Talkleft.com: Bush Wrote Congress that 9/11 Justified Invading Iraq!!

[BurtWorm]

http://www.talkleft.com/

Bush's Official War Justification

There can be no question that President Bush said Iraq's involvement with the 9/11 attacks justified our going to war. Here is Bush's Presidential Letter to Congress <http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/03/20030319-1.html>, dated March 18, 2003, available on the White House Web site, detailing why war against Iraq is justified. In case it is removed from the website, here's what it says:

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

[hedgetrimmer]

1. you are going, going, gone george....

you wrote it... you said it... you are going down...

i here the bubbles coming up in the water... blub! blup! blup!

i do not really but it made me fell good to say he was....

you are going down george!

[fsbooks]

3. As clear as one can get

but the repugs never let facts get in the way.

[BurtWorm]

2. I repeat: Bush used 9/11 to justify invading Iraq.

And he put it in writing:


(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.

[knight_of_the_star]

8. What an idiot

I'm going to print this out and see if I can post this all over the place at my college with documents that show that the administration has admitted that there was no link between Iraq and 9/11. Anyone have a link to such a document that I could use? That is what we would need to make this letter look REALLY damning for Bush.

[proud patriot]

4. Keep spreading it

Woo Hoo ! pretty soon this will be mainsteam .
Just got to keep hammering .

[Cloud]

5. Yeah

And didn't Bush say just recently that Saddam had nothing to do with 9-11?

Spread the word.

[calimary]

6. Cloud! Welcome to DU!

Neat name.

[Cloud]

7. Well

I have been a member for a few days now. I just read a lot of the news threads and chime in every now and then.

This site is so busy. If I come back tomorrow this thread would be long gone.

I got the name from the main character from Final Fantasy 7.

[PurityOfEssence]

9. Sorry, this is not a literal smoking gun

It claims the "right" to act against entities who support terrorists, INCLUDING ones who had a hand in 9-11.

This statement says he claims justification for entities that support terrorists UNRELATED TO 9-11, and doesn't say which category includes Iraq. So, by pure and factual writing, this is not a smoking gun.

On the other bloodstained hand, it shows a deliberate attempt to link the two while maintaining deniability; this is absolute proof of an attempt to use innunedo in a weasely way to mention terrorism and Iraq enough in the same sentences and hope the link is made. The chilling reality of this tactic is to smear anyone who's ever supported terrorism against anyone other than the U.S.; by this, we are a client state of Israel. Personally, I don't want that. If we're going to attack anyone who's ever supported terrorism against Israel, the distinction should be made loud and clear. Obfuscating the issue is disgusting.

Look who's running the PNAC: mostly ardent supporters of Israel with a serious bone to pick. That's why Syria's the meat in the sandwich; had the war gone better, they might have already been taken out. Obviously, one may never say such things because to many, one is automatically anti-semitic upon uttering the first breath.

Back to the main point, though: using innuendo and obfuscation to constantly mention things together that are unrelated IS proof of a pattern of attempting to mislead, and THIS IS THE ISSUE. Someone should intercut statements and denials to show a supremely cynical pattern of abuse.

[Devils Advocate NZ]

10. Actually, if you look at the actual resolution...

you will see that this is not even claiming a terrorist link. The resolution calls for Bush to determine that diplomacy won't work, and that a war on iraq will not adversely affect the war on terrorism.

In this letter he is saying the war is "consistent" with the war on terror. To me this reads as saying "it will not affect the war on terror" which is what he was actually asked to do.

So this doesn't really claim a link to Sept 11, or even a link to terrorism at all. It just says that this war is not "contrary" to the war on terror.

[Sick of Bullshit]

11. In other words,

it's just more bullshit from the pig farm.

[BurtWorm]

13. The point was not to be accurate in the letter to Congress

but to keep the smear alive. There was no real reason to even mention 9-11 in that letter, unless it was actually an assertion that Iraq was involved in 9-11. Imagine if the phrase had been, "terrorism, including the Oklahoma City bombing."

[BurtWorm]

12. kick

[lindashaw]

14. Great sleuthing!

[lindashaw]

15. I sent the entire letter to Buchanan & Press, the only ones I trust at all

[BurtWorm]

16. I'll bet Buzzflash, Bushwatch, Talking Points, etc. would be interested.

[Bertrand]

17. Time to break out the L word

Liar. Fraud doesnt appeal to many americans because they link it with conspiracy, an (unfortunatly) taboo thought.

Its time for the Dem-leaning politicos to call him out as a Liar, much like the republicans did with Clinton after the whole monica thing which helped their cause to discredit his reputation despite his great economic stewardship in the 90's.

[JNelson6563]

18. Thanks for posting this

I sent it (letter & link) and the article & link from the BBC and then a page the BBC linked to with quotes from Iraq war build-up by Team Bush to all the Dems on my local e-mail list. I urged them to use the stuff in letters to the editor as well as discussion.

Thanks again for posting. It's this kind of thread that makes DU such a treasure!

Julie

[dennis4868]

19. Man oh man, if Clinton wrote this letter to Congress....

it would be shown everynight on MSNBC and FOX news and demanding impeachment for lies to Congress, the american people and the world. But it is Bush....a war hero :-(