. Germany was a super power compared with the other European countries while
Iraq is a third rate country compared with the USA.
. Every country knew that Germany was re-arming while, even in Rumsfeld words,
they did not know if it is the case with Iraq.
. Germany, through Hitler, said explicitly that they wanted to go to war with
the European countries. Iraq does not threaten to invade the US as far as
we know!
- On April 29, 2003, senator Edward Kennedy said that the Bush administration
was ready to restart the testing of nuclear weapons to develop a new generation
of bunker-busting bombs and tactical "mini-nukes". These weapons,
according to the White House, are necessary to confront threats from "rogue
states" or terrorist groups. This could trigger a new arm race. The US's
motto should be: "Do what we tell you to do, don't do what we do."
- British newspapers on May 9, 2003, told the recent business/military story
of Donald Rumsfeld. In 2000 he was a non-executive director of ABB, an engineering
giant firm that has its headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland. He sat on the
board of this firm from 1990 to 2001 and his salary was $190,000 a year. At
that time ABB sold component for two light water nuclear reactors to North
Korea. The $200m contract was for the design and the supply of key components
of the reactors. The reactor deal was part of president Clinton's policy aiming
to persuading North Korea to change western style. Of course, now Donald Duck
says that he did not know anything about this contract. Unfortunately for
him, the firm confirmed that all directors were informed before the contract
was signed!
- Dick Cheney, the present Republican Vice President is not better. The oil
industry giant Halliburton (Cheney is its former chairman), admitted that
one of its subsidiaries had paid bribes worth about $2.4m to a Nigerian official
in return for tax breaks. The US Securities and Exchange Commission has been
informed making it official and several employees had been fired. The firm
could face a tax bill of $5m in Nigeria.
- Richard Perle, an influential Pentagon adviser, was accused of yet another
conflict of interest. According to this, he has briefed investors on how to
profit from a potential war with Iraq or North Korea after attending a classified
intelligence meeting on these two countries.
- The Europeans are not alone anymore in thinking that something is wrong
with the Bush administration and with the President himself. When the Mexican
President, Vincente Fox, invited President Bush to watch together the football
match between their two countries, he was told that at that time in the night
President Bush would be sleeping! The popularity of President Bush remains
very high but this hides the dissension, controversies, and scandals of an
administration known more for its shortcomings that for his success. Even
the people who helped elect him are worried about their "Man in Washington"
for many reasons:
. It is now clear that the administration had been told of a possible terrorist
attack on or around September 11, 2001, and nothing was done about it.
. The tension between Collin Powell, the Secretary of States, and the White
House is visible and known to everybody.
. The foreseen war in Iraq divides the administration. The civilian appointees
at the Pentagon and the National Security Agency favour a limited plan using
Special Forces on the Afghan model; the military leaders' plan involves the
invasion of Iraq by up to 200,000 troops.
- Domestic policy has been neglected by the Bush administration. The war
in Afghanistan has been used as a smokescreen to hide its shortcoming. But
how long will it last? Social security benefits have been reduced and the
savings have been used to compensate the tax cuts given to the already rich,
the big drugs companies have received favours seen to be penalising the US
pensioners as well as the third world, the new policies on children are worse
that before (Bush froze the money for the "Head Start" programme
for children in poor districts as well as all the funding for child care).
In addition, companies that funded Bush's election campaign seem to be running
his white House (for instance the national energy plan has been written by
the US oil companies),
- On July 9, 2003, in the USA, a former US Intelligence Official, Gregory
Thielmann, who served in the Bush's administration until the end of 2002,
accused the White House of lying about the threat posed by Saddam Hussein.
He said that on March 2003 "Iraq posed no imminent threat to either its
neighbours or the US". He added that the administration had a faith-based
intelligence attitude "We know the answers, give us the intelligence
to support those answers".
- On July 9, 2003, the US panel investigating the September 11, 2001, terrorist
attack accused the Pentagon and the Justice Department of obstructing the
inquiry and intimidating witnesses. Intelligence officials called to testify
are always accompanied by a "minder" from their agency. The USA
said it was wrong for the Iraqis to do it with their scientists interrogated
by the UN inspectors. But of course, these rules, like many others, apply
only to foreigners. The USA is above that, and does what it wants.
- On July 15, 2003, the Bush administration had to admit that the US federal
budget deficit will be 50% higher than forecast ($455 against an estimate
of $304bn) because the cost of the Iraq war is increasing (about $3.9bn a
month).
- On July 17, 2003, we have been told a little how the US intelligence services
worked -or better did not work. The CIA and FBI were not able to foresee the
September 11, 2001, disaster and the intelligence used to justify the war
in Iraq was fabricated. The right wing people in the Pentagon (Rumsfeld, Paul
Wolfowitz, but also vice president Cheney and the ex-republican senator, Newt
Gingrich) created a shadow agency (Office of Special Plans or OSP) staffed
by ideological amateurs, to second-guess CIA information. They also took as
good doubtful information supplied by exiled Iraqis. It worked like a shadow
government with the most important officials not on the government payroll
to make them out of touch of any congressional controls. They collected all
the data available, and chose what they liked. This is how the war was justified
by a corrupt right wing administration that could not care about the Iraqi
people, but only the interests of the USA.
- On August 22, 2003, the Bush administration allowed 17,000 of its outdated
power stations, oil refineries, and industries to increase carbon pollution.
The US is already responsible for 25% of the world carbon emission, 10% more
that the whole of Western Europe put together. They are a big power, yes;
but also a polluter and a country that does not care for the health of its
people but also of the others who do their best. They are comparable to these
smokers who infect non-smokers.
- In an editorial on September 11, 2003, The Guardian says that the fall out
of the attacks on the USA are still spreading all over the world. The Bush
administration handled the consequences in a very bad way:
-
. Two third of the New Yorkers feel less secure than a year ago.
. The confidence of the Americans in the way Bush is managing his "war
on Terror" is decreasing while in Europe it is zero.
. Al-Qaida seems stronger that before and bin Laden is still alive.
