” ‘The Clinton administration was totally risk averse’ on Iraq, Richard Perle, a leading Iraq hawk, would argue later. ‘They allowed Saddam over eight years to grow in strength. He was far stronger at the end of Clinton’s tenure than at the beginning.’ Perle made those assertions in July 2003, just about the time they […]
7/14/2003
On July 14, 2003, journalist Robert “Novak identified [former Ambassador Joseph] Wilson’s wife, Valerie Plame, as ‘an agency operative on weapons of mass destruction,’ and sourced this information to ‘two senior [Bush] administration officials.’ ” – Stephen F. Hayes, Cheney, Page 417 […]
7/14/2003
Presidential Advisor “Karl Rove confirmed Valerie Plame Wilson’s connection to the CIA for [columnist Bob] Novak, and eight days after [former Ambassador Joseph] Wilson’s column appeared, on July 14 [2003], Novak wrote, ‘Wilson never worked for the CIA, but his wife, Valerie Plame, is an Agency operative on weapons of mass destruction. Two senior [Bush] […]
7/14/2003
Presidential Advisor Karl Rove wrote: “On Monday [July 14, 2003], Robert Novak’s column appeared [in The Washington Post]. He wrote that the CIA’s decision to send [former Ambassador Joe] Wilson to Niger [to investigate sales of uranium to Iraq] ‘was made routinely at a low level without Director George Tenet’s knowledge’ and Wilson’s report ‘was […]
7/13/2003
Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, then-Commander of the ground forces in Iraq, wrote: “On July 13, 2003, we had an elaborate ceremony to establish the new twenty-five person Iraqi Governing Council. Live television captured the speeches, the oaths of allegiance, and rest of the pomp and circumstance. [Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) leader] Ambassador [L. Paul] Bremer […]
7/13/2003
“It proved impossible to select a single leader for the Governing Council [which was established in Iraq on July 13, 2003], and it was finally settled that a representative group of nine would form an executive council. The leaders chosen were Abd el-Aziz al-Hakim (SCIRI [Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq]); Ibrahim al-Jaafari […]
7/13/2003
In Iraq, “The Governing Council assembled in Baghdad’s main conference centre for its first public exposure on 13 July, 2003. The group, rather than the CPA [Coalition Provisional Authority], announced its own formation, partly to preserve the fiction that the measure was an all-Iraqi affair.” – Ali A. Allawi, The Occupation of Iraq, Page 166 […]
7/13/2003
In Baghdad, Iraq, on July 13, 2003, “the twenty-five member Governing Council was unveiled. There were thirteen Shiites, eleven Sunnis, and one Christian, a carefully calibrated acknowledgment that Shiites in the country outnumbered Sunnis. Among the Sunnis, five were ethnic Kurds, five were Arab, and one was an ethnic Turkmen. Three of the members were […]
7/13/2003
“…when the twenty-five-person Iraqi Governing Council was established on July 13, 2003, it had within it nine members who were subsequently chosen to serve as presidents of the council on a rotating basis. This group of nine was almost identical to the Leadership Council of Exiles that had formed the previous February at the encouragement […]
7/13/2003
“Even [Secretary of State Colin] Powell’s own intelligence agency at State, the Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR), thought the Italian intelligence report [on Saddam buying yellowcake from Niger] was junk and sent him a memo saying so.” In a July 13, 2003, article in Time, State Department intelligence official Greg Thielmann said: ” ‘A […]