War: Saddam’s Capture Means Trouble for U.S. Officials

posted by admin on Wednesday December 17, @04:50PM

UPDATE: NMU (11/5/01): Bush blocks release of Reagan White House papers

Rumsfeld-Saddam Handshake, Buddies Bush + Reagan, Reagan with Caspar Weinberger, George Shultz, Ed Meese, and Don Regan discussing the President's remarks on the Iran-Contra affair

http://www.fff.org/comment/com0312f.asp

by Jacob G. Hornberger, December 15, 2003

In his official statement celebrating the capture of Saddam Hussein, President Bush announced that “the former dictator of Iraq will face the justice he denied to millions.” Notably lacking from the president’s statement, however, was whether the U.S. government would agree to relinquish control over Saddam’s trial to the Iraqi government or to an international tribunal consisting of independent judges.

Why wouldn’t U.S. officials readily agree to relinquish jurisdiction over Saddam’s trial? Because of their need to closely guard the secrets that Saddam Hussein has in his possession — secrets that would cause no small amount of embarrassment to the U.S. government, including former president Ronald Reagan, former vice-president and former president George H.W. Bush (the president’s father), and Donald Rumsfeld, the president’s secretary of defense.

One of those secrets is the extent of the relationship that existed between the Reagan and Bush I administrations and Saddam Hussein, the details of which have never been fully disclosed by U.S. officials. There is, of course, the famous photograph on the Internet in which Rumsfeld and Saddam are shaking hands and making conversation in Baghdad in 1983. How did that meeting get set up? Who was involved in the decision-making process? What was discussed? What agreements were entered into?

Saddam’s testimony at trial could provide some of the answers. And that prospect — of Saddam Hussein testifying freely, openly, and publicly about his relationship with Ronald Reagan, President Bush I, and Donald Rumsfeld — would undoubtedly strike terror into the hearts and minds of many U.S. officials.

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9/11 Chair: Attack Was Preventable

posted by admin on Wednesday December 17, @12:22PM

Kean promises major revelations in public testimony beginning next month

Update: Kristen Breitweisers Hardball Transcript (12/18)
Update: Tom Kean is backpaddling on Nightline again
Interview with Lorie v. Auken (9/11 Widow) and Kyle Hence (9/11 Citizen's Watch) about Kean on CBS -Salon 12/19

Update: "I don't expect to have any new friends after this is done" (Kean, NJ.com 12/18)
White House refused to comment directly on the CBS interview (NY Daily News 12/18)
Tonight on ABC Nightline, 11 PM EST: "Could it Have Been Prevented?",
Kristen Breitwieser on Hardball, MSNBC, 7 PM EST
"We could have halted 9/11" NY Post (12/17)
Attack Was Preventable Fox (12/17)

CBS-Transcript released at ABC Australia, 12/18 and CBS

NEW YORK, Dec. 17, 2003
CBS News

(CBS) For the first time, the chairman of the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks is saying publicly that 9/11 could have and should have been prevented, reports CBS News Correspondent Randall Pinkston.

"This is a very, very important part of history and we've got to tell it right," said Thomas Kean.

"As you read the report, you're going to have a pretty clear idea what wasn't done and what should have been done," he said. "This was not something that had to happen."

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Boston Globe: Saddam's capture didn't change anything

posted by ewing2001 on Wednesday December 17, @08:29AM

Still no mass weapons, no ties to 9/11, no truth

Update: 'Weapons of Mass Destruction'? For Bush, They Are a Nonissue (NY Times 12/18)

Boston Globe -December 17

By Derrick Z. Jackson

THE INVASION was still a lie. The capture of Saddam Hussein changes nothing about that. There were too many forked tongues in the road to his lair. The way we removed the dictator, we became a global dictatorship.

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Ashcroft and Cheney on new Hot Seat

posted by ewing2001 on Tuesday December 16, @06:50PM

FEC Fines Ashcroft's Senate Bid For Breach

Supreme Court to Hear White House Arguments on Cheney Group

December 17

The Washington Post reported that "the Federal Election Commission has determined that Attorney General John D. Ashcroft's unsuccessful 2000 Senate reelection campaign violated federal election laws by accepting $110,000 in illegal contributions from a committee Ashcroft had established to explore running for president."

Meanwhile, according to the NY Times, the United States Supreme Court said "that it would hear arguments from the Bush administration about why it should not be required to turn over information about Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force."

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Congress Member McDermott: Saddam Capture staged "for political ends"

posted by ewing2001 on Tuesday December 16, @06:32PM

Update: How did the US confirm Saddam's identity so quickly? (Guardian 12/18)
Update: Former Secretary of State Albright: Bin Laden October Surprise orchestrated by Bush was "a possibility." (12/17)
Update: Austria's Haider: Saddam Capture was "slapstick" and a "real scam" (12/17)
Update: More Iraq-lies revealed -75 Senators were told Iraqi weapons could hit U.S (12/16)

Saddam capture staged, McDermott charges

Washington Times - Wed Dec 17, 2003

Rep. Jim McDermott of Washington, the Democratic congressman who went to Baghdad last year to say that President Bush would lie to the American people in order to justify war, has now accused the president of timing Saddam Hussein's capture for political ends.

He told a Seattle radio interviewer Monday that American forces could have captured Saddam "a long time ago if they wanted."

Asked by interviewer Dave Ross on KIRO-FM whether the capture was timed to help the president, he replied: "Yeah. Oh, yeah. There's too much by happenstance for it to be just a coincidental thing."

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911: Bush's still under pressure for 9/11 Prior Knowledge

posted by ewing2001 on Monday December 15, @07:00PM

Dean Spokesman: "The White House needs to be more forthcoming with the 9-11 commission"
NY POST: Bush to label as "an absurd insinuation" Howard Dean's claim (12/16 P. 7)

Bush calls Dean comment about 9-11 warning absurd

Dallasnews (*reg) -December 16
DC Indymedia/Videolink

Dallasnews picked up a response by Bush from Monday Morning, when he was asked in a press conference:
"You've said this is no time for politics but you've also said you wanted to change the tone in Washington.
Howard Dean recently seemed to muse aloud whether you had advance knowledge of 9/11.

Do you agree or disagree with the RNC that this kind of rhetoric borders on political hate speech?"

"Yeah. Uuuuh. There is a time for politics, and uh, you know... (long pause, nervous blinking) ... 'S a time for politics... and I, uh... It's an absurd insinuation."

From the Dallasnews article:
President Bush fended off political questions during his news conference Tuesday – with one notable exception.

Asked about Democratic frontrunner Howard Dean's talk of theories that the president may have had advance warning about Sept. 11, Mr. Bush replied, "It's an absurd insinuation."

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