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Snipped from Kevin Drum
And on the subject of utter human scum, we have Rumsfeld's competitor for The Most Useless Man In Government Today, Dick Cheney. Last week, a Republican dominated committee put out a report utterly trashing the supposed links between Al Qaeda and Saddam. Cheney, of course, loves talking about these links, despite them being utter utter bullshit. What's a jizzrag like Cheney to do in this case? Well, that's easy, of course. You just keep on lying:
For those who don't follow this that closely - Cheney stories are fabrications. Zarqawi was in fact in Northern Iraq/Kurdistan, where Saddam was kept out by the US all through the 90s. There's been a number of stories over the last few years that the US deliberately didn't take him out because it would undermine their case for war. The committee report released last Friday pointed out that Saddam fucking hated Al Qaeda, and wasn't in league with them.
.Today, via Orin Kerr, comes a remarkable interview with Brigadier General Mark Scheid, chief of the Logistics War Plans Division after 9/11, and one of the people with primary responsibility for war planning. Shortly after the invasion of Afghanistan, he says, Donald Rumsfeld told his team to start planning for war in Iraq, but not to bother planning for a long stay:
"The secretary of defense continued to push on us ... that everything we write in our plan has to be the idea that we are going to go in, we're going to take out the regime, and then we're going to leave," Scheid said. "We won't stay."
Scheid said the planners continued to try "to write what was called Phase 4," or the piece of the plan that included post-invasion operations like occupation.
Even if the troops didn't stay, "at least we have to plan for it," Scheid said.
"I remember the secretary of defense saying that he would fire the next person that said that," Scheid said. "We would not do planning for Phase 4 operations, which would require all those additional troops that people talk about today.
"He said we will not do that because the American public will not back us if they think we are going over there for a long war."
And on the subject of utter human scum, we have Rumsfeld's competitor for The Most Useless Man In Government Today, Dick Cheney. Last week, a Republican dominated committee put out a report utterly trashing the supposed links between Al Qaeda and Saddam. Cheney, of course, loves talking about these links, despite them being utter utter bullshit. What's a jizzrag like Cheney to do in this case? Well, that's easy, of course. You just keep on lying:
CHENEY: You’ve got Iraq and Al Qaeda, testimony from the Director of C.I.A. that there was indeed a relationship — Zarqawi in baghdad. et cetera. Then the
RUSSERT: The committee said there was no relationship. in fact saddam —
CHENEY: I haven’t seen the report. I haven’t had a chance to read it yet.
RUSSERT: But Mr. Vice President the bottom line is…
CHENEY: We know that Zarqawi running the terrost camp in Afghanistan prior to 9/11. After we went in after 9/11, then fled and went to Baghdad and set up operations in Baghdad in the spring of 2002 and was there and then basically until the time we launched into Iraq.
For those who don't follow this that closely - Cheney stories are fabrications. Zarqawi was in fact in Northern Iraq/Kurdistan, where Saddam was kept out by the US all through the 90s. There's been a number of stories over the last few years that the US deliberately didn't take him out because it would undermine their case for war. The committee report released last Friday pointed out that Saddam fucking hated Al Qaeda, and wasn't in league with them.
