Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld “went to the White House and obtained a secret presidential directive, National Security Presidential Directive 24 (NSPD-24), in which President Bush assigned DoD [Department of Defense] responsibility for all Phase IV [postwar] planning and implementation. That document, signed on January 20, 2003, also established that the Office of Reconstruction and […]
1/20/2003
“The OHRA [Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance] had been established [on January 20, 2003] in response to [President] Bush’s decision to give the Pentagon control over post-war planning for Iraq. It was organised in four line departments, focusing on humanitarian relief, reconstruction, civil administration and logistics, and finance.” [Editor’s note: the author refers to […]
1/20/2003
“[O]n January 20 [2003], just eight days before the State of the Union address, President Bush submitted a report to Congress citing Iraq’s attempts ‘to acquire uranium and the means to enrich it.’ ” – Craig Unger, The Fall of the House of Bush, Page 269 […]
1/20/2003
Following a U.N. Security Council meeting on January 20, 2003, French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin held a press conference, where he “told reporters it was clear that Iraq’s WMD program was ‘frozen’ and could be contained while U.N. disarmament continued. ‘Nothing justifies cutting off inspections to enter into war or uncertainty.’ The crisis in […]
1/20/2003
Addressing the U.N. Security Council on January 20, 2003, Secretary of State Colin Powell said, regarding the need to approve resolution 1441 against Iraq: ” ‘We cannot fail to take action that may be necessary because we are afraid of what others might do. …However difficult the road ahead may be with respect to Iraq, […]
1/20/2003
In a U.N. Security Council meeting on January 20, 2003, German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said: ” ‘We are greatly concerned that a military strike against the regime in Baghdad [Iraq] would involve considerable and unpredictable risks for the global fight against terrorism.’ It would have ‘disastrous consequences,’ and Germany rejected the very idea.” – […]
1/20/2003
“On January 20, 2003, President Bush signed a secret National Security Presidential Directive, NSPD-24. The subject: setting up an ‘Iraq Postwar Planning Office’ within the Defense Department.” – Bob Woodward, State of Denial, Page 112 […]
1/20/2003
On January 20, 2003, “French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin had said that France would not even consider war against Iraq–as long as the French believed peaceful alternatives (such as inspections) remained. The Chinese and German foreign ministers echoed his remarks.” – Michael Isikoff and David Corn, Hubris, Page 176 […]
1/20/2003
On January 20, 2003, President “Bush signed National Security Presidential Directive 24, formalizing [Secretary of Defense Donald] Rumsfeld’s authority for postwar Iraq.” – Michael R. Gordon and Bernard E. Trainor, Cobra II, Page 171 […]
1/19/2003
“On January 19, 2003, six days after [National Security Agency (NSA) Director] General [Michael] Hayden ordered NSA to war alert status, [Central Command (CENTCOM) leader] General [Tommy] Franks and 350 members of his staff flew to Camp As Sayliyah in Qatar, which was to serve as CENTCOM’s forward headquarters for the invasion [of Iraq]. Accompanying […]