“Executives of ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, and BP each took a turn guiding Iraq’s oil industry. Philip Carroll of Shell and Gary Vogler, a former ExxonMobil executive, were the first on the ground. They arrived in April 2003, just one month after the invasion. Officially, the two were the ranking U.S. advisers to the Iraqi […]
4/15/2003
Deputy Secretary of Defense “Paul Wolfowitz had initially suggested that much of the long-neglected repair and upgrading of Iraq’s infrastructure would be paid for by its oil proceeds; [Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s Aide Lawrence] Di Rita stressed this with more passion [following his mid-April 2003 arrival in Kuwait to join Jay Garner’s Office for […]
4/15/2003
“Larry Johnson, a registered Republican and former CIA official who voted for and contributed to Bush’s 2000 campaign for the presidency and thereafter became the deputy director of the U.S. State Department’s Office of Counterterrorism, said that in ‘April of last year [2003], I was beginning to pick up grumblings from friends inside the intelligence […]
4/14/2003
“In Washington that Monday [April 14, 2003]–twenty-six days after the war [in Iraq] began, the Pentagon declared that major combat operations were over. ‘The major Iraqi units on the ground cease to show coherence,’ said Major General Stanley McChrystal, vice director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. ‘There will be a requirement for […]
4/13/2003
“On April 13 [2003], [Vice President Dick] Cheney hosted a small dinner to celebrate the fall of Hussein. The few invited included [vice presidential Chief of Staff] Scooter Libby, [Deputy Secretary of Defense] Paul Wolfowitz, and [former Donald Rumsfeld Aide] Ken Adelman… Over dinner, the group toasted [President] Bush and victory in Iraq. Cheney was […]
4/13/2003
During a dinner with Vice President Cheney on April 13, 2003, former Donald Rumsfeld Aide Ken Adelman said: ” ‘I was just stunned that we have not found weapons of mass destruction.’ There were several hundred thousand troops and others combing the country. ‘We’ll find them,’ [Defense Deputy Paul] Wolfowitz said. ‘It’s only been four […]
4/13/2003
In April 2003, the Defense Department’s working group “issued a report approving interrogation methods for use at Guantanamo Bay. The group recommended twenty-six techniques for general use…of which twenty-two were strategies for purely verbal questioning…” On April 13, 2003, Secretary of Defense Donald “Rumsfeld specifically refused to authorize these exceptional interrogation methods for Guantanamo Bay, […]
4/13/2003
” ‘You know, it’s amazing, he [President Bush] said [on April 13, 2003], ‘the statue [of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad, Iraq] comes down on Wednesday [April 9, 2003] and the headlines start to read: ‘Oh, there’s disorder. Well, no kidding. It is a situation that is chaotic because Saddam Hussein created conditions for chaos.’ ” […]
4/11/2003
When asked how he felt about people questioning his war plans, President George W. Bush replied: “I don’t take anything personally. I committed our troops because I believe that Saddam Hussein and his regime posed a threat to the American people, posed a threat to anybody who loves freedom. We will achieve that objective. And at […]
4/11/2003
In response to the rampant looting taking place in Baghdad, Iraq, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said, on April 11, 2003: ” ‘You cannot do everything instantaneously… It’s untidy. And freedom’s untidy. And free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes and do bad things. They’re also free to live their lives and […]