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Subscribe to RSSJessica Lynch. Tommy Franks. 'Chemical Ali.' Tony Blair. Hans Blix. Ten years ago, as the war in Iraq began, these were names on front pages everywhere. Find out what has happened to them – and 10 other headliners associated with the conflict – since.
REUTERS file
Undated footage from a combat camera video shows U.S. PFC Jessica Lynch on a stretcher during her rescue from Iraq.
Jessica Lynch
THEN
On March 23, 2003, just three days after the start of the invasion of Iraq, a U.S. Army supply convoy took a wrong turn and was attacked in Nasiriyah, a key town on the road to Baghdad. Eleven U.S. soldiers were killed and six captured, including Private First Class Jessica Lynch, a 19-year-old from West Virginia. She suffered spinal fractures, nerve damage and a shattered right arm, right foot and left leg when her Humvee crashed.
Originally listed as missing in action, Lynch’s story gripped the nation and the world when the Pentagon announced that she had been plucked from an Iraqi hospital on April 1 by a Rangers unit, followed a day later with the release of dramatic footage of the rescue. In addition, the Rangers recovered the bodies of eight soldiers who had been killed in fighting with her unit. Stories also emerged of how Lynch had bravely fought off the initial attack.
Lynch was later airlifted for treatment in Germany and the United States. Following her release from hospital, she returned to a hero’s welcome in her hometown, Palestine, W.Va., and the arms of her fiancé, Sgt. Ruben Contreras, who she had met during her military service. She also signed a deal, reported to be in excess of a million dollars, to write a book with former New York Times reporter Rick Bragg, which went on to be a best-seller. In addition, she was the subject of an unauthorized TV movie, “Saving Jessica Lynch.”
Many of the original details of the attack and rescue were later questioned by many media outlets and much criticism leveled at the Pentagon for creating what was described as a media spectacle. However, Lynch’s role and bravery in enduring her severe wounds has seldom been questioned.
Bob Bird/AP file
Jessica Lynch with her daughter Dakota following the South Charleston, W.Va. Christmas Parade on Dec. 10, 2011.
NOW
Her book behind her and her injuries largely healed, Lynch, who received an honorable discharge from the Army, started classes in August 2005 at West Virginia University in Morgantown, one of several universities that offered her a scholarship so she could achieve her dream of becoming a kindergarten teacher.
Her relationship with Sgt. Contreras, however, faded. After postponing the wedding to 2004, the relationship cooled, leaving the pair as “just good friends,” a spokesperson said.
Fortunately for Lynch, it was not long before she had a couple of new loves in her life – first a new fiancé, Wes Robinson, and on Jan. 9, 2007, a 7-pound, 10-ounce baby girl.
The couple named the baby Dakota Ann in honor of Army Spc. Lori Piestewa, Lynch’s tentmate and former Fort Bliss roommate, who was killed in the attack that injured Lynch. Ann was Piestewa’s middle name and Dakota came from the fact that Piestewa was part Native American.
In 2007, according to People magazine, Lynch moved to the Parkersburg campus of West Virginia University to be nearer her family and adapt to parenthood, moving into a new home in Wirt County, where she grew up. The switch led her to change her major back to elementary education – journalism is not offered in her new location.
But the most important thing in her life has been her daughter. Her mother, Dee Lynch, said she took to diapers and other duties like a duck to water.Jessi’s a natural,” she told People. “You would think she’s had Dakota forever.”
Despite the trauma of her capture and the continuing effects from her injuries, Lynch told the Morgantown, W.Va., Dominion Post in February 2008 that she would still have joined the Army and has "no regrets."
In 2011, she wrote about her wartime experiences in Newsweek magazine. "In the eight years since my captivity, I've had 21 surgeries," she wrote. "I have no feeling in my left leg from the knee down, and I wear a brace every day."
"Perhaps I'll never be able to recall what happened. I think this a good thing. Iraq is in the past," she wrote.In December of 2011, Lynch earned her bachelor’s degree in elementary education from West Virginia University, according to UPI. She told Fox News in January 2012 of this year that she would be pursuing a master’s degree as well as “other opportunities.”
IRAQ TEN YEARS LATER: WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
- Jessica Lynch
- Hans Blix (UN arms inspector)
- Colin Powell
- Tariq Aziz (Saddam Hussein’s foreign minister)
- Ahmed Chalabi (Iraqi exile leader)
- Tony Blair
- Gen. Tommy Franks
- Josh Rushing (Marines spokesman)
- Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks (Army spokesman)
- Paul Bremer (Iraq administrator)
- Farris Hassan (teen journalist)
- Lynndie England (Abu Ghraib)
- Mohammed Al-Rehaief (aided Jessica Lynch)
- Ali Hassan Al-Majid (‘Chemical Ali’)
- Mohammed Saeed Al-Sahaf (‘Baghdad Bob’)
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Iraq is free...
