“In September [22] 2002 [Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul] Wolfowitz told Bill Keller of the New York Times, ‘You hear people mock [the idea of a democratic Iraq] by saying that Iraq isn’t ready for Jeffersonian democracy. Well, Japan isn’t Jeffersonian democracy, either. I think the more we are committed to influencing the outcome, the […]
9/21/2002
“The realization that oil is being concentrated in the Middle East has led many to argue that the United States should become more ‘energy independent.’ In response to this sort of view, Sarah Emerson of Energy Security Analysis Inc. explained in [September 21] 2002, ‘The trouble with diversifying outside the Middle East…is that it is […]
9/21/2002
“On Saturday, September 21 [2002], The New York Times reported in its lead story that [President] Bush had recently received a highly detailed set of war plans on Iraq from [Central Command leader] General [Tommy] Franks. …In an interview for the Times story, the president’s spokesman, Ari Fleischer, pointedly departed from previous statements throughout the […]
9/20/2002
On the evening of September 20, 2002, President Bush “hosted Republican governors for dinner in the State Dining Room. With no reporters present, Bush condemned Saddam Hussein as ‘a brutal, ugly, repugnant man’ but then alluded to the broader agenda. ‘I’m gonna make a prediction,’ he told the governors. ‘Write this down. Afghanistan and Iraq […]
9/20/2002
Speaking at a GOP fundraiser in Casper, Wyoming, on September 20, 2002, Vice President Dick Cheney said: ” ‘We now have irrefutable evidence that [Saddam] has once again set up and reconstituted his program to take uranium, to enrich it to sufficiently high grade, so that it will function as the base material as a […]
9/20/2002
On September 20, 2002, the Bush Administration released ‘The National Security Strategy of the United States of America,’ which said: ” ‘We must adapt the concept of imminent threat to the capabilities and objectives of today’s adversaries,’… In conclusion, it said, ‘to forestall or prevent such hostile acts by our adversaries, the United States will, […]
9/20/2002
On September 20, 2002, “the [Bush] administration released a document that effectively served as its philosophical justification for a preemptive use of force in Iraq. Entitled ‘The National Security Strategy of the United States of America,’ the document was required by Congress of each president as a statement of administration policy. This one, supervised by […]
9/20/2002
“In late September [20] 2002, the White House published ‘The National Security Strategy of the United States,’ a document that codified the three principles President Bush had spelled out [on June 1, 2002] at West Point: preemption, regime change and American leadership. The publication of this document inaugurated a new era, a shift in perception […]
9/20/2002
” ‘Don’t fall into the argument that there is no one to replace Saddam Hussein,’ said [President] Bush [on September 20, 2002]. ‘And our planning will make sure there is no oil disruption; we are looking at all options to enhance oil flow.’ ” – Scott McClellan, What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and […]
9/19/2002
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld during opening statements of a Senate hearing titled “U.S. Policy Towards Iraq” on C-SPAN: “There are a number of terrorist states pursuing weapons of mass destruction, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Syria just to name a few. But no terrorist state poses a greater or more immediate threat to the security of […]