Why the Memo Matters

[brettdale]

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=15&ItemID=8116

Mark Danner's excellent article on the Bush administration's path to war in Iraq missed a couple of important signposts.


On October 11, 2001, Knight Ridder reported that less than a month after the September 11 attacks senior Pentagon officials who wanted to expand the war against terrorism to Iraq had authorized a trip to Great Britain in September by former CIA director James Woolsey in search of evidence that Saddam Hussein had played a role in the September 11 terrorist attacks.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

1. The admin played a bigger role by ignoring the stack of data on

Al Qaida that Sandy Berger passed off to Ms. Rice, and by ignoring the multitudinous warnings coming in from all points.

They played a bigger role by banning John Oneill from pursuing his investigations overseas regarding Moga Dishu.

They played a bigger role by cutting off investigations into the Saudi Bin Laden connection by the FBI.

They played a bigger role simply by being in office.

Clinton stopped several attack attempts. They looked the other way.