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.Bush’s Invasion of Iraq was Criminal … Obama’s About to Do the Same Thing In Syria..>>>.... NBC Claimed Bush Allowed Al-Qaeda in Iraq Before War, Media Now Ignore Pre-War Presence..>> ..Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs: Iraq War “Based On a Series of Lies”...>>>



Bush’s Invasion of Iraq was Criminal … Obama’s About to Do the Same Thing In Syria

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Bush Launched the Iraq War For Oil … Obama Is Launching the Syrian War for Natural Gas

Bush 

Washingtons Blog
May 29, 2013
http://intellihub.com/2013/05/29/bushs-invasion-of-iraq-was-criminal-obamas-about-to-do-the-same-thing-in-syria/
 
The former head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff – the highest ranking military officer in the United States – said that the Iraq war was “based on a series of lies”.

Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs: Iraq War “Based On a Series of Lies”

In his recently published memoir, “Without Hesitation: The Odyssey of an American Warrior,” General Hugh Shelton, who served as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1997 to 2001, called the Iraq war “unnecessary” and said that the Bush team went to war “based on a series of lies.”

Shelton also said that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Deputy Secretary of State Paul Wolfowitz and other Pentagon officials pushed for war in Iraq “almost to the point of insubordination.”
This is not some voice from the peanut gallery.
The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs is – by law – the highest ranking military officer in the United States armed forces, and the principal military adviser to the President of the United States. The Chairman outranks all respective heads of each service branch, including the heads of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines.
Thank you, General Shelton, for confirming what Seymour Hersh and many others have been saying since 2003 (and see this).http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2010/10/former-chairman-of-the-joint-chiefs-iraq-war-based-on-a-series-of-lies.html

Without Hesitation: The Odyssey of an American Warrior

The powerful unvarnished memoir of General Hugh Shelton, war hero, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during 9/11, and one of the leading military figures of our time
http://www.amazon.com/Without-Hesitation-Odyssey-American-Warrior/dp/0312599056/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1288009392&sr=8-1
 
Whether serving under a Democratic president or a Republican president, General Shelton was never afraid to speak out and tell it like it is. Shelton chronicles his incredible journey from a small farming community in North Carolina to the highest level of American military and political power at the Pentagon and White House.

As one of the nation’s elite Special Forces soldiers, Shelton served twice in Vietnam, commanding a Green Beret unit and then an airborne infantry company. He was awarded a Bronze Star for valor and a Purple Heart for a wound suffered when a booby trap drove a poisoned stake through his leg.

Shelton rose up the ranks and was assistant division commander of the 101st Airborne Division as they invaded Iraq in the Persian Gulf War, then led the 20,000 American troops tasked with restoring Haiti’s deposed President, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, to power. Promoted to 4-star General, he became Commander in Chief of U.S. Special Operations Command (including Delta Force, Navy SEALS and other top secret Special Mission Units).

But it was while serving as Chairman during both the Clinton and Bush administrations that he faced his biggest challenges, including his role as chief architect of the U.S. military response to 9/11. General Shelton speaks frankly of how decisions were made behind the scenes in the inner sanctum of the E-Ring and Oval Office, and reveals key military operations and meetings that have not yet been revealed, including:

* High-ranking Cabinet member proposes intentionally allowing an American pilot to be killed by the Iraqis to have an excuse to retaliate and go to war.

* Details of a contentious Camp David meeting among President George W. Bush and his National Security Council immediately after 9/11, where internal battle lines were drawn---and Shelton (along with Colin Powell) convinced President Bush to do the right thing.

* How Rumsfeld persuaded General Tommy Franks to bypass the Joint Chiefs, leading to a badly flawed Iraq war plan that failed to anticipate the devastating after-effects of the insurgency and civil war.
* Attempts to kill Usama bin Laden that were shot down by our State Department.
* CIA botched high-profile terrorist snatches, leaving Shelton’s Special Operations teams to clean up their mess.
* How Shelton “persuaded” Haiti’s dictator to flee the country.