. The Taliban are coming back.
. The wars in Afghanistan and in Iraq were mishandled.
. The war between Israel and the Palestinians is not ready to be solved.
. Muslims in Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, North Africa, even Britain, are more
and more convinced of America's hostility.
. There is now a terrorist threat in Iraq where it did not exist before.
. Bush lied about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction as well as about a link
between the September 11, 2001, attack and Iraq, etc.
- As a result the clash between civilisations is more real now that two years
ago. In the USA, trust in him is eroded, and elsewhere like in Europe and
the Arab world, it is inexistent. Bush has broken alliances, killed people
uselessly and created permanent damage; he ignored ad neglected urgent problems
like fair trade, poverty reduction and the environment; the war on terror
seems to justify everything, good and wrong, that America always wanted to
do, or does not want. The present America is failing the American people and
its allies. America needs a change.
- On October 7, 2003, it became known that the Pentagon has been selling surplus
laboratory equipment that could be used to make chemical and biological weapons.
Among other things, centrifuges, evaporators, bacteriological incubators,
and protective suits were sold to foreign countries such as Egypt and Philippine
where there are some terrorist organisations.
- The US Congress voted an extra budget of $87bn on November 2, 2003, to cover
the extra cost of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.
- On November 2, 2003, senator Hilary Clinton said that the present administration
was not prepared for the war in Iraq, and even less for the post-war.
- On December 2, 2003, the US decided to pay the full price of the journey
home of their soldiers on leave from Iraq and Afghanistan. Now they were brought
to Baltimore, Dallas, Atlanta, or in two airports in Germany. They had to
pay for the remaining part of the journey.
- On December 10, 2003, we were told that the US government is paying Halliburton
Co. $2.64 a gallon to import gasoline from Kuwait to Iraq and $1.24 from Turkey.
The Pentagon's Defence Energy Support Centre and the Iraqi State Oil Company
paid less that half for the same services. The fuel is sold at $.05 to $.15
a gallon in Iraq. This surprises anybody? Finally, on December 11, the Pentagon
woke up to the fact that a Halliburton's subsidiary was cheating, and that
it had overcharged as much as $61m until now. The same subsidiary, Kellogg,
Brown and Roots, submitted a proposal for cafeteria services that inflated
the cost by $67m! But this was really too much even for the Pentagon and the
proposal was rejected.
- The gasoline was bought from Kuwait instead of Turkey where it would have
been cheaper. Halliburton denied overcharging saying that delivering goods
in a combat zone is costly by nature. Halliburton subcontracted the gasoline
delivery to a Kuwaiti firm, and only received the agreed $.26 a gallon. The
breakdown of the cost is as follow:
-
. fuel $1.27
. transport $1.21
. Halliburton's fee $0.27
- Halliburton has received contracts fore more than $2.2bn for work in Iraq:
$10.7m for training and advice with oil spill; $1.5m for design work; $768.3m
for damage assessment, fire fighting and repairs: $46.3m for base camp facilities
and support; $887m for fuel distribution to Iraqis ($725m from Iraqi oil sale,
$90m from seized Iraqi assets, $72m from the US government); $222m for restoration
of infrastructure; $325m for fuel distribution to Iraqis (where no indicated
otherwise, the money comes from the US government).
- On December 21, 2003, Homeland Security Secretary, Tom Ridge, raised the
level of security in the USA to "Orange", the 2d highest level (after
"red"). He said that, on the base of the intelligence information
to his disposal, he feared that a terrorist attack could take place in the
US, or on US interests abroad that could surpass the devastation on September
11, 2001. However, he advised the Americans to behave as usual, but to be
more vigilant! The question is: do we believe him this time, as his past record
in forecasting terrorist attacks is poor?
- On December 22, the USA said that Baghdad was at risk of attacks over the
Christmas season!! This was followed on December 23 by Bahrain, Turkey, Kenya,
Yemen and Britain, ... What about Luxembourg?
- On December 22, 2003, the US media recalled a trip to Baghdad by Donald
Rumsfeld. He went there to convince Iraqi officials that the USA wanted to
improve its ties with president Saddam Hussein despite the use of chemical
weapons. Rumsfeld was running a pharmaceutical firm at that time. He was sent
to Baghdad by the then US State Secretary, George Shultz. He told the Iraqis
that a recent US move to condemn Iraq's use of chemical weapons was political,
and that America's priority was to prevent an Iranian victory in the Iran-Iraq
war. Who provided the poison gas?
- On December 29, 2003, the Bush administration told the foreign airlines
that they had to provide "air marshals" in their planes flying to,
from, and above the USA. This applies to passengers and Cargo planes. The
pilots are unhappy about having guns on their planes. The British pilots said
that they reserve their right to refuse to fly in these conditions.
- On January 6, 2004, in contradiction with the Pentagon auditors, Army officials
said that Halliburton charged a fair price for the fuel delivered to Iraq
from Kuwait. Somebody looking for a job?
- On January 9, 2004, the Homeland Security Secretary, Tom Ridge, lowered
the level of security alert from orange to yellow, which is from high to elevated.
However some sensitive sectors like airports and nuclear reactors as well
as a few cities like New York, Washington DC and Los Angeles will stay on
higher alert. The five levels of alert are from the lowest to the highest:
Green, Low Condition, Low risk of terrorist attacks; Blue, Guarded Condition,
General risk; Yellow, Elevated Condition Significant risk; Orange, High Condition,
High risk; Red, Severe Condition, Severe risk.
- On January 10, 2004, former US Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill said that
the Bush administration started to build the groundwork for the invasion of
Iraq days after Bush took office in January 2001, long before the September
11 events that was used as a justification for the invasion. On January 12,
President Bush denied O'Neill's affirmations.
- On January 12, 2004, the Bush administration said that President Bush intended
to let Canada, France and Germany participate in the bidding on reconstruction
contracts in Iraq. On January 13, after meeting the new Canadian prime minister,
Paul Martin, he only allowed Canada in the bidding.
