium? Give it up! The only way to get Bush is to get Monica Lewinski to blow him. That's what pisses these people off,, if the pres gets head!! I'm beginning to belive that this society is not worth saving, I'm tired of talking to the deaf and the especially dumb. When there are soldiers with M-16's on every corner and they're dragging certain people off in black vans, and you can't get on the internet except for maybe E-Bay and U-Tube (which will be totally censored) they'll begin to wonder if something's wrong. The only ones I feel sorry for are the children, the elderly and US! Us, we're the people who have been trying to tell the rest of you fools that Bush IS a ruthless dictator who hhas a design to initiate warfare and alter the constitution with things such as The Patriot Act to remove our rights so that we can be locked away at their whims if we decide that we don't like the changes they plan to implement. Good Luck all,, Merry Christmas and a very Prosperous (canned laughter in the background) New Year! by PeterJ (16 articles, 3 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 236 comments [53 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Friday, Dec 19, 2008 at 4:52:21 PM (0+)
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A face to face with inconvenient truths
American style democracy repeatedly shows itself to be vulnerable to subversion by top-level elected, and non-elected ofiicials. Policy makers that are determined to pursue agendas that would, absent a campaign of deliberate deception, be rejected by the owners of the country. We the People have been managed, we have been manipulated and carefully maneuvered by a perfect storm of genuinely dangerous, underhanded psychopaths that saw fit to circumvent democracy in the worst way possible - with disasterous consequences - on the world stage. Over 4,200 US military deaths - 50,000 life altering injuries of returning US troops, upwards of one million Iraqi civilians dead, (with no US agency seeing fit to track this inconvenient truth), and likely a trillion dollars wasted in US treasure. Worldwide disdain and mistrust of America has never been so widespread and intense - and perfectly understandable. And now, the apologists that so desperately have excused the disaster as a "mistake" don't have a leg to stand on. The manipulation and manufacture of the "evidence" used to justify the attack, invasion and occupation of Iraq was an elaborate, well orchestrated hoax - deliberately foisted upon the American and Iraqi people. And each of the conspirators, Bush, Cheney, Rice, Powell, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Pearl, Feith, Yoo and many others are going to walk away, unscathed. "... and justice for all..." What a great system. How's your American pride holding up these days? by Michael McCoy (7 articles, 1 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 487 comments [26 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Friday, Dec 19, 2008 at 6:00:25 PM (0+)
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Shadow Government
We have been in the grip of a "Shadow Government" ever since the Congress allowed the creation of the foreign banking cartel, known as the Federal Reserve, to take over control of our money supply. They control just about everything from the militery-industrial complex to most of our politicians. This criminal, power-mad, group of the richest families on the planet have in mind the total domination of humanity. They believe most of us are genetically inferior and must be subjugated and that the vast majority must be eliminated. They will fail again, and massive civil unrest and worlwide revolution will be their Waterloo. by ronheri (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 256 comments [45 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Friday, Dec 19, 2008 at 6:53:41 PM (0+)
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Reply: Sorry, I got off topic
Having studied the 911 false flag operation for the past 3 years, I have come to belief that it was beyond any shadow of a doubt an inside job. The only thing left to do, is open a new investigation with impartial investigators. The truth will set America back on the right track. Our government has a long sordid history of these atrocities, as have many evil governments down through history. by ronheri (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 256 comments [45 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Friday, Dec 19, 2008 at 7:17:20 PM (0+)
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Reply: Beware
I agree with every word you have said--but beware; "They will fail again, and massive civil unrest and worlwide revolution will be their Waterloo" It is the Illuminati that is manipulating this game...world wide, the masses will be pushed into "civil unrest and revolution" thus giving the excuse to send in the imperial storm troopers to blow them away. This is the coming battle...there is no halting it, and there is no alternative but to win. by William Whitten (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 4880 comments [1685 recommended, 28 rejected]) on Friday, Dec 19, 2008 at 7:28:11 PM (0+)
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Of course they did ...
What has happened is that over a number of years sociopaths have infested every facet of our government, military, courts and media. Cheney invested in prisons, war and oil? How much more Orwellian does it have to get? Remaining silent is not an option anymore. Even if it's just calling in to C-SPAN early in the morning, spending a half-hour redialing until you get on and get to ask why, in light of new evidence, a new investigation isn't being called for or covered, concerning 9/11, or any other scandal de jour' one could name. We all need to at least speak-out now. I smile because there are other people besides me doing this now, watching a paid shill dodging questions from informed callers is becoming more common, we need to step this up, before near all avenues of communication are cut-off. And don't think they can't. It's real easy. by Mr M (8 articles, 0 quicklinks, 66 diaries, 2845 comments [654 recommended, 27 rejected]) on Friday, Dec 19, 2008 at 7:45:20 PM (0+)
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Reply: Hmmm
Actually, there are now only 2 more states needing convincing to get a Constitutional Convention and then the Constitution as we know it will be no more, and the new one will be ready to go for our inclusion of a One World Government, when and not if. Word is pressure is being brought to bear or getting ready to do so ( i read that recently somewhere) on the 2 states most likely to go for it. They even got a Declaration of Interdependence, left over from 1976, the last time they tried. Anyways, one of the things about the internet and why our thoughts are permitted to be expressed freely (although this has been restricted on a number of other sites) is it gives the elite a way to take our collective temperature, and helps them determine who to round up before they go into action. If it rises too much before they are ready, my guess is they give us some mock war crime trials of Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld while they live it up on their ranch in Paraguay, and this will lull people back to sleep after the entertainment which will serve to distract them as the hits keep coming, if indeed they are waking up. It's true, there are sporadic signs of some people waking up, but it's hardly a mass awakening. Most of it is over the economy, so long as they can spend freely, they are content to let stuff like 9/11 and Iraq go down. Take away their credit cards and they get mad. The other thing one must recognize is that the power behind it is not located 100% in the US, and many of those who are, are not even in government, and that our economy is interdependent. We are no longer self sufficient, and the global corporations will shut us down so fast if we threaten their Global Governance move it would make your head spin. And thats what 9/11, Iraq, torture, etc. was about, to destroy America and discredit Democracy so as to bring about Global Corporate Government. And if people were to want to do something about it , well, the police state apparatus that has been set up can shut it down pretty quick if it gets disruptive or violent. Obama will have his followers defending him, and some would see such an uprising as racially motivated by white racist America. It would likely devolve into a racial war, something nobody who is sane wants. The military is in preparation mode for disarming us. http://freedominourtime.blogspot.com/2008/12/question-46-revisited.html So I hope for enough of an awakening that they slow this train down, but thats about it for my optimism. Anything more probably plays into their hands as it would justify martial law and speed the train up. by pft (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 601 comments [7 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Saturday, Dec 20, 2008 at 2:07:00 AM (0+)
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Reply: Great Post Mr. M
Merry Christmas to all. The coming year will be very interesting for lack of a better word. by ronheri (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 256 comments [45 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Saturday, Dec 20, 2008 at 11:00:45 AM (0+)
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