* And much more.
Yet it's Shelton’s amazing personal story that puts his military career in perspective. It began with a fall from a ladder in his backyard, resulting in total paralysis from the neck down---and a risky experimental procedure, so dangerous that if it didn’t cure him, chances are it would kill him.

Revealing, compelling, and controversial, this is the story of a man whose integrity and ethics were always above reproach, and who dedicated his life to serving his country.


Many high-ranking military officials, top Republican leaders and key architects of the Iraq war said that the war was really about oil.  And yet the American people haven’t seen any benefit … top oil economists have said that the Iraq war substantially raised the price of oil.

The American government sold the Iraq war under false pretenses.

Indeed, the American government planned the Iraq war long before 9/11.  Former CIA director George Tenet said that the White House wanted to invade Iraq long before 9/11, and inserted “crap” in its justifications for invading Iraq.  Former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill – who sat on the National Security Council – also says that Bush planned the Iraq war before 9/11.  Top British officials say that the U.S. discussed Iraq regime change even before Bush took office. In 2000, Cheney said a Bush administration might “have to take military action to forcibly remove Saddam from power.” And see this and this. Indeed, neoconservatives planned regime change .

National security experts – including both hawks and doves – agree that waging war against Iraq and other Middle Eastern countries has weakened America’s national security and increased terrorism risks. See this, this, this, this, this, this, this and this.


Similarly, neoconservatives planned regime change .

And carrying out acts of violence and blaming it on the Syrian government as an excuse for regime change – i.e. false flag terror – was discussed over 50 years ago by British and American leaders.
And Western governments want regime change in Syria because of gas:
Syria is an integral part of the proposed 1,200km Arab Gas Pipeline:


Here are some additional graphics courtesy of Adam Curry:

A picture named arabGasPipeline.jpg

A picture named syria-turkey.jpg

A picture named levantprovince2.jpg
***
Syria’s central role in the Arab gas pipeline is … a key to why it is now being targeted.
Just as the Taliban was scheduled for removal after they demanded too much in return for the Unocal pipeline, Syria’s Assad is being targeted because he is not a reliable “player”.

Specifically, Turkey, Israel and their ally the U.S. want an assured flow of gas through Syria, and don’t want a Syrian regime which is not unquestionably loyal to those 3 countries to stand in the way of the pipeline … or which demands too big a cut of the profits.
A deal has also been inked to run a natural gas pipeline from Iran’s giant South Pars field through Iraq and Syria (with a possible extension to Lebanon).
And a deal to run petroleum from Iraq’s Kirkuk oil field to the Syrian port of Banias has also been approved:

Turkey and Israel would be cut out of these competing pipelines.
No wonder Turkey and Israel are both launching military strikes against Syria.
On the other hand, Russia’s giant natural gas industry would be threatened if Syria’s current regime is toppled … no wonder Israel and Russia are getting into it over Syria.

And the monarchies in Qatar and Saudi Arabia would also benefit as competitors in the gas market if Syria’s regime is taken out … so they’re backing the “rebels” as well.

And the U.S. is heavily backing backed Al Qaeda terrorists in Syria. (even the New York Times reports that virtually all of the rebel fighters are Al Qaeda terrorists.)

Indeed, the U.S. has been arming the Syrian opposition since 2006.

And the U.S. is now considering imposing a no-fly zone over Syria … which was also the opening move in the wars against Iraq and Libya.

Bush launched the Iraq war under false pretenses … similarly, the war in Syria is really being launched by Obama and natural gas players in the region who want to cut Syria and Russia out of the game.

Postscript: If the corporate media were reporting more accurately on Syria than they did on Iraq, the American people would realize that there is grave doubt about who is most responsible for the violence, and who really used chemical weapons in Syria.