- On January 27, 2004, we were told that 9 of the 19 September 11, 2001 highjackers
were identified as security risk by the US authorities before they took over
the four planes. Nothing was done about them and they were allowed to enter
the USA.
- On February 3, 2004, the American independent commission on the September
11, 2001, terror attacks has again said that the Bush administration is very
unhelpful and is hampering and sabotaging their work. However the commission
has already revealed some chilling results such as the missed opportunities
to arrest some of the highjack before the attacks and the breakdown of communication
between the intelligence services.
- On February 4, 2004, criminal investigators, the financial regulator, and
the Security and Exchange Commission have opened an inquiry into allegations
that Halliburton is involved in a $180m bribe paid to Nigerian officials in
the late 1990s when Vice President Dick Cheney was its head.
- On February 5, 2004, the CIA director, George Tenet, said that his analysts
never said that the threat from Iraq was imminent. Like many other US officials
Tenet was in fact admitting that pre-war claims about Saddam Hussein's weapons
of mass destruction was false or misinterpreted. However he added that the
US administration did not try to manipulate the intelligence reports to make
them more alarmist.
- On February 23, 2004, a book published in the USA "Rumsfeld's War"
by Rowan Scarborough, reveal that Bush had already decided to invade Iraq
in 2002 when he signed a formal order to this effect in February 16 of that
year. All the talk until March 2003 about having made no decision to go to
war in Iraq was only pure lies.
- On February 26, 2004, the Pentagon has ordered an urgent inquiry into reports
that more than 100 American women deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan have been
raped or sexually assaulted in the last 18 months by American soldiers.
- On February 26, 2004, Richard Perle, the Pentagon adviser and advocate for
the invasion of Iraq, resigned after 17 years on the Defence Policy Board.
His business activities are under investigation. He is suspected to have received
$3m in undeclared bonuses from the investment firm Hollinger International.
Hollinger and Boeing are also thought to have invested in his firm, Trireme
($20m by Boeing). He is also a strong supporter of Ahmad Chalabi, the Iraqi
exile who is responsible for giving false intelligence on Iraq before the
Iraqi war.
- On March 24, 2004, the American public inquiry on the September 11, 2001,
attacks heard the testimonies of the former counter-terrorism adviser, Richard
Clarke, and the CIA director, George Tenet. Mr Clarke confirmed what he said
before and what appears in his book, that is the George W Bush White House
did not take seriously the al-Qaida threat until September 11, 2001. He went
as far as saying: "Your government failed you, those entrusted with protecting
you failed you, and I failed you." On March 24, Mrs Condoleezza Rice
was explicitly accused by Mr Clarke of not being competent for her job as
national security adviser.
- The CIA director defended the Bush administration saying that it was doing
what had to be done to track al-Qaida and all the terrorists. Another report
said that many CIA personnel were unhappy with the Bush administration response
to thread of terrorist attacks, and frustration about the lack of policy making
on the subject during the summer of 2001.
- On April 1, 2004, Cofer Black, the White House's anti-terrorism adviser,
said that al-Qaida is under stress, that it is feeling the heat, and the Bush
administration is successful in its fight against terrorism. According to
him al-Qaida has so been badly wounded that it must use other terrorist groups
to do any bombing. This is not easy to believe seen all the recent terrorist
actions attributed to al-Qaida by the US.
- On April 2, 2004, the Bush administration refused to release thousands of
documents related to the Clinton administration's counter-terrorism measures.
In fact the White House is accused of holding back 75% of the documents that
could be useful in the enquiries the September 11, 2001, public commission.
- The father of a young woman soldier of the National Guard, Michelle Witmers,
killed in Baghdad on April 9 asked the Pentagon on April 12, 2004, no to send
back his two other soldier daughters to Iraq. She should have come home before
but her stay there had been extended. On April 13, the US government could
not do anything but agreed not to send back to Iraq the two young women.
- The future of the FBI could be put into question when the commission inquiring
on the September 11, 2001, attacks interrogates its top directors. There will
be nasty questions like why the Attorney General, John Ashcroff, cut $58m
from the FBI's counter-terrorism budget on September 10, 2001, and why he
did not give this department top priority after he took office at the beginning
of 2001.
- On April 21, 2004, The Guardian told us that new US-imposed security measures
at airports could oblige passengers bound for the USA to arrive at the airport
five hours before their plane is due to leave.
- On April 23, 2004, the Pentagon tried to ban the release of photographs
of the coffins of American soldiers killed in Iraq. Hundred such pictures
was released on some websites and used on some newspapers. The Pentagon said
that printing these pictures in newspapers is undignified. Most certainly,
in this election year, they do not want their people to see that many of their
countrymen died in Iraq.
- Joseph Wilson the former ambassador who questioned the Bush's justification
for the war in Iraq published a book, The Politics of Truth, on April 30,
2004. He accuses vice-president Dick Cheney's office of a smear campaign against
him and his wife. Wilson, who served in Africa and Iraq, said that the White
House's insistence that Iraq had a nuclear weapons programmes to justify invading
Iraq, was the result of "twisted" intelligence. Soon after, administration
officials leaked his wife's name to the public. Mrs Wilson (Valerie Plame)
was an undercover CIA official tracking the international trade in weapons
of mass destruction. Revealing her name is a serious crime under American
law. Mr Wilson does not accuse anybody for revealing his wife's activities
by name, but his suspicions are towards Mr Dick Cheney and his close advisers.
- On May 3, 2004, 53 US former diplomats are accusing the White House of "loosing
America's credibility" in the Arab world because of President Bush's
total support of Israel's Prime Minister Sharon. This strong attack comes
at a very bad moment for Bush as Sharon's plan to leave the Gaza Strip but
keep its settlements in the West Bank, had been rejected by the Likud party
members, the members of Sharon's own party.
