For those that haven't seen it... [General Wesley Clark exposes plan to attack...]

[Reason]

YouTube - Wesley Clark exposes plan to attack Iraq after 9-11-01 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPG0UpyNdNo)

[squarepusher]

of course, they had it planned since much earlier, why do you think they bombed new york?

[Reason]

It certainly is profound that General Wesley Clark can come out and say this in the open and then have everyone ignore it to death.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bc/General_Wesley_Clark_official_photograph.jpg/200px-General_Wesley_Clark_official_photograph.jpg

Wesley Kanne Clark, Sr., KBE (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_British_Empire) (born December 23, 1944) is a retired general (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_%28United_States%29) of the United States Army (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Army). Clark was valedictorian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valedictorian) of his class at West Point (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Military_Academy), was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhodes_Scholarship) to the University of Oxford (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Oxford) where he obtained a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy,_Politics_and_Economics), and later graduated from the Command and General Staff College (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Command_and_General_Staff_College) with a master's degree in military science (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_science). He spent 34 years in the Army and the Department of Defense (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Defense), receiving many military decorations (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Awards_and_decorations_of_the_United_States_milita ry), several honorary knighthoods (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knight), and a Presidential Medal of Freedom (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidential_Medal_of_Freedom).
Clark commanded Operation Allied Force (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_NATO_bombing_of_the_Federal_Republic_of_Yugos lavia) in the Kosovo War (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosovo_War) during his term as the Supreme Allied Commander Europe (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_Headquarters_Allied_Powers_Europe) of NATO (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO) from 1997 to 2000.

[talkingpointes]

Before I say what is obvious -- doesn't this guys voice sound an awful lot like Bush. heh texas.... Who exactly is ignoring this ? And how long has it been since its release?

[emazur]

Wow. Another bombshell was by Alan Greenspan in 2007:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article2461214.ece

However, it is his view on the motive for the 2003 Iraq invasion that is likely to provoke the most controversy. “I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil,” he says.
Greenspan was right:

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=14392
http://wsws.org/articles/2009/jun2009/pers-j30.shtml
http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=3957&updaterx=2009-07-01+02%3A08%3A08
http://www.alternet.org/world/90509/

[klamath]

deleted

[Krugerrand]

Whether or not Iraq was tied to 9/11 never really mattered to me. The issue was a country that has proven to be dangerous was in violation of a peace treaty that ended Gulf War I.

What should the US do about that? I find it dangerous from a long-term perspective to establish precedence that a country need not adhere to treaties.

Personally, I would have rather seen the US turn that to the UN - tell the UN to either enforce THEIR treaty or we pull out of the UN. Then, we should have pulled out of the UN.

Then, we should have begun trading with Iraq.

[Reason]

Whether or not Iraq was tied to 9/11 never really mattered to me.

It should matter to you since the administration specifically attempted to make it look like the two were tied together.


The issue was a country that has proven to be dangerous was in violation of a peace treaty that ended Gulf War I.

YouTube - Bush kicked out weapons inspectors not Saddam (2003) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvDe7Z-ykDo)

[Krugerrand]

It should matter to you since the administration specifically attempted to make it look like the two were tied together.


Here's my take:

The US leadership obviously wanted the war.

Iraq in all likelihood had dismantled their most dangerous of weapons programs.

Iraq, because of local and regional issues wanted to give the perception of strength and the illusion of continued weapons development.

France, Russia and other UN countries were trading with Iraq despite the UN sanctions. They wanted perpetual sanctions since this gave them a somewhat exclusive trading situation. Iraq wanted assurances that they would not be attacked and essentially bought off France and Russia's support at the UN.

The only time Iraq cooperated with inspectors was when there was a direct threat of invasion. Inspectors were allowed more access inside of Iraq when the US brought in the big guns into the area. The threat of attack was the only thing getting inspection results.

France and Russia could have persuaded a more cooperative Iraq - but elected to keep the financial perks they were getting. They eventually guaranteed Iraq that they would veto any invasion. That officially rendered the sanctions and all other forms of persuasion useless. It also rendered the US threat of attack useless. All of them assumed the US would not go in without the UN. They guessed wrong.

Personally, I blame the war on France and Russia.

The entire situation showed the uselessness of the UN. It was a perfect time for us - not to use our military - but to leave the UN. The entire situation reminded me of the testimony in A Few Good Men: "You want me there. You need me there." Everybody liked to complain about the US being the world bully/police force - but they all want the US to fill the role so they don't have to. Who in the Asia Pacific would really be happy if the US announced it was pulling its troops home from Korea and Japan? N.Korea? no they want to blackmail us. China? S.Korea? no, they'd rather the US finance the regional stability rather than themselves. As much as the world gripes, they want the US to be their police force. I say - pull the troops home and let the chips fall where they may.

More to the point of 9/11 and Iraq. It just didn't matter much to me. I saw a dangerous country in a dangerous region. It came down to what are you going to do about it.

YouTube - A Few Good Man "You Can't Handle the Truth" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5j2F4VcBmeo)

[Reason]

//

[Aratus]

once again, wesley clark looks like he wanted to ask for another commission if he got into the white house...