On May 15, 2004, “after a year of concerted efforts led by [Central Command (CENTCOM) leader] GEN John Abizaid, CJTF-7 [Combined Joint Task Force] split into two components. Multi-National Force Iraq (MNFI) was the new four-star headquarters with responsibility for the strategic international, political, and military interface that would direct the Iraqi theater of operations. […]
5/15/2004
According to the Silberman-Robb Commission’s report, which was released on March 31, 2005: ” ‘Only in May 2004, more than a year after the commencement of Operation Iraqi Freedom, did CIA formally deem [Iraqi informant] Curveball’s reporting fabricated and recall it.’ ” [The 15th of the month used for date sorting purposes only.] – Tyler […]
5/15/2004
“The Coalition Provisional Authority’s own polling, leaked in May 2004, showed that 92 per cent of those [Iraqis] surveyed saw the coalition forces as occupiers, and 55 per cent believed they would feel safer if those forces left immediately.” [The 15th of the month used for date sorting purposes only.] – Clare Short, An Honourable […]
5/15/2004
In May 2004, New York Times columnist David Brooks wrote: ” ‘This has been a crushingly depressing period, especially for people who support the war in Iraq. …The predictions people on my side made about the postwar world have not yet come true. The warnings others made about the fractious state of post-Saddam society have.’ […]
5/15/2004
Interim director of the new Iraqi intelligence service Mohammed Abdullah al-Shahwani visited the Oval Office in May 2004. ” ‘Sir, I’m going to tell you something,’ the Iraqi intelligence chief said [to President Bush and members of his cabinet]. ‘You need to know the truth. Baghdad is almost surrounded by insurgents. The situation is not […]
5/14/2004
“Roger Cressey, a counterterrorism official who served at the National Security Council under President Clinton, says [in an interview with journalist Peter Bergen on May 14, 2004], ‘I don’t recall any intelligence reporting of Iraqis going to Afghanistan [to meet with bin Laden] or vice versa, and if there was such reporting it was never […]
5/14/2004
“…A 155 mm artillery projectile filled with four liters of Sarin nerve gas was found in Baghdad in May [14] 2004; certainly that proves that Saddam Hussein was lying when he claimed to have destroyed every munition from his stockpile. When the shell was found, in a roadside improvised explosive device, the news media downplayed […]
5/13/2004
“Many U.S. officials believe that [al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-] Zarqawi is in many ways more dangerous than Osama bin Laden. ‘The capture of Zarqawi should now have a higher priority than even that of Osama bin Laden,’ said Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said at a news conference today [May 13, 2004]. […]
5/13/2004
“U.S. intelligence officials have concluded that suspected [al Qaeda in Iraq] terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi personally carried out the brutal videotaped beheading of American civilian Nicholas Berg. CIA officials say the poor audio quality of the speaker’s voice on the tape made the match difficult, but that they are now all but certain that […]
5/13/2004
In a casual conversation with FBI Special Agent George Piro on May 13, 2004, Saddam “Hussein stated that the United Nations’ (UN) Weapons Inspections had achieved its objectives of disposing Iraq of its WMD. Iraq does not have any WMD and has not for sometime [sic]. Hussein was advised that many were of the opinion […]