George Wmd Bush has gone into hiding...not so free
Iraq is pumping oil...for export...to pay for some of the cost of the war.
Iraq is one of the fastest growing economies in the world now.
A MUST READ AND SHARE.
http://www.truthdig.com/dig/item/the_last_letter_20130318/
The Last Letter
A Message to George W. Bush and Dick Cheney From a Dying Veteran
To: George W. Bush and Dick Cheney
From: Tomas Young
I write this letter on the 10th anniversary of the Iraq War on behalf of my fellow Iraq War veterans. I write this letter on behalf of the 4,488 soldiers and Marines who died in Iraq. I write this letter on behalf of the hundreds of thousands of veterans who have been wounded and on behalf of those whose wounds, physical and psychological, have destroyed their lives. I am one of those gravely wounded. I was paralyzed in an insurgent ambush in 2004 in Sadr City. My life is coming to an end. I am living under hospice care.
I write this letter on behalf of husbands and wives who have lost spouses, on behalf of children who have lost a parent, on behalf of the fathers and mothers who have lost sons and daughters and on behalf
of those who care for the many thousands of my fellow veterans who have brain injuries. I write this letter on behalf of those veterans whose trauma and self-revulsion for what they have witnessed, endured and done in Iraq have led to suicide and on behalf of the active-duty soldiers and Marines who commit, on
average, a suicide a day. I write this letter on behalf of the some 1 million Iraqi dead and on behalf of the countless Iraqi wounded. I write this letter on behalf of us all—the human detritus your war has left behind, those who will spend their lives in unending pain and grief.
I write this letter, my last letter, to you, Mr.Bush and Mr. Cheney. I write not because I think you grasp the terrible human and moral consequences of your lies, manipulation and thirst for wealth and power.
I write this letter because, before my own death, I want to make it clear that I, and hundreds of thousands of my fellow veterans, along with millions of my fellow citizens, along with hundreds of millions more in Iraq and the Middle East, know fully who you are and what you have done. You may evade justice but
in our eyes you are each guilty of egregious war crimes, of plunder and, finally, of murder, including the murder of thousands of young Americans—my fellow veterans—whose future you stole.
Your positions of authority, your millions of dollars of personal wealth, your public relations consultants, your privilege and your power cannot mask the hollowness of your character. You sent us to fight and die in Iraq after you, Mr. Cheney, dodged the draft in Vietnam, and you, Mr. Bush, went AWOL from your National Guard unit. Your cowardice and selfishness were established decades ago. You were not willing to risk yourselves for our nation but you sent hundreds of thousands of young men and women to be sacrificed in a senseless war with no more thought than it takes to put out the garbage.
I joined the Army two days after the 9/11 attacks. I joined the Army because our country had been attacked. I wanted to strike back at those who had killed some 3,000 of my fellow citizens. I did not
join the Army to go to Iraq, a country that had no part in the September 2001 attacks and did not pose a threat to its neighbors, much less to the United States. I did not join the Army to “liberate” Iraqis or to shut down mythical weapons-of-mass-destruction facilities or to implant what you cynically called
“democracy” in Baghdad and the Middle East. I did not join the Army to rebuild Iraq, which at the time you told us could be paid for by Iraq’s oil revenues. Instead, this war has cost the United States over $3 trillion. I especially did not join the Army to carry out pre-emptive war. Pre-emptive war is illegal
under international law. And as a soldier in Iraq I was, I now know, abetting your idiocy and your crimes. The Iraq War is the largest strategic blunder in U.S. history. It obliterated the balance of power in the Middle East. It installed a corrupt and brutal pro-Iranian government in Baghdad, one cemented
in power through the use of torture, death squads and terror. And it has left Iran as the dominant force in the region. On every level—moral, strategic, military and economic—Iraq was a failure. And it was you, Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney, who started this war. It is you who should pay the consequences.
I would not be writing this letter if I had been wounded fighting in Afghanistan against those forces that carried out the attacks of 9/11. Had I been wounded there I would still be miserable because of my physical deterioration and imminent death, but I would at least have the comfort of knowing that my injuries were a consequence of my own decision to defend the country I love. I would not have to lie in my bed, my body filled with painkillers, my life ebbing away, and deal with the fact that hundreds of thousands of human beings, including children, including myself, were sacrificed by you for little more than the greed of oil companies, for your alliance with the oil sheiks in Saudi Arabia, and your insane visions of
empire.
