Well, the _resident will strut into the UN General
Assembly in a few hours to posture and pretend to be a
leader with a vision for approximately 20 minutes. The
_resident has started giving speechlets instead of
speeches. His televised address asking for $80 billion
from the American people for his foolish and failing
military adventure lasted only, I think, 11
minutes...The disconnect between the _resident, the
VICE _resident, Condi Rice the White au pair and
REALITY is becoming more and more obvious every
day...Even the cooked SeeNotNews/Gallop poll now shows
the _resident in what amounts to a dead heat with five
Democrats (well, four Democrats and Joe Lieberman). If
SeeNotNews/Gallop is showing that kind of weakness,
the truth is that he is down to his Republican base of
30-35% and it is eroding...MEANWHILE, here is
something that may well lead to an announcement that
he has accomplished his mission and he is going home
to Waco, giving us a race between Dean or Clark and
someone like Chuch Hagel (R-NEBRASKA) or John McCain
(R-ARIZONA) after the _resident picks up his toys and
goes home...Of course, this period is, as I have
written before, a very, very dangerous one and it is
far more likely that the Bush cabal has another
Trifecta ticket it is going to attempt to cash...
http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,7350504%5E2,00.html
Journo claims proof of WMD lies
By Paul Mulvey in London
September 23, 2003
AUSTRALIAN investigative journalist John Pilger says
he has evidence the war against Iraq was based on a
lie that could cost George W. Bush and Tony Blair
their jobs and bring Prime Minister John Howard down
with them.
A television report by Pilger aired on British screens
overnight said US Secretary of State Colin Powell and
National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice confirmed in
early 2001 that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein had been
disarmed and was no threat.
But after the terrorist attacks on New York and
Washington on September 11 that year, Pilger claimed
Rice said the US "must move to take advantage of these
new opportunities" to attack Iraq and claim control of
its oil.
Pilger uncovered video footage of Powell in Cairo on
February 24, 2001 saying, "He (Saddam Hussein) has not
developed any significant capability with respect to
weapons of mass destruction. He is unable to project
conventional power against his neighbours."
Two months later, Rice reportedly said, "We are able
to keep his arms from him. His military forces have
not been rebuilt."
Powell boasted this was because America's policy of
containment and its sanctions had effectively disarmed
Saddam.
Pilger claims this confirms that the decision of US
President George W Bush - with the full support of
British Prime Minister Blair and Howard - to wage war
on Saddam because he had weapons of mass destruction
was a huge deception.
Pilger interviewed several leading US government
figures in Washington but said he did not ask Powell
or Rice to respond to his claims.
"I think it's very serious for Howard. Howard has
followed the Americans and to a lesser degree Blair
almost word for word," Pilger told AAP before his
program was screened on ITV tonight.
"All Howard does is say `well it's not true' and never
explains himself.
"I just don't believe you can be seen to be party to
such a big lie, such a big deception and endure that
politically.
"It simply can't be shrugged off and that's Howard's
response.
"Blair has shrugged it off but Blair is deeply
damaged. It's far from over here, there's a lot that
is going to happen and much of it could wash onto
Howard.
"And it's unravelling in America and Bush could lose
the election next year.
"I've not seen political leaders survive when they've
been complicit in such an open deception for so long."
Howard last week dismissed an accusation from
Opposition Leader Simon Crean that he hid a warning
from British intelligence that war against Iraq would
heighten the terrorist threat to Australia.
In his report, Pilger interviews Ray McGovern, a
former senior CIA officer and friend of Bush's father
and ex-president, George Bush senior.
McGovern told Pilger that going to war because of
weapons of mass destruction "was 95 per cent charade."
Pilger also claims that six hours after the September
11 attacks on the World Trade Centre, US Defence
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said he wanted to "hit" Iraq
and allegedly said "Go Massive ... Sweep it all up.
Things related and not."
He was allegedly talked down by Powell who said the
American people would not accept an attack on Iraq
without any evidence, so they opted to invade
Afghanistan where Osama bin Laden had bases.
Pilger claimed war was set in train on September 17,
2001 when Bush signed a paper directing the Pentagon
to explore the military options for an attack on Iraq.
AAP