- On June 3, 2004, George Tenet, the head of the CIA since 1997 (he was nominated
by president Clinton) resigned for "personal reasons", but very
few people believe it. The CIA and its director have been strongly criticised
for not knowing in advance that New York City and Washington DC would be attacked
by al-Qaida on September 11, 2004 and for saying that Iraq had weapons of
mass destruction, chemical, biological and even nuclear.
- On June 4, 2004, the day after George Tenet, the CIA director, resigned,
the director of Operations, the man responsible for the US spy network abroad,
James Pavitt, also retired from the CIA. It becomes more evident that both
men were asked to leave to allow George Bush to reorganise his information
services that made many errors in the recent past.
- On June 15, 2004, the September 11, 2001, commission said that al-Qaida's
initial plans foresaw that the attacks should have taken place about six months
before. The date was postponed at the request of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (now
in US custody), because he thought that the ringleader, Mohammed Atta was
not ready. Osama bin Laden accepted his recommendation.
- On June 16, 2004, the US commission investigating the September 11, 2001,
attacks said that they did not found any evidence linking Saddam Hussein's
Iraq to al-Qaida. They also reported that in their views Khalid Sheikh Mohamed,
a Kuwaiti al-Qaida senior member now in US custody, masterminded the attacks.
Khalid told his captors that initially they planned to highjack ten planes
but they had to scale the plan to four planes because many possible pilots
could not get a visa to enter the USA.
- Most people and all other intelligence services in the world, knew for a
long time that Iraq and al-Qaida were not working together if only for ideological
and religious differences. Only President Bush and Vice President Cheney are
still going on repeating that they were linked. They are lying, of course,
as they do on more or less about everything else and not only about Iraq and
Afghanistan. If you heard them saying that the day will be sunny and nice,
take your umbrella!
- On June 17, 2004, the US Congress commission investigating what happened
on September 11, 2001, described the reaction to the attacks as "complete
chaos", especially in the first crucial moment. The air defence system
did not react, fighter jets were told to intercept the highjacked planes after
they had hit their targets, the vice president Dick Cheney was told that two
highjacked planes had been shot down, the air space defence known as Norad
was not informed although they could listen to al the conversations between
the terrorists.
- On June 18, 2004, a senior US intelligence official will soon publish a
book condemning America's counter terrorism policy. In it he will say that
the west is loosing the war against al-Qaida and that the war in Iraq has
reinforced Osana bin Laden. The author, who was only authorised to publish
his book anonymously and without revealing the name of the agency for which
he works, argues that al-Qaida and bin Laden are not on the run, and that
the invasion of Iraq has not made the USA safer. According to him, al-Qaida
is now a stronger and better-organised group that it was in 2001, and that
one-day or the other it will acquire weapons of mass destruction. He describes
the invasion of Iraq as "premeditated and unprovoked" as Iraq was
not an immediate threat to any country, especially the USA; the real justification
was a possible economic advantage due to the Iraq's oil reserves.
- On July 6, 2004, the US Senate select committee revealed that the CIA did
not fully inform President Bush about Iraq's destruction of its weapons of
mass destruction. The CIA went on saying the opposite in public.
- On July 9, 2004, the US Senate Intelligence Committee published his report
on the September 11, 2001, attacks. The main claim used to justify the invasion
of Iraq, that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction biological, chemical
and nuclear, was "fundamentally" wrong", and the result of
"global intelligence failure". The report, draw by a committee where
the Republicans had the majority, absolves Bush and his administration from
any blame, adding that they did not pressure the CIA analysts to exaggerate
evidences but the Democrats Senators disagreed.
The main conclusions are:
. The intelligence community failed in its duties and this extended to the
allies and the UN.
. There were not enough spies on the ground in Iraq and the intelligence from
defectors was wrong.
. The US used bad information to justify war.
. The Democrat Senators said that they would not have supported the war if
they had known of these failures.
. The former CIA director, George Tenet gave wrong advices to top policy makers.
. The report criticised the British intelligence for their belief that Saddam
Hussein had tried to buy uranium from Niger.
- On July 12, 2004, the American authorities believe that a devastating terrorist
attack could hit the country soon disturbing the November presidential elections
that could be postponed for the first time.
- On July 13, 2004, the Bush administration let the loggers destroy the forests
reversing a Clinton's decision to ban the construction of roads in federally
owned woodland.
- About one-fifth of the 511-page report released on July 9 by the Senate
committee investigating September 11, 2001, has not been made public, despite
objections from both Republican and Democratic senators.
- On July 23, 2004, executives of Halliburton have appeared before Congress
for the first time to defend their record in Iraq. The company's handling
of more than $8 billion in Pentagon contracts has been dogged by allegations
of waste and overcharging.
- On August 1, 2004, the USA raised the terror alert level to orange in the
financial sectors in New York City, Washington and Newark. Homeland Security
Secretary Tom Ridge said the information points to five potential targets:
the International Monetary Fund and World Bank headquarters in Washington;
the New York Stock Exchange and Citigroup Centre in New York; and the Prudential
Financial building in Newark. The heightened alert, announced by Ridge include
a level of detail unprecedented in previous warnings. It is the first time
that Homeland Security officials have focused the government's colour-coded
threat system on specific geographic areas.
- The Homeland Security Department has been accused of "crying wolf"
too often without reason in the past and its credibility is poor. Britain
is said to be on the "hit list" found in Pakistan, but the government
did not take any spectacular decision like in the USA. However, it increased
the security measures around the possible targets.
- Following is a sample of the alerts that did not materialise in any attacks:
-
. October 29, 2001, the FBI launch an alert based, as Mr Ridge said, on credible,
though not specific information from multiple sources; it is believed that
the US could be attacked within two weeks.
. December 3, 2001, a general alert is launched by Mr ridge based on intelligence
involving threats of unspecified terrorist attacks.
. September 10, 2002, the level of alert is raised to "Orange",
the second highest, the day before the first anniversary of the attacks on
New York and Washington. The level goes down to "Yellow" on September
24.
. February 7, 2003, the level of alert goes back to "Orange" after
new menaces of attacks on US interests, in the USA or abroad. The level goes
down to "Yellow" on February 20.