I have, like many other disabled veterans, suffered from the inadequate and often inept care provided by the Veterans Administration. I have, like many other disabled veterans, come to realize that our mental and physical wounds are of no interest to you, perhaps of no interest to any politician. We were used. We were betrayed. And we have been abandoned. You, Mr. Bush, make much pretense of being a Christian. But isn’t lying a sin? Isn’t murder a sin? Aren’t theft and selfish ambition sins? I am not a Christian. But I believe in the Christian ideal. I believe that what you do to the least of your brothers you finally do to yourself, to your own soul.
My day of reckoning is upon me. Yours will come.
I hope you will be put on trial. But mostly I hope, for your sakes, that you find the moral courage to face what you have done to me and to many, many others who deserved to live. I hope that before your time on earth ends, as mine is now ending, you will find the strength of character to stand before the
American public and the world, and in particular the Iraqi people, and beg for forgiveness.
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Bush is a war monger
Bush is a baby killer
Bush is Hitler
Bush is the Devil
Blah blah blah
Bless us Blessed Mother Sheehan
A lot of people who should be in jail or hanged to death are living nice comfortable retired life unlike Nazis that retired in Argentina and other places. A lot of people who supported that war still think there is nothing wrong in destroying a country.
However majority of people have come around to think clearly and see how they were manipulated and now do not support Iraq war nor any other war.
However for some like me it is really bothersome that people like cheney wolfowitz rumsfeld and bush are free. It is injustice.
One contiguous life sentence for every soldier and civilian that died too all that voted for the war with no parole.
Leaving jail in a horizontal position, feet first and body stone cold.
And forever written in the history books as war criminals never to erased.
Ten years after the moron George started his get even for daddy war. Thousands of Americans dead and thousands more maimed,crippled and disfigured for life because of his lies and war mongering. Sad part is he don't even give a damn. He got what he wanted. Wonder what went with all the billions of dollars that went missing from there? Not to hard to figure out.
Bush and Cheney have their hand dirty all right, but the fact that the US Government allows the Israel Lobby in the US and the state of Israel to drag us into a war with countries Israel pissed off over last few decades, is preposterous! Israel is a criminal state that should be brought to justice for all the crimes against humanity and international laws! israel is the reason that the United States went to war with Iraq in 2003 and Israel is trying to the same now with Iran! Israel, through the actions of Israel Lobby in the US, managed to get us involved in the war, where thousands of american kids were killed, while the Israeli super forces were watching it on the side lines laughing their asses off!! Read history America, there is a lesson to be learned from the past.
You forgot to add one 'other' member of the 'war mongers club'.........Little JOHN HOWARD of Australia, George W's little Sherif, Down Under. What a gutless little piece of dirt he is, he has also a lot of blood on his hands, and much G W Bush shyt on his shoulders.
I wish Jessica Lynch and all of the other wounded and unwounded soldiers the best! The USA has the best military in the world and also the best soldiers. Sure there are pockets of bad apples here and there but that is true in any profession; people are obviously human and sometimes humans do things that confound everyone.
Even in a war like the invasion of Iraq, searching for the ever elusive WMDs, our soldiers did their very best to follow orders from the Commander-in-Chief down to their Sergeant, and they did an incredible task with bravery and dignity, in spite of the fact that our Commander-in-Chief at the time did everything possible to bring the Iraqi invasion to fruition even though the reason behind this war was one laden with lies and purposely distorted "intelligence" that Bush and Cheney and Rumsfeld and the others concocted. I can have much disrespect for the Commander-in-Chief and his buddies, but I will always have the utmost respect for the brave men and women who sign up to fight for this countries freedom!
Also, that letter written by Thomas Young from his deathbed should be published and/or put into all history textbooks for our young students to read and contemplate.... God Bless you Thomas Young, and God Bless ALL of our brave young men and women soldiers -- Semper Fi!
Since it was collapsed for apparently no good reason (other than it hits too close to home), I'll repost:
I don't know why it was collapsed either. Apparently some people here are intolerant of other's opinions and views. I personally love it and think it is striking and painful to read.
On another note, I am offended that Ms Lynch is once again making headlines for being stupid, for not maintaining her weapon so that it jammed, causing teammates to die. Lori Piestewa was Hopi/Navaho, NOT Sioux or Lakota, so the naming of the child had nothing to do with her. Maybe Ms Lynch should have given the child the name of Lori's grieving mother, or maybe one of the orphan children she left behind, because she died BRAVELY, fighting to protect herself and her team.
