War Mongers, War Mongering Quotes
This was the day after the Al Qaeda attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, 9-11. Perle, a leading neoconservative advisor and guru, from that day on advocated for the invasion of Iraq. The irony was that at that time, Iraq had never attacked an American, anywhere in the world. Also, there was no Al Qaeda presence in Iraq. Many believe that the neocon main reason to invade Iraq was a regime change and democratization that would, they believed, be a catalyst for democracy throughout the Middle East. The supposed role in 9-11 and the WMD were for them just excuses to initiate military action, so they, the Vice President, and others who agreed with their objective did not question very seriously the so called intelligence about Iraq.
Following the sinking of the battleship Maine in Cuba in 1898, Hearst, then a newspaper publisher, dispatched artist Frederic Remington to Cuba to paint war scenes for Hearst's newspapers. Remington could not find any and so cabled Hearst. This was Hearst’s famous reply. Hearst's newspapers then all called for war, and Congress shortly thereafter declared such,
See {635819} for Sharon explaining his bellicosity.
As Secretary of State, Powell was going to address the UN Security Council on the 5th and he was coordinating his speech with the other agencies of the government. His criterion was that he only wanted to make accusations that were backed up by incontrovertible evidence. However, VP Richard Cheney and his aide, Scooter Libby, kept inserting an accusation that Iraq was involved with and supported Al Qaeda. This was one of the many speculations that those who wanted to justify attacking Iraq kept using as Domestic propaganda. When Powell asked for proof or intelligence reports and none could be provided, he removed the accusation from the speech explaining why. However, at the last minute, Cheney and his staff put the accusation back in, and that triggered the quotation. Unfortunately, Powell was so busy fending off totally absurd accusations, that he accepted the CIA assurances {79468} that Iraq was developing nuclear weapons that were about to be operationalized and never heard from those who questioned the credibility of the sources for the basic accusation. Powell had great trust among the diplomats of the world then gave the United States version to the Security Council and justified our coming invasion of Iraq. But the intelligence report, despite the assurances of the CIA and the Vice President, was false and Iraq not only was not close to a nuclear weapon but he had no program at all at that time to try and develop one. Powell resigned and his credibility about the world was ruined as he was then seen as just another lying politician.
