“The memo, [dated Feb. 1, 2002] written by Attorney General John Ashcroft, summarizes the position of the Justice Department on why the Geneva Convention does not apply to al Qaeda or Taliban prisoners. Ashcroft warns against the possibility of U.S. officials being subject to prosecution for violating U.S. and international laws if the Geneva Conventions […]
Category: quotes
1/31/2002
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld spoke to a military audience at the National Defense University on January 31, 2002. ” ‘The notion that we could transform while cutting the defense budget over the past decade, Rumsfeld confessed, ‘was seductive but false.’…The events of 9/11 produced a level of fear and paranoia that made the canceling […]
1/31/2002
In a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference on January 31, 2002, National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice said: ” ‘We will pursue [al-Qaeda’s] members by every means at our disposal. We will disrupt its plans, destroy its bases, arrest its members, break up its cells and choke off its finances. And our enemy is […]
1/30/2002
“On January 30, 2002, the agency [CIA] issued an unclassified report to Congress containing the phrase ‘Baghdad may be attempting to acquire materials that could aid in reconstituting its nuclear-weapons program.’ Still, it was not highlighted and it was couched in very ambiguous-sounding language. Yet only a week or so later…as the item moved from […]
1/29/2002
“I was disturbed by the “axis of evil” speech, but not because of the French didn’t like it… For both France and England, traditional relationships with various Middle Eastern countries and especially Iraq were extremely important and not lightly sacrificed to some half-baked Bush version of an American Manifest Destiny. I took seriously the international […]
1/29/2002
As stated in “The Report of the Iraq Inquiry – Executive Summary”: “President Bush makes his ‘axis of evil’ speech.” – Commissioned by the Prime Minister The Right Honourable Gordon Brown MP, “The Report of the Iraq Inquiry: Executive Summary,” IraqInquiry.org.uk, Jan. 29, 2002 […]
1/29/2002
“President Bush personally asked Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle [D-SD] Tuesday [January 29, 2002] to limit the congressional investigation into the events of September 11, congressional and White House sources told CNN. The request was made at a private meeting with congressional leaders Tuesday morning. Sources said Bush initiated the conversation. He asked that only […]
1/29/2002
“One of the conspicuous facts about 9/11 was the ongoing White House obstruction to an objective investigation of what happened. Initially [as reported on CNN on January 29, 2002,] President Bush ‘asked that only the House and Senate intelligence committees look into the potential breakdowns among federal agencies that could have allowed the terrorist attack […]
1/29/2002
“Nearly 52 million Americans watched the prime-time speech [State of the Union address] on Tuesday, January 29 [2002]… [President Bush] devoted one sentence to North Korea, one to Iran, and five to Iraq. ‘States like these, and their terrorist allies, constitute an axis of evil,’ Bush said, ‘arming to threaten the peace of the world. […]
1/29/2002
“[I]n a further expansion of the ‘war on terrorism’ President Bush [in his January 29, 2002, State of the Union Address] identified an ‘axis of evil’ that includes Iraq, Iran, and North Korea. This is an odd formulation as these nations hardly constitute an axis. Indeed, Iraq and Iran are implacable enemies, having fought a […]