I wish no ill on Ms Lynch but being captured alive doesn't necessarily make you a hero. The heros there that day died there.
Jessica Lynch became the face of every soldier wounded in that stupid war.
She's the "girl next door" doing what she can for her country.
Modest, she'll say that she is not a hero, that name belongs to the eight people in her unit that died.
I'm glad to see she married, has a child and has gone on with her life. She will carry the effects of the war for the rest of her life. Hopefully the emotional scars are not as deep as the physical ones.
OK, I have to say this. In the picture of her and her daughter, her daughter is absolutely adorable. She looks just like her mother.
I hope everything works out for their family.
wonder if she ever thinks about Pat Tillman...Tillman you see, was one of the Rangers that helped "rescue" her..and witnessed the 2 day wait so film crews could arrive..and he HATED the Iraq war...Watch the Tillman Story sometime please if you have time...
Of all of the military books that I have read and documentaries that I watched along with serving in the Marines Jessica's story fuels that drive to take action on every terrorist around the world.
...until they are all dead.
Tomas Young deserves a peace prize for his comments, beautifully written, sad and to the point.
The 110,000+ who died from Mr. Bush's personal vendetta haven't gone anywhere.
Well....the republicans sold this war under the demand "support the troops". Republicans support the troops until it's time for the troops to come home and attend to their injuries. Then it's somebody else's problem. Yes, shame on both Bush and Cheney.
Nice job stealing this story from CNN.
I think the big players like Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld, Powell, Wolfowitz, are all living the good life....
Remember the Bush administration fired Lawrence B. Lindsey, in December 2002 after he estimated the cost of the Iraq war could reach $200 billion per year. Bush didn't believe nor did he want to hear that.
I post the above as a reminder to prove the 6 I listed above are living the GOOD life right now.
^.....LOL!!!!
LMAO mitch daniels, what a scumbag...figures he would have been in on it
Why we went
AUTHORIZATION FOR USE OF MILITARY FORCE AGAINST IRAQ RESOLUTION OF 2002,
Public Law 107-243, 107th Congress
Joint Resolution
[[Page 116 STAT. 1498]]
Whereas Iraq both poses a continuing threat to the national security of
the United States and international peace and security in the
Persian Gulf region and remains in material and unacceptable breach
of its international obligations by, among other things, continuing
to possess and develop a significant chemical and biological weapons
capability, actively seeking a nuclear weapons capability, and
supporting and harboring terrorist organizations;
[[Page 116 STAT. 1499]]
Whereas members of al Qaida, an organization bearing responsibility for
attacks on the United States, its citizens, and interests, including
the attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, are known to be in
Iraq;
Whereas Iraq continues to aid and harbor other international terrorist
organizations, including organizations that threaten the lives and
safety of United States citizens;
Whereas the attacks on the United States of September 11, 2001,
underscored the gravity of the threat posed by the acquisition of
weapons of mass destruction by international terrorist
organizations;
[[Page 116 STAT. 1500]]
Whereas Congress has taken steps to pursue vigorously the war on
terrorism through the provision of authorities and funding requested
by the President to take the necessary actions against international
terrorists and terrorist organizations, including those nations,
organizations, or persons who planned, authorized, committed, or
aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or
harbored such persons or organizations;
Whereas the President and Congress are determined to continue to take
all appropriate actions against international terrorists and
terrorist organizations, including those nations, organizations, or
persons who planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist
attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such
persons or organizations;
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-107publ243/html/PLAW-107publ243.htm
We should have nuked them.
Yeah, you must an Adam Lanza type kid or a Right Wing sociopath adult.
Your mom pregnant with you should've inserted nukes inside her vagina.
Wow. And that came right from our government so it has to be true, right? B.S.
I am proud to say that my congresman Jim McDermot voted against that fictitious war, as did Senator Patty Muray from Washington State where I live.
