Where the heck was O'Neill in early 2003?

[paulthompson]

Kudos for Paul O'Neill in coming out with this info now.

But where was he and his 19,000 documents showing that the WMD hunt was a sham and that the Iraq war was planned before 9/11 BEFORE the Iraq war actually started in March 2003?

He was fired in Dec. 2002, so he had four months to come out with that info when it could have had a major impact on the debate about the war.

Did he hold off just so the revelations could be timed with the release of his book?

Our cowardly Demo leaders frequently said they voted for the war with misgivings because they trusted Bush. These revelations could have blown that "trust" out of the water and given more of them the backbone to come out against the war before it happened.

Could the $300 billion tax cut also have been stopped if he was more publicly vocal before they passed? It only would have taken a couple more Senators to scuttle it altogether. Much recent history would be different, I think if O'Neill spoke sooner.

[morgan2]

1. figuring out a way to make money of this..

without it looking like that was his goal? Got someone else to write the book and gets paid to talk about it now.

[sallyseven]

2. He is not making money on this.

He has zillions of dollars. He is pissed off.

[jab105]

3. The book makes it permanent and legitimate...

and there for all time...plus Suskind is a very respected journalist...

in early 2003, I doubt that he would have been heard at all...lots of people were just too gungho for war...didnt ya know, it makes you patriotic...

And, no, he is not making ANY money on it!!!!!

[salinen]

4. The book is his insurance policy

against being "Wellstoned".

[IronLionZion]

5. he has more money than he knows what to do with

already, so he's not trying to make more. He can't just be sour at being fired because he has to know the world of shit that will come his way. So far he seems genuine.

He should have said why he waited this long, but hindsight is 20/20. We all know what SHOULD have happened.

[IronLionZion]

6. The brilliant Alan Greenspan opposed the tax cuts

he's the one responsible for the economic boom during the Clinton years

[acmavm]

7. Plain and simple, the people here who said no one would have

paid any attention are right, they wouldn't have. These jackasses who have got us into the mess we are in had everyone cowering in their boots. No one would have listened to him. They didn't listen to the UN, they wouldn't pay attention to foreign intelligence services, they absolutely wouldn't listen to the millions of protesters who hit the streets all over the world. The Bush* administration steamrolled everyone with their lies and deceptions and if O'Neill would have said anything right after his departure from the corrupt cabal, they would have said that he was just lying out of bitterness and revenge. Anything he would have said would have just fallen on deaf ears and died a quiet death a long time ago. And folks, there is some truth to the saying "better late than never". Because now is when we need this information the most. And having 19,000 documents to back up what he says is just icing on the cake.

[DoYouEverWonder]

8. Good question for someone to ask him?

But I could imagine more than a couple of good reasons.

Maybe he wanted to wait until closer to the elections to drop his bomblets and thereby have a bigger impact on the outcome?

Maybe his conscience finally got to him?

Maybe he needed to wait for the book so that most of his allegations would be documented and harder for the media to ignore?

Maybe....