. March 17, 2003, the level of alert goes up again to "Orange" because
of fear of multiple attacks. It is reverted to "yellow" on April
18.
. May 20, 2003, the alert level is raised once more to "Orange"
by fear of more al-Qaida attacks.
. December 21, 2003, we are back at the "Orange" level again because
of fear that large gathering of people are in danger of attack. It went down
to "Yellow" three weeks later.
. August 1, 2004, the US Homeland Security Department raised the alert level
to "Orange" on the base of "credible" threats against
financial institutions in the USA and Britain. This applies only to well defined
buildings.
- It is difficult to believe the US Homeland Security Department; it no choice
but to be careful -for what it means. Let us hope that it is not al-Qaida's
way of frightening the American people, at low cost to al-Qaida, and at high
cost to the USA!
- On August 4, 2004, the US Coast Guard said that it will send inspectors
to about one hundred ports around the world to monitor their anti-terror measures
and to secure America.
- On August 8, 2004, it emerged that Gordon Brown's photo (Brown is the British
Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Finances minister) was found in the computer
of the two men arrested in Pakistan a few days ago. There were also plans
to use helicopters, speedboats, and limousines to attack sensitive buildings
in the USA. The main author of the surveillance work is believed to be Eisam
al-Hindi, one of the 13 men arrested in Britain last week and Babar Ahmad
also arrested in Britain before.
- Killing or capturing Osama bin Laden will not eliminate the threat to US
from terrorism, as the challenge lies in groups emerging out of his Al-Qaida
terror network, a former counter-terrorism expert of the CIA, Paul R Pillar,
said on August 18, 2004.
- On August 18, 2004, US Secretary of State Colin Powell claimed that the
US-led military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan have enhanced stability
and spread democracy worldwide. "Fifty-five million people in Afghanistan
and Iraq have been liberated and are now looking to the future with hope,"
Powell told the annual national conference of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.
Do we have to believe him knowing what we know, now?
- On September 6, 2004, Senator Bob Graham, a former Senate Intelligence Committee
chairman, said that General Frank, who ran the war in Afghanistan and Iraq,
told him more than a year before that his resources were being shifted in
preparation for taking on Saddam Hussein.
- General Tommy Franks also told him that fighting terrorism in Somalia, Yemen
and elsewhere should take priority over invading Iraq, that he thought the
United States knew less about the situation in Iraq than did some European
governments, and that the Bush administration should ask their advice.
- On September 7, 2004, the US army plans to end a contract given to Halliburton
to provide its troops in Iraq with logistical support. The army will put the
work out to contract to be worth $13bn. Halliburton has been accused of overcharging
since it was handed the no-bid contract last year.
- In September 2004 the Bush administration goes on linking the Iraq conflict
to the war on terrorism. The September 11 Commission, however, concluded that
Iraq and al-Qaida did not have a "collaborative relationship" before
the 2001 attacks. Some members have doubts about how many foreign terror groups
are involved in the anti-US insurgency in Iraq.
- On September 14, 2004, the Bush administration changed its priorities for
Iraq's reconstruction. It intends to use $3.46 billion of the $18.4 billion
Congress approved for reconstruction for security, economic development and
oil industry improvements. The funds would come primarily from the water,
sewage and electricity programs. The shift partly reflects a volatile situation
in Iraq.
- On September 24, 2004, a senior State Department Official, Deputy Secretary
of State Richard Armitage, told Congress that the Bush administration underestimated
the difficulties of post-war Iraq. Despite the problems he said that elections
should go ahead in January. President Bush and visiting Iraqi Prime Minister
Iyad Allawi said they expect the election to go ahead on schedule in January,
despite the recent upsurge in violence.
- On October 3, 2004, the Bush administration is pressing wealthy countries
to come up with money to help fill the gap created by its decision to divert
$3.5 billion in reconstruction funds into security and job creation. A meeting
of international donors is scheduled for Tokyo on October 13-14 to try to
improve the disappointing level of money raised in Europe and the Arab world
to rebuild Iraq.
- On October 5, 2004, Paul Bremer, former head of the US occupation forces
in Iraq, said "we never had enough troops on the ground." He said
that when he arrived in Iraq in May 2003 he found "horrid" looting
and a very unstable situation in the country. "We paid a big price for
not stopping it because it established an atmosphere of lawlessness,"
Bremer added. His comments were in sharp contrast with the statements repeatedly
made by the White House and Pentagon that there were enough US ground forces
in Iraq. But Bremer defended the US invasion of Iraq by saying that he was
"more convinced than ever that regime change was the right thing to do."
He is optimistic about the future in Iraq."
- On November 9, 2004, US Attorney General, John Ashcroft, a right wing conservative,
resigned from the Bush cabinet. He had always been criticised for his intolerance
towards the so-called terrorists and for his suppression of civil liberties
(see the Patriot Act). Commerce Secretary Don Evans, Bush's friends, also
resigned saying he want to return home.
- On November 10, 2004, the threat level concerning some financial buildings
in Washington DC, Newark, NJ and New York City, was lowered from orange to
yellow by the Homeland Security Department. Again no reasons were given.
- On November 10, 2004, President Bush nominated the White House Counsel,
Alberto Gonzales, as his candidate to become Attorney General in replacement
of John Ashcroft.
- On November 15, 2004, US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, resigned from
the Bush cabinet. The next day, President Bush nominated National Security
Adviser Condoleezza Rice to replace him. The Senate must approve her nomination,
probably in January 2005. Colin Powell was well accepted outside the USA but
President preferred to follow the advices of Donald Rumsfeld and Vice President
Cheney, both more right-wingers. Now with Ms Rice, the State Department will
follow more closely Bush's orders as she is close to him on a personal basis
but also very rightwing. Until now six cabinet members have resigned. Beside
Powell they are Education Secretary Rod Paige; Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman;
Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham; General Attorney John Ashcroft and Commerce
Secretary Donald Evans.