To..Adela"""
Ayup....for 9/11
The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
March 19, 2003
Text Of A Letter From The President To The Speaker Of The House Of Representatives And The President Pro Tempore Of The Senate
March 18, 2003
Dear Mr. Speaker: (Dear Mr. President:)
Consistent with section 3(b) of the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002 (Public Law 107-243), and based on information available to me, including that in the enclosed document, I determine that:
(1) reliance by the United States on further diplomatic and other peaceful means alone will neither (A) adequately protect the national security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by Iraq nor (B) likely lead to enforcement of all relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions regarding Iraq; and
*** (2) acting pursuant to the Constitution and Public Law 107-243 is consistent with the United States and other countries continuing to take the necessary actions against international terrorists and terrorist organizations, including those nations, organizations, or persons who planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001.***
Sincerely,
George W. Bush
http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2003/03/20030319-1.html
Regardless of whether you agree with any wars the US fights, never ever abandon the soldiers who fight those wars, because they swear to support and defend THIS COUNTRY. If you have never served in the military, at least support the people who choose to serve to preserve the freedoms we have here in the US.
I agree. They are doing what their country asked them to do, and our country should not abandon them or give them lousy healthcare. I hope those like me who totally disagreed with declaring war can make that distinction - that regardless of what our idiotic government does, we still support our troops. Including Bradley Manning.
No review of the Iraq war is complete without the story of how Cheney personally went to the CIA to make sure the intelligence was wrong about WMDs. Nor is it in any way complete without a review of Haliturton's earning statements for the time of the war. Maybe before these war leaders die they will admit they knew Iraq had no WMDs, maybe not.
Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld were the original "axis of evil" and they should all be in prison....
I second that.
the american people,media and some politician are all responsible for this injustice.you can not make decision like going to war on sentiment because it takes allot.this republican can never take responsibilityy for this genocide.the only people that gain from this destruction are corporation,billionaires wall street which the republican only care for the looser are the military and there families,the american middle class and the 47%the the republicans dislike.how many of this politician sons or daughter fought in this war?none the are too rich to die when there poor middle class family will scarifies there children on the alter of greed for cooperate america.when i see pretty boy paul ryan all of a sudden is concern about our debt i wonder where he was when him and his cabal where spending the american economy in oblivion.the american people need to be angry and demand answer or El's this criminals will never go away
Conspiciously absent from this update are Charles Graner, Lynndie England, Megan Ambuhl, Ivan Fredericks, Sabrina Harman et.al, former MPs of Abu Ghraib ''fame'' most of whom rec'd a DISHONORABLE discharge and are now convicted felons unable to legally own a firearm in the U.S. The mindset that still defines Lynndie England, Charles Graner and some of the others about Iraq persists to this day and illustrates why the ''Bush/Cheney War'' was a debacle from the get-go much like the 1-term LBJ's Vietnam was in the late 60's.
Just want the perps, that would be G WWW Shrub and his cabinet, in the Hague by sundown. With the trial to begin tomorrow, a guilty verdict, and the sentence carried out by this weekend. Now is that too much to ask for? Shame it won't happen. But on the flip side RIPGOP, you have ensured that you are on your way out..........LMAO!
Wasn't the media's story of her a lie?
Yes it was and she put a stop to that real quick. She spoke to local WV news discrediting most of the hype immediately and if I'm not mistaken she went to congress and made it clear that she was no hero who took out the enemy while near death herself. The fact that this little 19 year old told the truth about her own government lieing to give us a "feel good story" impresses me considerably. Think about this - how many other "rescues" have we seen in video form?
good for her. Because as I said earlier, being captured doesn't necessarily make you a hero. Depends on the circumstances. Good on her part to acknowledge the others who died there; the press certainly doesn't mention them.
Iraq was a Crime Against Peace, perpetrated by mass lies, causing hundreds of thousands of deaths, maiming, and injuries to Iraqis, displacing them and destroying their infrastructure; so nice the rosy spins regarding this mass crime. Nice to see conscience has caught up with everyone in such a "positive" way.
As the song goes, "When will we ever learn."
stopbs thanks for your post it is eloquently said
"Crime against peace"?? Regardless if going to Iraq was right or wrong, there was no peace in Iraq. Saddam was a dictator that terrorized his people. He bombed the Kurds in the north non-stop and used chemical weapons against them when he saw that his bombing wasn't doing enough damage. He killed anyone that said the slightest thing wrong about him. He lived in huge expensive palaces and hoarded millions of dollars while the rest of the country starved and lived in fear. There was no infrastructure unless it was to keep Sadam living the wealthy life.
stop bs.....the Kurds would completely disagree with you after Saddam nerve gassed their people......wake up.....
Rickz23 - Saddam used the bombs and gas that the US sold to him.....knowing full well what he would do.
First: Her rescue was a hoax, just like Tillman who was killed by friendly fire.
Second: Where they now? Where else, hiding like the cowards they are.
