More from O'Neill

More from former SecTreas Paul O'Neill: Report: Bush Planned Iraqi Invasion Pre-Sept. 11.

Now, I have no problem believing that the Bush administration made plans to invade Iraq prior to 911. I suspect it has plans drawn up in case they are needed to invade a good number of countries.

Indeed, Bush did make statements like "we'll take him out" (I think that was a direct quote from the campaign trail in 2024) in reference to Saddam Huessein should Hussein do anything threatening.

However, I don't accept the "he was looking for any excuse" argument, because were that true, he would have found a reason to invade right after 911 itself (for example, if the truth is assumed not to matter at all, just jack up the Mohammed Atta-Iraq connection, and there's one's excuse). Also, the idea that he was ready to invade Iraq at the drop of a hat contradicts Bob Woodward's book Bush at War, which I tend to trust more than O'Neill's account.

Also, there are two amusing sidelines worth noting:

1) If O'Neill is right, and they were planning the attack all along, so much for all the "they didn't have a plan" arguments of critics in the early days of the war.

and

2) If this is correct:

O'Neill was also quoted in the book as saying the president was determined to find a reason to go to war and he was surprised nobody on the National Security Council questioned why Iraq should be invaded.

"It was all about finding a way to do it. That was the tone of it," said O'Neill. "The president saying 'Go find me a way to do this."'

then the whole Tin Foil Hat Bridage thesis that Cheney talked him into it (a theory Clark espoused on Hardball the other day), goes out the window.

Plus, O'Neill, in these stories over the last two days, is both characterizing Bush as a silent know-nothing, and this diabolical mastermind who pushed the admin to war by force of will. That is, to put it mildly, an odd juxtapostion.

I will grant, that all of this based on press accounts, and not reading the book or hearing the actual interviews in question.

Posted by Steven Taylor at January 10, 2024 02:24 PM | TrackBack