Glad to see this is getting some coverage in the US, the brown stuff has been hitting the fan here for a couple of weeks. The Conservatives have a even got a new catch phrase for use when Blair says anything - "Nobody believes a word he says anymore".
> -----Original Message----- > From: Howie Hamlin [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: 10 July 2003 18:47 > To: CF-Community > Subject: A Diplomat's Undiplomatic Truth: They Lied > > > Reprinted from LA Times > > July 8, 2003 > > Robert Scheer: > > A Diplomat's Undiplomatic Truth: They Lied > > They may have finally found the smoking gun that nails the > culprit responsible for the Iraq war. Unfortunately, the > incriminating evidence wasn't left in one of Saddam Hussein's > palaces but rather in Vice President Dick Cheney's office. > > Former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson publicly revealed over the > weekend that he was the mysterious envoy whom the CIA, under > pressure from Cheney, sent to Niger to investigate a document > - now known to be a crude forgery - that allegedly showed > Iraq was trying to acquire enriched uranium that might be > used to build a nuclear bomb. Wilson found no basis for the > story, and nobody else has either. > > What is startling in Wilson's account, however, is that the > CIA, the State Department, the National Security Council and > the vice president's office were all informed that the > Niger-Iraq connection was phony. No one in the chain of > command disputed that this "evidence" of Iraq's revised > nuclear weapons program was a hoax. > > Yet, nearly a year after Wilson reported back the facts to > Cheney and the U.S. security apparatus, Bush, in his 2003 > State of the Union speech, invoked the fraudulent Iraq-Africa > uranium connection as a major justification for rushing the > nation to war: "The British government has learned that > Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of > uranium in Africa." What the president did not say was that > the British were relying on their intelligence white paper, > which was based on the same false information that Wilson and > the U.S. ambassador to Niger had already debunked. "That > information was erroneous, and they knew about it well ahead > of both the publication of the British white paper and the > president's State of the Union address," Wilson said Sunday > on "Meet the Press." > > Although a British Parliament report released Monday > exonerated the Blair government of deliberate distortion to > justify invading Iraq, it urged the foreign secretary to come > clean as to when British officials were first told that the > Iraq-Niger allegation was based on forged documents. The > report noted: "It is very odd indeed" that the British > government has still not come up with any other evidence to > support its contention about an Iraq-Niger connection. > > Nor has the U.S. administration told its public why it > ignored the disclaimers from its own intelligence sources. In > order to believe that our president was not lying to us, we > must believe that this information did not find its way > through Cheney's office to the Oval Office. > In media interviews, Wilson said it was the vice president's > questioning that pushed the CIA to try to find a credible > Iraqi nuclear threat after that agency had determined there > wasn't one. "I have little choice but to conclude that some > of the intelligence related to Iraq's nuclear weapons program > was twisted to exaggerate the Iraqi threat," Wilson wrote in > an Op-Ed article in Sunday's New York Times. "A legitimate > argument can be made that we went to war under false pretenses." > > In a Washington Post interview, Wilson added, "It really > comes down to the administration misrepresenting the facts on > an issue that was a fundamental justification for going to > war. It begs the question, what else are they lying about?" > Those are the carefully chosen words of a 23-year career > diplomat who, as the top U.S. official in Baghdad in 1990, > was praised by then-President George H.W. Bush for his role > as the last American to confront Hussein face to face after > the dictator invaded Kuwait. In a cable to Baghdad, the > president told Wilson: "What you are doing day in and day out > under the most trying conditions is truly inspiring. Keep > fighting the good fight." > > As Wilson observed wryly, "I guess he didn't realize that one > of these days I would carry that fight against his son's > administration." And that fight remains the good fight. This > is not some minor dispute over a footnote to history but > rather raises the possibility of one of the most egregious > misrepresentations by a U.S. administration. What could be > more cynical and impeachable than fabricating a threat of > rogue nations or terrorists acquiring nuclear weapons and > using that to sell a war? > > "There is no greater threat that we face as a nation," Wilson > told NBC, "than the threat of weapons of mass destruction in > the hands of nonstate actors or international terrorists. And > if we've prosecuted a war for reasons other than that, using > weapons of mass destruction as cover for that, then I think > we've done a great disservice to the > weapons-of-mass-destruction threat." > > The world is outraged at this pattern of lies used to justify > the Iraq invasion, but the U.S. public still seems numb to > the dangers of government by deceit. > > Indeed, Nixon speechwriter William Safire this week in his > column channeled the voice of his former boss to reassure > Republicans that the public easily could be conned through > the next election. > > Perhaps, and far be it for me to lecture either Safire or a > reincarnated Nixon as to the ease of deceiving the > electorate, but as we learned from the Nixon disgrace, lies > have a way of unraveling, and the truth will out, even if > it's after the next election. > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?forumid=5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?method=subscribe&forumid=5 Your ad could be here. 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