The frontline architects and liars that are Bush- Cheney- Rumsfeld- Rice should be behind bars or swinging from the gallows for massive crimes against humanity. Then prosecute the Bush Cabal's underlings and generals.
You had better add Clinton to that list, he also believed Iraq had WMD's. Oh wait, they did have chemical weapons, the 4th ID found some.
Yep, including Collin Powell. What a piece of work he is.
Ranger549 - Do you remember what happened to the few politicians who stood up against invading Iraq? Wellstone - plane crash. Tom Daschle - Anthrax letter. Cynthia McKinney - vilified in the press. I'm sure there are more.
I would like some proof please, that the "4th ID" found WMD.
Sure they did Ranger549
Just like you're a "real" ranger. LOL! Another glass of kool aid.
"In his final word, the CIA’s top weapons inspector in Iraq said Monday that the hunt for weapons of mass destruction has “gone as far as feasible” and has found nothing, closing an investigation into the purported programs of Saddam Hussein that were used to justify the 2003 invasion."
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/7634313/#.UUqpjDeOUyc
Okay "Ranger" LOL I found your source and as soon as I can quit laughing I will post the link. It's WND or for those that stay away from conspiracy (RWNJ) sites World Net Daily LOL sorry I just can't quit laughing.
http://www.wnd.com/2004/04/24352/
Headline LOL,
Saddam's WMD
have been found
Admittedly it took me a while to find it I think even WND is trying to hide or bury this headline ROFL!
My wish is that all the Americans who played a role in starting the War in Iraq die a horrible death that they all deserve.
Well you are moron of the year! Saddam started the war by invading Kuwait you dancing clown!
Daddy's war started when Saddam invaded Kuwait, not GW's.
um, cybercraig. You are referring to the wrong war. The war waged over Kuwait was started by Iraq. We are referring to the later war, in which GW Bush attacked a country which had issued no provocation, and was unrelated to what we had experienced here in the US. You see, after the attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center....oh never mind. But I wouldn't be calling anyone else morons if I were you.
First Gulf War...another lie another bush
anybody remember this Babies in incubator story..
How the public relations industry sold the Gulf War to the US, the mother of all clients
The great Iraq War lie.
The pictured girl told the world under tears that she saw how Saddam Hussein's soldiers took babies out of their incubators and let them die on the cold floor.
In Novembre 1990 Bush41 told this lie to the poor soldiers.
In truth she hadn't been in Kuwait at the time. The girl was in fact the daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador in Washington, USA.
In fact, the most emotionally moving testimony on October 10 came from a 15-year-old Kuwaiti girl, known only by her first name of Nayirah. According to the Caucus, Nayirah's full name was being kept confidential to prevent Iraqi reprisals against her family in occupied Kuwait. Sobbing, she described what she had seen with her own eyes in a hospital in Kuwait City. Her written testimony was passed out in a media kit prepared by Citizens for a Free Kuwait. "I volunteered at the al-Addan hospital," Nayirah said. "While I was there, I saw the Iraqi soldiers come into the hospital with guns, and go into the room where . . . babies were in incubators. They took the babies out of the incubators, took the incubators, and left the babies on the cold floor to die."
What the audience didn't know however was that the 15-year old girl who made the moving, tearful testimony was none other than Niyirah al-Sabah - daughter of the US Ambassador to Kuwait. She had allegedly worked as a volunteer in the maternity ward of the hospital. But nurses who live in the two story white building opposite the hospital in Kuwait City claimed that they had never seen the girl before in their life.
***The entire move towards the Gulf War had thus been motivated by a blatant lie***.
The girl had been "trained" by Hill and Knowlton. The renowned international human rights group Amnesty International took out full-page newspaper spreads to publicise the babies incident. It had unwittingly (and not for the first time) transformed itself from a charity to a propaganda tool. Andrew Whitley of Middle East Watch described the story as a fabrication but it took months for the truth to come out. President Bush mentioned the incubator incident in five of his speeches and seven senators referred to them in speeches backing a pro-war resolution. ***
http://whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/incubatorlie.html
Just to be fair - Democrats, including Hillary Clinton and John Kerry voted in favor of going to war with Iraq. Everyone, including Sadam's generals, believed he had WMDs. In an interview with 60 Minutes (not Fox), George Piro, an Assyrian-American FBI agent, who interviewed Sadam during the last two months of his life, asked why he kept up the illusion that he had WMDs. Sadam said that he didn't want to appear weak and he didn't want Iran to know that he didn't have them. He also thought that GW was a coward and said that he didn't believe the GW would actually invade. It was only when the invasion was actually in progress that he confessed to his generals that he didn't have WMDs. I'm not saying that I agree with the war, only that there were so many other factors in play. George Piro's interview with 60 Minutes is available on-line. It's very interesting and kind of sad.
