In February 2002, President Bush determined that “Afghanistan (on whose behalf the Taliban technically fought) was a party to the Geneva Convention, but that because the Taliban did not wear uniforms, carry their arms openly, or follow other traditional wartime requirements, its fighters did not qualify for POW status…” [The 15th of the month used […]
Category: quotes
2/15/2002
According to the Silberman-Robb Commission’s report, which was released on March 31, 2005: ” ‘Another [Iraqi informant] source…was brought to the attention of DIA [Defense Intelligence Agency] by Washington-based representatives of the INC [Iraqi National Congress]. Like [informant] Curveball, his reporting was handled by Defense HUMINT [human intelligence]. He provided one report that Iraq had […]
2/15/2002
“By February 2002 the hawks [in the Bush Administration] were confident enough to openly announce their intention in Iraq after invading Afghanistan.” [The 15th of the month used for date sorting purposes only.] – Deepak Tripathi, Overcoming the Bush Legacy in Iraq and Afghanistan, Page 13 […]
2/15/2002
“…by February 2002, the allegation [that lead 9/11 hijacker Mohammed Atta met with a senior official of the Iraqi intelligence service in Prague, Czech Republic, in April 2001] had already been discredited independently by both the CIA and the FBI. They had determined that at the time of the supposed meeting in Prague, Atta was […]
2/15/2002
“Unfortunately, the reappearance of the Taliban was ignored by the Bush White House, which had already set its sights on Iraq. So beginning in February 2002, and continuing without letup through the summer of 2002, just as Taliban guerrilla attacks were on the rise inside Afghanistan, virtually all CIA and U.S. military intelligence assets (including […]
2/15/2002
“Both [incumbent Afghan President Hamid] Karzai and Kofi Annan, then the head of the United Nations, wanted to post international peacekeepers around Afghanistan in early 2002. But the Bush administration blocked any non-U.S. troops from deploying outside Kabul for the first two years of the occupation. [Ambassador to Afghanistan James] Dobbins recalls a meeting in […]
2/14/2002
” ‘It doesn’t mean that an invasion [of Iraq] is imminent,’ [Secretary of State Colin] Powell told the Financial Times [on February 14, 2002]… Sanctions and support for the Iraqi opposition were still firm pillars of [Bush] administration policy, he said, and ‘if there is ever a point where we believe it’s necessary to do […]
2/13/2002
“On February 13, 2002, Knight Ridder reported that ‘President Bush has decided to oust Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein from power and ordered the CIA, the Pentagon and other agencies to devise a combination of military, diplomatic and covert steps to achieve that goal.” – Michael Isikoff and David Corn, Hubris, Page 82 […]
2/13/2002
“The next day [February 13, 2002] at a press conference the president [Bush] said of Iraq, ‘I will reserve whatever options I have, I’ll keep them close to my vest.’ “ – Bob Woodward, Plan of Attack, Page 103 […]
2/13/2002
In an op-ed piece he wrote that appeared in The Washington Post on February 13, 2002, former Assistant to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Ken Adelman, wrote: “Hussein constitutes the number one threat against American security and civilization. Unlike Osama bin Laden, he has billions in government funds, scores of government research labs working feverishly […]