- On November 23, 2004, US Defence Secretary denied that he lobbied against
the proposed legislation -supported by the White House- that would reform
the US intelligence services. Rumsfelt added that he support President Bush's
position on the bill. The project is stuck in the House of Representatives
as many members, mainly Republicans, disagree with it.
- On November 23, 2004, the CIA said that more countries that initially thought
were doing preliminary work towards the construction of nuclear weapons. Moreover
these countries may be ready to sell their technologies and expertise.
- On November 26, 2004, we were told that more that one third of the US government
properties that Halliburton was paid to manage couldn't be found anymore.
This comes after it is believed that Halliburton overcharged the US government
for the fuel they delivered to the military.
- On December 8, 2004, US State Secretary, Colin Powell in his last visit
to NATO, tried to improve the relations between the USA and its European allies
who refused to support the war in Iraq. He asked NATO to send more police
instructors to Iraq. Nato agreed to increase their number from 60 to 300 but
France, Germany, Spain, Greece, Belgium and Luxemburg will not participate.
- On December 10, 2004, we were told that Halliburton has received contracts
for over $10bn for services to the US Army in Iraq. Helping elect Bush and
Cheney was good business for this firm
- On December 10, 2004, the US Army ordered better protected Humvees following
the national uproar sparked by a soldier complaint that they were not protected,
as they should be in a press conference with Donald Rumsfeld in Kuwait. The
main supplier will now deliver 550 Humvees a month instead of 450.
- On December 13, 2004, the Republican US Senator John McCain said that he
had "no confidence" in the US Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld,
due to the way he handled the war in Iraq until now and his failure to send
more troops. However he was not calling for his resignation. He Believe that
80,000 more troops and 20 to 30,000 more Marines are necessary to secure Iraq.
- On December 17, 2004, many Republican leaders, including former Majority
Leader Trent Lott from Mississippi, are asking for the removal of Donald Rumsfeld
the US Defence Secretary. They accuse him of not sending enough troops in
Iraq and for not protecting properly those soldiers sent there. Lott join
Senators John McCain and Chuck Hagel to criticise Donald, the lame Duck by
now. Only Bush believes that his Defence Secretary is doing a "fine job."
This is a sure sign that Donald is "no good."
- On December 19, 2004, The US Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, was in
trouble following the revelation that he was not personally signing the letters
sent to the families of the US soldiers killed in Iraq. He had too much work,
he said, and a computer automatically printed the signature. He finally decided
to sign these letters by hand in the future.
- On January 13, 2005, the US authorities turned back a BA flight to New York
with 239 passengers half way across the ocean because they had security doubts
about one passenger. Back in London the man was interrogated by the British
police and released without charge.
- On February 1, 2005, the Bush administration proposed to increase the death
benefits paid to the families of the US soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
These payments would be backdated to October 2001 when the war in Afghanistan
started. The lump sum death gratuity would be increased from $12,420 to $100,000
and the life insurance payment for death in both countries would go from $250,000
to $500,000. Death outside Iraq and Afghanistan would not change, and the
service members killed during the September 11, 2001, attacks would still
receive the current amount of benefits. The British government will be asked
to increase the amount paid to their own soldiers.
- Speaking in London following meetings with Tony Blair and Jack Straw, on
her first overseas trip as US secretary of state on February 4, 2005, Condoleezza
Rice has insisted that attacking Iran is not on the US agenda "at this
point in time". She said the US would use diplomacy to deal with Iran's
nuclear programme. But she attacked its human rights record and claimed it
was harming prospects for peace in the Middle East by supporting terrorism.
- Donald Rumsfeld, the US defence secretary, revealed on February 4, 2005,
that he twice offered to resign over the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal.
President George W Bush refused.
- On February 4, 2005, new US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has called
on Europe to show "unity of purpose" with Washington in opposing
Iran's nuclear programme. "Diplomacy can work" in resolving tensions
over Tehran's nuclear ambitions, she said after talks with German Chancellor
Gerhard Schroeder, but "Iran had to show it was prepared to live up to
its obligations".
- The Marine Corps general, Lt. Gen. James Mattis, was told to watch his words
after comments about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The officer said, "It's
fun to shoot some people," and poked fun at the manhood of the Afghans.
Rumsfeld said that the matter is closed."
- On February 16, 2005, US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said that Syria's
behaviour is "harmful" to US efforts to stabilize Iraq and establish
democracy. "They're holding Iraqi assets, and refuse to release them.
They have harboured Baathists in their country. They are occupying Lebanon.
He added, "during the US invasion of Iraq, Syria allowed busloads of
jihadists into Iraq to try to defeat US forces.
- The US Army has fallen behind its recruiting goals, officials said on Thursday
March 3, 2005. The violence of the war in Iraq that has now claimed more than
1,500 American lives is partially responsible. The active-duty US Army missed
its recruiting target for February by 27.5 percent, and had slipped about
6 percent behind its year-to-date goal for fiscal 2005.
- On March 11, 2005, the Senate Armed Services Committee hears testimony from
Navy Vice Adm. Albert Church, whose Pentagon report on treatment of detainees
in US custody did not find any senior-level responsibility for abuses. The
report covered facilities in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. You
believe it?
- The chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee said on March 11, 2005,
that the probe into whether the Bush administration manipulated pre-war intelligence
on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction is over. Senator Pat Roberts (R-KS)
says since the panel earlier found intelligence to be flawed, there's no need
to continue the probe. But other officials say the issue isn't dead yet. Just
buried!
- The House on Wednesday March 16, 2005, approved an $81.4 billion emergency-spending
package for combat and reconstruction in Iraq and Afghanistan, which would
push the total cost of the wars beyond $300 billion. By a 388-43 vote, the
House gave President Bush most of the money he had requested, with strong
support from both Republicans and Democrats. The Senate will consider its
version in April.
- US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has called on North Korea on March
19, 2005, to return immediately to talks aimed at halting its nuclear weapons
programme. North Korea, which says it possesses nuclear arms, withdrew from
six-party negotiations last month.