Mother Beaver.. "Just to be fair"?! Have you been drinking again? Voted is NOT the same as LYING!! My cousin would still be alive if it wasn't for the LYING!!
@ Sarge - Sorry but they had access to the intel. None of them went and looked at it. (Well maybe 2 did.) They voted blind. (They seem to do that a lot these days.) I have no sympathy for them at all.
They get no credit for being stupid and lazy.
See my post above for what happened to those who voted against going to war. No one dared to question the authority. Well, we are questioning now, aren't we? A little late, but people are waking up. And the current administration is no better. Who is pulling the strings on our puppet in the white house?
I remember well.
I remember well the intimidation that was hurled at lawmakers who questioned the [non-] evidence pushed by the Chaney-Bush Regime and by the neocons/Republicans in general. It was a well orchestrated campaign by The Regime and the neocons to challenge one's patriotism for NOT jumping into war. Democrat and some Republican congressional members were cajoled into siding with The Regime through those arm-chair warriors' artful use of the news media, particularly Fox, and the low-brows within the heart of the Right Wing. To restate, the cowardly war-hawks were successful in swaying the minds of easily swayed citizens, relnuts who are used to following without questioning, to give much voice and support to this terrible endeavor created by the neocons.
Like many people around the world, I followed the events leading up to America's false and illegal invasion of a sovereign nation, Iraq, who had done no harm to America. True information had to be sought, by citizens like myself, via the Internet because the American news media had been successfully out-maneuvered by The Regime and, thus, those American reporters were intimidated into not challenging The Regime. I could sense it while watching and listening to, otherwise, responsible journalists on the three major channels (ABC, CBS, & NBC) plus PBS; they had been hogtied and silenced.
I remember well, for every excuse Cheney-Bush-Rumsfeld-ad nauseum gave for war with Iraq, each excuse was exposed as being false by our allies and/or by a few REAL American journalists brave enough, or who had less to lose, to speak out. But if one tells lies enough times over and over, ignorant people will believe them.
I remember well General Shinseki being denounced by Chaney & Bush for (later, Shinseki proven to be correct) giving his assessment for the required number of "boots-on-the-ground" which was higher than the United States could probably muster for the invasion. Enter into Youtube's search box these two titles: "Gen. Eric Shinseki from 02.25.03" and "The Generals who said no to Rumsfeld / Bush" plus, feel free to view the other, associated Youtube submissions.
It was nearly impossible, back then, to stand up to the onslaught by this well-oiled, Fascist machine and the loud citizen-crazies who were easily goaded into supporting that stupid war.
Rhetorically, wouldn't it be nice to have Sadam in power, today, to act as a buffer against the Iranian Regime?
Mother Beaver - You need to watch the PBS Frontline documentary "Cheney's Law", how he rooted around until he found an attorney general who would re-write the constitution the way he needed it written for the Patriot Acts. Thank you Alberto Gonzales, you freak. The documentary is available on the PBS web site.
No.
I was there. Originally, the Bush Administration's claim during the 2002 mid-term election cycle was that Saddam had nuclear weapons. This claim was made by Bush himself, even though his own investigator, Joseph Wilson, went to Niger to investigate the yellow cake uranium story, and reported it to be false.
After Bush's claim, Wilson wrote an Op-Ed piece in the NY times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/06/opinion/what-i-didn-t-find-in-africa.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm
After the piece, the administration shifted the claim to "weapons of mass destruction", instead of nuclear weapons. That Saddam had nukes was the top issue in the 2002 mid-term election.
As an addendum to this episode: the administration outed Wilson's wife as a CIA agent. Scooter Libby, the Vice-President's Chief-of-Staff, and Assistant to the President, was convicted of sentenced on four of five felony charges in this incident. Cheney reportedly was unhappy that the administration threw Libby under the bus.
Most of the world, including about half of Americans not only did not believe that Saddam had "weapons of mass destruction", but that the administration was making a false case for war. The United Nations opposed the invasion of Iraq, and the claim of both nuclear weapons and the talking point shift to WMDs. The pretext for the invasion was that Saddam was in violation of a UN Accord - and the US invaded despite the disapproval of the UN of the invasion and it's claim that Saddam was , at that time, in violation of the Accord, which , at the time, Saddam was not. He was cooperating with Blix and allowing full access to any and all areas that the US claimed Saddam was hiding nukes or WMDs. Blix' teams went to locations specifically claimed by the administration to be nuclear research labs or biological or chemical labs or production facilities and found nothing.