Not that Assad is a saint, but he poses no danger to the United States, and shouldn’t be demonized and turned into a threat to American national security man any more than Saddam Hussein.

The Iraq war will end up with a final price tag of between $5-6 trillion dollars.  We simply can’t afford to get involved in another war … especially with Russia and Iran actively aligned against us.

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NBC Claimed Bush Allowed Al-Qaeda in Iraq Before War, Media Now Ignore Pre-War Presence

While it is currently conventional wisdom in the media that there was no Al-Qaeda presence in Iraq before the 2003 invasion, as evidenced by the media's failure to correct Barack Obama's recent claim that "there was no such thing as Al-Qaeda in Iraq until George Bush and John McCain decided to invade Iraq," for several years dating back before the Iraq invasion, there have been media reports of former Al-Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's connections to Osama bin Laden, and his use of Iraq as a base to plot terror attacks against other countries before the war. In fact, four years ago, the NBC Nightly News claimed not only that there was an Al-Qaeda presence in Iraq before the invasion, busy plotting attacks against Europe, but that the Bush administration intentionally "passed up several opportunities" to attack terrorist bases in Iraq "long before the war" in 2002 because of fear it would "undercut its case" for overthrowing Saddam Hussein. (Transcripts follow)

On the March 2, 2004 NBC Nightly News, Tom Brokaw introduced the report: "[Abu Musab al-Zarqawi] is widely believed to have ties to Al-Qaeda, and the Bush administration apparently passed up several opportunities to take him out well before the Iraq war began."

And on the January 27, 2003 NBC Nightly News, after revelations of a plot to attack targets in Europe with the poison ricin, which was believed to have been hatched by Zarqawi in Iraq, correspondent Jim Miklaszewski reported that "U.S. Special Forces had plans to launch a covert raid against the Kirmadara complex [in northern Iraq], but Pentagon officials say it was called off because the Bush administration feared it would interfere with upcoming UN weapon inspections."

Although some have tried to argue that Zarqawi did not declare allegiance to bin Laden's Al-Qaeda organization until after the Iraq invasion, as far back as April 4 and May 16, 2001, AP's Jamal Halaby reported that Jordanian authorities suspected Zarqawi, also known as Ahmad Fadeel Al-Khalayleh, of plotting attacks in Jordan, and relayed that Zarqawi was "believed to be in Afghanistan."

On November 9, 2002, a London Times article by Roger Boyes and Daniel McGrory, citing Hans-Josef Beth of the German secret service BND, claimed that Zarqawi "used London as his base until Osama bin Laden ordered him to move to Afghanistan in 2000 to run one of al-Qaeda's training camps."

On December 18, 2002, after the arrests of several terror suspects in France amid fears of a chemical weapon attack, Sebastian Rotella of the Los Angeles Times reported that "A top Al Qaeda suspect said to be commanding a campaign targeting Europe is Abu Musab Zarqawi, a Jordanian reputedly knowledgeable about chemical warfare, according to German and Italian intelligence officials."

On December 19, 2002, Knight Ridder's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson reported, citing Jordanian Prime Minister Ali Abu al Ragheb, that Zarqawi was behind the murder of American diplomat Lawrence Foley, and was believed to be "an ally of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden." Ragheb further contended that Zarqawi "was probably in northern Iraq working with Ansar al-Islam, a Kurdish Muslim extremist group." Jordanian officials were also cited as claiming that the men suspected of carrying out Foley's murder met Zarqawi "in Al-Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan."

Months before the Iraq invasion, on January 7, 2003, after revelations of a ricin terror plot targeting London was uncovered, NBC's Miklaszewski contended that U.S. officials "report that Islamic extremists tied to al-Qaeda had produced ricin in a terrorist lab at Kirma in the Kurdish-controlled area of northern Iraq."

