On October 15, 2003, Secretary of State Colin Powell was interviewed by Matt Frei of BBC Television: “MR. FREI: Let me ask you about Iraq and weapons of mass destruction. Earlier this year, in February, you gave a presentation at the United Nations in which you talked about the imminent threat posed by Saddam Hussein […]
10/14/2003
“President Bush and his aides announced with some fanfare in October [2003] that they were creating the Iraq Stabilization Group within the National Security Council to increase the White House’s role in coordinating Iraq policy. ‘We’re trying to mobilize the entire U.S. government to support this effort’ in Iraq, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice said […]
10/13/2003
Journalist “Zaki Chehab, writing in the Guardian, profiled a number of insurgents in the Ramadi area [Iraq] in October [13] 2003. Most of them seemed to be simply aggrieved at the occupation of the country, and had little connection with the Ba’ath Party or its leadership. ‘We do not want to see our country occupied […]
10/11/2003
In Iraq on October 11, 2003, radical Shi’ite cleric “Moqtada al-Sadr announced that he had formed an ‘alternative government,’ complete with ministers, in a direct challenge to the Governing Council and the CPA [Coalition Provisional Authority].” – Ali A. Allawi, The Occupation of Iraq, Page 212 […]
10/9/2003
President George W. Bush giving updates on the War on Terror: “Nearly every day, we’re launching swift precision raids against the enemies of peace. Helped by intelligence from the Iraqis, we’re rounding up the enemy and taking their weapons. We’re working our way through the famous deck of cards. We’ve already captured or killed 43 of the […]
10/9/2003
“[A] letter emerged, purportedly from Saddam Hussein, urging tribal leaders to launch a holy war against ‘the hated invaders’ and those who cooperate with them. ‘Call the sons of your tribes to the jihad because the day of salvation is near,’ said the message, obtained by the French news agency AFP [Agence France-Presse]. ‘Their demons […]
10/9/2003
“Equally damning was the [PBS] Frontline account [on October 9, 2003] of the [Bush] administration’s decision to ignore the State Department’s prescient ‘Future of Iraq’ project. Some fifteen working groups, drawn from several hundred Iraqi exiles, had anticipated the likely difficulties in postwar Iraq, from maintaining law and order to providing utilities–the very issues that […]
10/9/2003
Greg Thielmann, who had recently stepped down as a top official in the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research, told a PBS Frontline documentary on October 9, 2003, “that the [Bush] administration practiced ‘faith-based intelligence’ by ‘cherry-picking’ his department’s intelligence to suit its case for war [in Iraq].’ ” – Frank Rich, The Greatest […]
10/9/2003
“In early October [9, 2003], Grand Ayatollah Bashir al-Najafi said, ‘Iraqis should be taught never to believe the promises and slogans of the US-led coalition forces. Most injustices inflicted on Muslims everywhere can be traced to the politics of arrogance pursued by the United States and surrogate regimes.’ ” – Ali A. Allawi, The Occupation […]
10/9/2003
Senior State Department intelligence official Gregory Thielmann said, in a PBS interview on October 9, 2003: ” ‘Instead of our leadership forming conclusions based on a careful reading of the intelligence [on the Al Qaeda-Iraq link] we provided them,’ he said, ‘they already had their conclusion to start out with, and they were cherry-picking the […]