No Questions Asked

I think it’s important to pause for a moment to consider what the administration told us about Iraq three years ago and what it is saying about Iran now:

Buildup to war, the threat

Iraq:

President Bush: “There are many dangers in the world, the threat from Iraq stands alone ….”

Iran:

Condoleeza Rice: “We may face no greater challenge from a single country than from Iran …

President Bush: “I called it (Iran) part of the ‘axis of evil’ for a reason. It’s a real threat.”

Terrorist ties

Iraq:

Colin Powell: There is a “sinister nexus between Iraq and the al-Qaeda terrorist network, a nexus that combines classic terrorist organizations and modern methods of murder.”

Iran:

Condoleeza Rice: “It is a country that is the central banker for terrorism, whether that terrorism is in southern Iraq or in the Palestinian territories or in Lebanon.”

Sept. 11

Iraq:

President Bush: “We’ve experienced the horror of September the 11th. We have seen that those who hate America are willing to crash airplanes into buildings full of innocent people. Our enemies would be no less willing — in fact, they would be eager — to use biological or chemical, or a nuclear weapon. Knowing these realities, America must not ignore the threat gathering against us. Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof — the smoking gun — that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud.”

Iran:

John Bolton (US ambassador to the UN): “Just like Sept. 11, only with nuclear weapons this time, that’s the threat [in Iran]. I think that is the threat. I think it’s just facing reality. It’s not a happy reality, but it’s reality and if you don’t deal with it, it will become even more unpleasant.”

Weapons of mass destruction

Iraq:

Vice President Dick Cheney: “Iraq is busy enhancing its capabilities in the field of chemical and biological agents, and they continue to pursue an aggressive nuclear weapons program. These are offensive weapons for the purpose of inflicting death on a massive scale, developed so that Saddam Hussein can hold the threat over the head of any one he chooses. What we must not do in the face of this mortal threat is to give in to wishful thinking or to willful blindness.”

Iran:

Bush in a document released to Congress: “Iran aggressively pursues these weapons [of mass destruction] and exports terror, while an unelected few repress the Iranian people’s hope for freedom.”

US concerned about oppressed citizens

Iraq:

Bush: “Many Iraqis can hear me tonight in a translated radio broadcast, and I have a message for them. If we must begin a military campaign, it will be directed against the lawless men who rule your country and not against you. As our coalition takes away their power, we will deliver the food and medicine you need. We will tear down the apparatus of terror and we will help you to build a new Iraq that is prosperous and free.

We will tear down the apparatus of terror and we will help you to build a new Iraq that is prosperous and free. In a free Iraq, there will be no more wars of aggression against your neighbors, no more poison factories, no more executions of dissidents, no more torture chambers and rape rooms. The tyrant will soon be gone. The day of your liberation is near.”

Iran:

Bush: “I’m concerned about theocracy that has got little transparency, a country whose president has declared the destruction of Israel as part of their foreign policy, and a country that will not listen to the demands of the free world to get rid of its ambitions to have a nuclear weapon.”

Bush in document given to Congress: “Our strategy is to block the threats posed by the regime while expanding our engagement and outreach to the [Iranian] people the regime is oppressing.”

Diplomacy is the US’s goal

Iraq:

Former Bush Press Secretary Ari Fleischer: “I think what you’re seeing is diplomacy unfold, and in the end, the president remains optimistic the outcome will be solid.”

Iran:

“This notion that the U.S. is getting ready to attack Iran is simply ridiculous…Having said that, all options are on the table…”

Bush in document to Congress: “If necessary, however, under long-standing principles of self-defense, we do not rule out the use of force before attacks occur, even if uncertainty remains as to the time and place of the enemy’s attack.”

“The place of pre-emption in our national security strategy remains the same,” the 49-page document said. “We will always proceed deliberately, weighing the consequences of our actions. The reasons for our actions will be clear, the force measured, and the cause just.”

And: “The United States and its European allies are locked in a test of wills with Iran over suspicions that Tehran is trying to develop a nuclear weapons program despite its insistence that it merely wants atomic power for civilian use.”

Sources of information about weapons of mass destruction

Iraq:

Iraqi “dissidents” provided to news media by Ahmad Chalabi.

Iran:
Source of most stories about weapons of mass destruction and need to go to war: Iranian “dissidents” and information provided by Iranian dissidents provided to the media by The National Council of Resistance of Iran, an organization considered a terrorist group by the US State Department.

Does anyone else have a sense of déjà vu?

Three years after the war in Iraq began, the country that was to be the example of democracy in the region is on the verge of civil war. Tens of thousands of people are dead.

And everything the administration said three years ago appears to have been either completely false or greatly exaggerated.

A year after the war began, Colin Powell told reporters that his UN presentation about the need to go to war in Iraq was a charade: “It turned out that the sourcing was inaccurate and wrong, and, in some cases, deliberately misleading. And for that, I am disappointed, and I regret it.” Of course there was no turning back; US troops were engaged in Iraq and the country was in shambles.

Ahmad Chalabi, an Iraqi “dissident” who pushed hard for the war and provided much of the information used by Powell and administration officials to make their case later said: “We are heroes in error. As far as we’re concerned, we’ve been entirely successful. That tyrant Saddam is gone, and the Americans are in Baghdad. What was said before is not important.”

The quotes above are just a few examples of why what is said “before” is important. If we don’t pay attention to what is said, then catastrophic, historic mistakes are repeated without examination or accountability.

Can we dare to imagine how many more innocent lives will be lost if the US again attacks based on false information or exaggerated claims? More importantly, will we stop the Bush administration from repeating its catastrophic mistakes in Iraq in other parts of the region?

Finally, a great piece of reporting. The AP deserves a round of applause for journalistic excellence. First they obtained the tape of the presidential briefing before hurricane Katrina. They analyzed the contents and provided the American public with a report that included some context by comparing how Bush and his staff was briefed to how they responded afterwards. The reporter allowed the facts to speak for themselves.

Nice work AP!

For those who haven’t seen the tape, here it is (be patient, it takes a few seconds to load):

Could this be considered criminal negligence?