On the February 9, 2004, World News Tonight on ABC, correspondent Brian Ross relayed reports that Zarqawi "fled the U.S. bombing of Al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan and moved on to Iran and then into Iraq," and, referring to the same ricin terror plot, further contended that "intelligence officials in Britain and France say Zarqawi also had a hand in a thwarted plan to use the chemical poison ricin, produced by his followers in northern Iraq."

On the April 26, 2004 Nightline, in light of the revelation of a bomb plot targeting Amman, Jordan, ABC's Chris Bury described Zarqawi as "a long-time associate of Osama bin Laden," and correspondent Michel Martin contended that Zarqawi "ran a camp for Jordanian recruits in Afghanistan."

On the September 26, 2004 edition of CBS's 60 Minutes, Ben Bradley, citing Jordanian terror expert Oraib al-Rantawi, contended that, following his release from a Jordanian prison in 1999, Zarqawi left the country and "went to Pakistan and Afghanistan where he trained with al-Qaeda and then set up his own training camp."

And on the May 1, 2007 The O'Reilly Factor on FNC, a clip of which was replayed on the February 28, 2008 show, former CIA director George Tenet argued that after Zarqawi left Afghanistan, "he shows up in Baghdad in May of 2002" and "creates a safe haven for Al-Qaeda" in northern Iraq with the terror group Ansar al-Islam.

All three of the February 27, 2008 broadcast evening newscasts reported on the exchange between John McCain and Barack Obama over Al-Qaeda's presence in Iraq, as McCain picked up on Obama's missatement from Tuesday's debate that seemed to assume Al-Qaeda was not currently in Iraq. McCain: "I have some news. Al-Qaeda is in Iraq. It's called 'Al-Qaeda in Iraq.'"

Each show then played a clip of Obama claiming that "there was no such thing as Al-Qaeda in Iraq until George Bush and John McCain decided to invade Iraq," but did not clarify that, while eventual Al-Qaeda in Iraq leader Zarqawi had not yet publicly coined that name for his terror group before the invasion, there has been plenty of reason to believe that Zarqawi not only was already in Iraq using it as a base of operations, but was already associated with bin Laden.

Below are transcripts of relevant portions of the Wednesday February 27, 2008 CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News, and ABC's World News with Charles Gibson, followed by the relevant March 2, 2004 story by Jim Miklaszewski from the NBC Nightly News:
From the February 27 CBS Evening News:
KATIE COURIC: And a line, by the way, from the debate had John McCain and Barack Obama trading barbs today. Last night, Obama repeated his pledge to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq, but said he'd send them back, quote, "if Al-Qaeda is forming a base in Iraq." Today, McCain jumped on that, and Obama answered right back.
JOHN MCCAIN: You know, I have news for Senator Obama. Al-Qaeda is in Iraq. And that's why we're fighting in Iraq, and that's why we're succeeding in Iraq.
BARACK OBAMA: I have some news for John McCain, and that is that there was no such thing as Al-Qaeda in Iraq until George Bush and John McCain decided to invade Iraq.
From the February 27 NBC Nightly News:
ANDREA MITCHELL: But the debate also had its pitfalls for Obama, answering a hypothetical question about whether he would send U.S. troops back into Iraq if Al-Qaeda re-emerged after a U.S. withdrawal.

OBAMA: And if Al-Qaeda is forming a base in Iraq, then we will have to act in a way that secures the American homeland and our interests abroad.

MITCHELL: John McCain pounced on that today.