At that time, Americans that questioned the Administration about the administrations claims of WMDs were accused of being terrorist sympathizers and supporters of the administration were calling for charges of treason, which carries a sentence of death by firing squad.
CIA analysts were complaining publicly that the administration was pressuring to claim that evidence of WMDs that did not exist, and there were regularly claims in both conservative and mainstream media that on a monthly basis that some pile aluminum tubes found in Iraq was proof positive of WMDs - finally: the smoking gun - take that liberals!
In the end, Bush made statements that:
"We never claimed Saddam had weapons of mass destruction."
and
"We never claimed Saddam was involved in 9/11."
Most of the world knew the administration was lying, including about half of the electorate, the other half either knew but didn't care, or were too stupid to think for themselves.
In any event, don't say that everyone thought Saddam had WMDs, because it's not even close to the truth.
To..Gneis""""
No....more bush lies...
Congress Doesn't See Same Intelligence as President, Report Finds
Thursday 15 December 2005
Knight Ridder Newspapers
Washington - President Bush and top administration officials have access to a much broader ranger of intelligence reports than members of Congress do, a nonpartisan congressional research agency said in a report Thursday, raising questions about recent assertions by the president.
Bush has said that Democratic lawmakers who authorized the use of force against Iraq and now criticize the war saw the same pre-invasion intelligence on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction that he did.
The president made that claim in recent speeches about Iraq. Support for the war has decreased, and critics have said that the administration misled the country when it relied on erroneous intelligence about Iraqi weapons programs that supported its case for war and discarded information that undermined it.
The Congressional Research Service, by contrast, said: "The president, and a small number of presidentially designated Cabinet-level officials, including the vice president ... have access to a far greater overall volume of intelligence and to more sensitive intelligence information, including information regarding intelligence sources and methods."
Unlike members of Congress, the president and his top officials also have the authority to ask U.S. intelligence agencies more extensively for follow-up information, the report said. "As a result, the president and his most senior advisers arguably are better positioned to assess the quality of the ... intelligence more accurately than is Congress."
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/reports/intelligence/story/13180.html
Doubts, dissent stripped from public Iraq assessment
By JONATHAN S. LANDAY
Knight Ridder Newspapers
February 9, 2004
WASHINGTON — The public version of the U.S. intelligence community's key prewar assessment of Iraq's illicit arms programs was stripped of dissenting opinions, warnings of insufficient information and doubts about deposed dictator Saddam Hussein's intentions, a review of the document and its once-classified version shows.
As a result, the public was given a far more definitive assessment of Iraq's plans and capabilities than President Bush and other U.S. decision-makers received from their intelligence agencies.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/iraq-intelligence/story/10131.html
May Jessica have a wonderful life with her family. May she never remember that terrible day. Good Luck.
Michael Scott Speicher, USN Pilot, captured alive but abandoned by his Government.
Just like what happened in Viet Nam.
I admit I never did care much for bush ...but even I don't think if he actually believed saddam had WMD and would unleash them on American troops if invaded ..would he have ever sent in ground troops ..
Frankly, I think he was between a rock and a hard place. We know that they had WMDs at least at one time. They used them against the Kurds for God's sake. Remember Chemical Ali? I think there were a faction that believe we got them all and removed his nuclear research. I think there were others that weren't sure.
I think Americans would have burned the country down if terrorists had managed to use WMDs on US soil - whether they were chemical, biological or nuclear.
I think he did fear their existence and I think, rightly, that he feared that if Saddam had them he would eventually use them against us. Bush couldn't let that happen.
As it turns out, we did for the most part get all their WMDs before the invasion. I think that a lot of us forget that at the time most Americans were out for blood and weren't willing to take a chance with Iraq.
That all being said, Bush did completely fubar the occupation of Iraq. He completely misunderstood what their reaction would be.
Hindsight is 20/20.
And if I'm not mistaken, Chemical Weapons are still considered WMD's.
Just remember, considering todays news....
POSUS Obama "the use of chemical weapons would be a "red line" for his administration."
Truthdig is a news website that provides a mix of long-form articles, interviews, and blog-like commentary on current events, delivered from a "progressive" point ...
To..Govt"""
And...
Jessica Lynch is simply a joy to hear about and a true American patriot.
It's sad when you think about it ...things we never should have forgotten have been forgotten when it comes to war
When will we ever learn?