- US intelligence on Iraq was "dead wrong," dealing a blow to American
credibility that will take years to undo. Moreover, the same services still
know little about nuclear programmes in countries like Iran and North Korea,
a presidential commission reported on March 30, 2005. The presidential commission
called for a broad overhaul in the spy community to increase information-sharing
and foster dissenting views.
- On April 11, 2005, we were told US oil services giant Halliburton Co. may
have overcharged by at least $212 million to get fuel to Iraqi civilians under
a no-bid deal with the US military. In one case, the overcharges exceeded
47 percent of the total value of one work order.
- The US Senate on Wednesday April 20, 2005, agreed to spend $592 million
for a new embassy in Iraq, setting up a showdown with the House of Representatives
over the cost of the project. Last month the House passed its version of the
bill. But it removed money for the Baghdad compound that would be the largest
US Embassy in world.
- US civilian authorities in Iraq have been unable to account properly for
nearly $100m earmarked for rebuilding, US financial auditors said on May 4,
2005. Two audits found signs of potential fraud regarding the money, which
includes oil revenue and assets seized from Saddam Hussein's government. A
third questioned the use of almost $18bn in US taxpayers' money for reconstruction
projects in Iraq.
- The Senate Armed Services Committee recommended on May 13, 2005, that an
additional $50 billion be set aside to fund US military operations in Iraq,
Afghanistan and the US-declared global war on terrorism. The proposed additional
budget for fiscal 2006 would push the cost of the 2003 US-led invasion of
Iraq and its aftermath toward $250 billion. Before the invasion, then-White
House economic advisor Lawrence Lindsey said a conflict with Iraq could cost
$100 billion to $200 billion. He was derided by administration colleagues
and lost his job in December 2002.
- The recommendation for fresh emergency spending was sent to the full Senate
as part of a bill that also would authorize $441.6 billion in regular defence
spending in fiscal 2006, a 3.1 percent real increase over the sum authorized
by Congress last year. Three days ago, Congress gave final approval for an
$82 billion emergency war-spending bill, of which about $76 billion would
go to fighting the war. Pentagon officials have said more money would be needed
as early as October.
- On June 15, 2005, US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has acknowledged
that security in Iraq has not improved since Saddam Hussein's fall in 2003.
Mr Rumsfeld told the BBC insurgents crossed Iraq's "porous" borders
from Iran, Syria and elsewhere. But he said Iraq's military forces were growing
in numbers and he was confident the insurgency would be defeated.
- Two US Republican lawmakers have criticized George W. Bush administration's
Iraq policy, saying on Sunday June 19, 2005 that the White House is "disconnected
from the reality" and should told the Americans the reality in Iraq.
These remarks were believed to be the most blunt criticism of Bush's Iraq
policy to date from a member of the Republican. Recent polls showed that support
among American citizens for Bush's Iraq policy have slipped to a lowest point
and numerous lawmakers, including some Republicans, have accused him of not
offering honest assessments about the strength of the insurgency and the slow
pace of training Iraq forces.
- On June 21, 2005, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice held up Iraq as an
example of democracy in the making ahead of an international conference to
marshal support for the new Baghdad government.
- On June 21, 2005, another example of the way the American are fighting the
war against terrorism was revealed. According to this information the FBI
and other agencies have requested some public libraries the names of the borrowers
of certain books. As an example, there is the case where a library book on
Osama bin Laden in the state of Washington was found to have the following
handwritten inscription in the margin: "Hostility towards America is
a religious duty and we hope to be rewarded by God." The borrower who
found the inscription went to the FBI that then asked the library for the
names of all the people who had borrowed this book since 2001. The library
refused to give the information requested.
- The war in Iraq is creating a new breed of Islamic jihadists who could destabilise
other countries, the CIA report said on June 24, 2005. The CIA believes Iraq
to be potentially worse than Afghanistan, which produced thousands of jihadists
in the 1980s and 1990s. Many of the recruits to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida
had fought in Afghanistan. A senior British anti-terrorism source warned that
those trained in terror techniques in Iraq could use their newly acquired
skills in Britain and elsewhere at the end of the war. The concern expressed
in the CIA report contrasts with the optimism of United States Defence Secretary
Donald Rumsfeld two years ago when he welcomed the prospect of Iraq as a magnet
for jihadists.
- Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on June 26, 2005, that it could take
as long as 12 years to defeat the insurgency in Iraq, but he said it will
be up to Iraqi forces to do the job. The defence secretary also acknowledged
that US officials have met with insurgents in Iraq, after a British newspaper
reported two recent meetings.
- The United States should cut its losses, withdraw from Iraq immediately
and never again use its military power to create a nation according to its
own values, the former CIA head John Deutch wrote on Friday July 15, 2005,
in the New York Times. The US military presence in Iraq is damaging US interests
in the Arab world, distracts attention from other "important security
challenges" and strains the US army, said Deutch, who was deputy defence
secretary (1994-1995) before heading the Central Intelligence Agency (1995-1996).
- A US military assessment made public on July 21, 2005, said that only half
of Iraq's police battalions are capable of carrying out operations against
insurgents and two-thirds of army battalions and the rest of the police are
no more than "partially capable."
- An informer told the CIA in the spring of 2001 that Iraq had abandoned a
major element of its nuclear weapons program, a former CIA officer has charged.
The officer, an employee at the agency for more than 20 years, including several
years in a clandestine unit assigned to gather intelligence related to illicit
weapons, was fired in 2004. In his lawsuit, he says his dismissal was punishment
for his reports questioning the agency's assumptions on a series of weapons-related
matters.
- The Central Intelligence Agency prepared the ground for invasion of Iraq
by engaging in sabotage and killings to weaken the then president Saddam Hussein's
regime, we were told on Wednesday August 3, 2005. Even before the Iraq war,
the CIA recruited and trained an Iraqi paramilitary group code-named the Scorpions,
to "foment rebellion, conduct sabotage and help CIA paramilitaries who
entered Baghdad and other cities to target buildings and individuals."