JOHN McCAIN: I have some news. Al-Qaeda is in Iraq. It's called "Al-Qaeda in Iraq."
MITCHELL: And in a preview of what might be the fall match-up, Obama immediately responded.
OBAMA: But I have some news for John McCain. And that is that there was no such thing as Al-Qaeda in Iraq until George Bush and John McCain decided to invade Iraq.
MITCHELL: So did anyone win the debate?
HOWARD FINEMAN, Newsweek: Politically, it was a draw. And the draw goes to the champ. And at this point, ironically, the champ, the person wearing the belt and wearing the crown is Obama.
From the February 27 World News Tonight on ABC:
DAVID WRIGHT: Today in Columbus, Obama was brimming with confidence.
BARACK OBAMA: We had a terrific debate last night in Cleveland.
WRIGHT: But one of his debate answers drew fire today from the likely Republican nominee. The question was hypothetical. After President Obama withdraws all U.S. troops from Iraq, if Al-Qaeda resurges there, would he re-invade?
OBAMA: If Al-Qaeda is forming a base in Iraq, then we will have to act in a way that secures the American homeland and our interests abroad.
WRIGHT: Today McCain mocked Obama's answer.
JOHN MCCAIN: I have some news. Al-Qaeda is in Iraq. It's called "Al-Qaeda in Iraq."
OBAMA: Well, first of all, I do know that Al-Qaeda is in Iraq-
WRIGHT: Obama didn't hesitate to fire back.
OBAMA: -but I have some news for John McCain. And that is that there was no such thing as Al-Qaeda in Iraq until George Bush and John McCain decided to invade Iraq.

WRIGHT: A preview, perhaps, of the contest to come. But first, Obama has to get past Ohio and Texas.

From the March 2, 2004 NBC Nightly News:
TOM BROKAW: The spiritual leader of Iraq's Shiites, the Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, was among those blaming the United States for the attacks, saying American forces have not done enough to secure the borders. But the real suspect in the attacks is a well-known terrorist: Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. He is widely believed to have ties to al-Qaeda, and the Bush administration apparently passed up several opportunities to take him out well before the Iraq war began. More on all of this tonight from NBC's Jim Miklaszewski, who's at the Pentagon.
JIM MIKLASZEWSKI: With today's attacks, al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian militant with ties to al-Qaeda, is blamed for more than 700 terrorist killings in Iraq. But NBC News has learned that long before the war, the Bush administration had several chances to wipe out his terrorist group, Ansar al-Islam, perhaps kill Zarqawi himself, but never pulled the trigger. June 2002, U.S. government officials say intelligence revealed that Zarqawi and members of al-Qaeda had set up a weapons lab at Kirma in northern Iraq, producing deadly ricin and cyanide. The Pentagon quickly drafted plans to attack the camp and sent them to the White House, where, say government sources, the plans were debated to death.
MICHAEL O'HANLON, Brookings Institution: Here we had targets, we had opportunities, we had a country willing to support casualties or risk casualties after 9/11, and we still didn't do it.
MIKLASZEWSKI: Four months later, intelligence showed Zarqawi was planning to use ricin in terrorist attacks in Europe. The Pentagon drew up a second strike plan, and the White House again killed it. By then, the administration had set its course for war with Iraq.
ROGER CRESSEY, NBC Terrorism Analyst: People were more obsessed with developing the coalition to overthrow Saddam than to execute the President's policy on preemption against terrorists.
MIKLASZEWSKI: January 2003, the threat turned real. Police in London arrested six terror suspects and discovered a ricin lab connected to the camp in Iraq. The Pentagon drew up still another attack plan, and, for the third time, the National Security Council killed it. Military officials insist their case for attacking Zarqawi's operation was airtight. But the administration feared that destroying the terrorist camp inside Iraq could undercut its case for going to war against Saddam. The U.S. did attack the camp at Kirma at the beginning of the war, but it was too late. Zarqawi and many of his followers were gone.
CRESSEY: Here's a case where they waited. They waited too long, and now we're suffering as a result inside Iraq.
MIKLASZEWSKI: And despite the Bush administration's tough talk about hitting the terrorists before they strike, Zarqawi's killing streak continues today. Jim Miklaszewski, NBC News, the Pentagon.

Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/brad-wilmouth/2008/02/29/nbc-claimed-bush-allowed-al-qaeda-iraq-war-media-now-ignore-pre-war-p#ixzz2hxTCCbkT

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