-Caveat Lector- http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,5080620%255E2703,00.html
Bush went alone on Iraq >From AFP September 12, 2002 GEORGE W. Bush reached his decision to use force to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein without a formal decision-making meeting or the normal intelligence assessment such a decision required, USA Today reported last night. The US President decided in November 2001 that Mr Hussein should be removed – and since then the debate in the administration has been how to accomplish this, the newspaper reported, quoting officials at the White House, State Department, Pentagon, Congress and intelligence services. The decision to target Mr Hussein "kind of evolved, but it's not clear and neat", a senior White House official said, describing it as "policy-making by osmosis". Neither members of Congress nor US allies were consulted, and the concerns of sceptical senior military officers and intelligence analysts were not aired until later. The White House has yet to ask the CIA and other intelligence agencies to produce a National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq – a document gathering together all intelligence data – because, according to one intelligence official, it does not want to detail the uncertainties about Iraq's arsenal and Mr Hussein's intentions. A senior administration official said such an assessment was not helpful. Dick Durbin, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, describes the Bush decision as "stunning". "If we are about to make a decision that could risk American lives, we need full and accurate information on which to base that decision," Senator Durbin wrote to leaders of the committee and CIA director George Tenet. Mr Bush and his top advisers focused on Iraq as the next threat after the September 11 terror attacks, regardless of whether Baghdad was linked to the attacks, according to USA Today. But top US officials have reportedly found no solid links between Mr Hussein and the September 11 attacks, and will no longer link the two. Mr Bush's decision-making process "bypassed much of the intelligence community and many people in the US central command as well as the normal national security process," said Anthony Cordesman, a military expert at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies. "As a result, it has never achieved any clear consensus within the administration, and there has been nothing approaching coherent public diplomacy to convince our allies." <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