The CIA spent millions of dollars on the Scorpions, whose existence has not
been previously disclosed. But most of the unit's pre-war missions: spray-painting
graffiti on walls; cutting electricity; "sowing confusion," were
delayed or cancelled because of poor training or planning. The speed of the
invasion negated the need for most of their missions. After Baghdad fell,
the CIA used the Scorpions to try to infiltrate the insurgency, to help out
in interrogations, and, from time to time, to do "the dirty work."
- Senior administration and Pentagon officials, as well as political leaders
in both parties, say there is mounting anxiety over the $5 billion-a-month
cost of the war, an overextended military, dismal recruiting in the US Army
and National Guard, dwindling public support for the operation, and a steadily
growing number of casualties, punctuated this week by the deaths of 20 marines
in two separate attacks in western Iraq.
- "When you wake up in the morning and lose 14 marines, people say, 'What's
going on?"' said the former speaker of the US House of Representatives,
Newt Gingrich, referring to an attack on Wednesday, when an armoured troop
carrier hit three stacked mines. "This is a very complicated equation."
- US military planners in Baghdad continue to refine their requirements for
troops. But under current thinking, the number of troops would temporarily
increase in December to about 160,000 to provide security for the election
of a new Iraqi National Assembly, scheduled for December 15. The increase
in troop strength would be achieved by overlapping the normal rotation of
incoming forces and those who have finished their tours.
- If security conditions allow it, the number of troops would then gradually
decline, first back to about 138,000 troops, or roughly 17 brigades and their
supporting forces, and then by another 20,000 to 30,000 forces by late spring,
senior officers and Pentagon officials said. Further reductions of tens of
thousands of troops are possible throughout 2006.
- Plans to begin reducing America's troop commitment in Iraq next year could
still leave a sizable American military presence in the most dangerous parts
of the country, where US forces have suffered most of their casualties. A
joint US-Iraqi committee set up to identify areas to revert to Iraqi control
will submit its final report to Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari by the end
of September. Pentagon officials have mentioned a reduction of 20,000 to 30,000
troops. That would still leave about 100,000 Americans in Iraq well into next
year.
- Defence Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Tuesday August 9, 2005, that weapons
have been found in Iraq that were "clearly, unambiguously" from
Iran. Rumsfeld added it was unclear whether the weapons were coming from elements
of the Iranian government or from other parties in that country.
- On August 13, 2005, the city of New York has released thousands of fire
department files from the attacks on the World Trade Centre. They include
transmissions recorded on 11 September 2001 and testimonies from fire fighters,
which were gathered later. The city was forced to release the documents following
a lawsuit filed by the New York Times, and supported by relatives of fire
fighters who died there. Records already published by the paper have raised
questions whether some of the deaths might have been avoided. More than 340
fire fighters lost their lives on 11 September 2001. Many died after radio
messages telling them to evacuate the north tower went unheard. Last year
a congressional inquiry into the attacks said there was a breakdown in communications
between the emergency services.
- After setting out to establish a democracy, the US slowly realizes an Islamic
republic is taking shape in Iraq. America no longer expects to see a model
new democracy, a self-supporting oil industry, or a society where most people
are free from serious security or economic challenges. Many of Baghdad's six
million people still go without electricity for days in 48-degree-Celsius
heat. Parents fearful of kidnapping are keeping children indoors. Barbers
post signs saying they do not shave men, after months of barbers being killed
by religious extremists. Ethnic or religious-based militias police the northern
and southern portions of Iraq. Analysts estimate that in the whole of Iraq,
unemployment is 50 percent to 65 percent.
- The Army is planning for the possibility of keeping the current number of
soldiers in Iraq - well over 100,000 - for four more years we were told on
Saturday August 20, 2005. The US Army is prepared for the "worst case"
in terms of the required level of troops in Iraq.
- On December 2, 2005, we were told that the American military authorities
are paying million of US dollars to Iraqi newspapers to print articles describing
favourable stories about the war and reconstruction of the country. How far
down will they go?
- On December 8, 2005, the US Senate and the House of Representatives reached
a compromise agreement to renew most of the provisions of the Patriot Act
of 2001.It will be renewed for four years instead of the ten years requested
by the Whet House.
- On December 21 2005, the US Senate agreed to extend the Patriot Act for
another six months. The administration asked for it to become permanent but
both Democrats and Republicans disagreed. The next day the House of Representatives
reduced the extension to one month! It will have to go back to the Senate
before New Year if not many aspects of the law will decade. On the other hand,
a law banning all form of torture on foreign terrorist suspects will soon
be on Bush's desk for signature. It is believed that he will sign it.
- On December 22, 2005, the US Congress extended the Patriot Act for just
one month.
- On December 22, the Justice Department defended Bush's decision to authorise
the NSA to spy on international phone and emails communications of US citizens
or other residents without a court approval as requested by law. Is it not
this a characteristic of a fascist state?
- On December 24, 2005, we were told that the National Security Agency listened
to many more phone conversations that the few thousand admitted before. This
is also true for the emails. It is becoming a big scandal with the Congress
ready to open inquiries.
- The Pentagon revealed on January 9, 2006, that the former senior US official
in Iraq, Paul Bremer, requested more troops in Iraq in May 2004, if the US
was to pacify the country. Donald Rumsfeld refused.
- A secret US military programme to pay Iraqi newspapers to publish information
favourable to the USA appears to violate a 2003 Pentagon directive we were
told on January 26, 2006.
- US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, under sharp questioning in the senate
over Iraq, acknowledged on Thursday February 16, 2006, mistakes in early efforts
to rebuild the battered country and raise local security forces. But she said
"large portions" of the Iraqi infrastructure had been modernised
and about 227 000 "quality" Iraqi troops had been trained and equipped
to battle a raging insurgency alongside US forces. However she also admitted
that the process of raising an Iraqi army and police force had got off to
a bumpy start. Military officials say that of the 227 000 trained and equipped
Iraqis, fewer than 100 000 have been organised into battalions as fighting
forces.
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