The Vulcans

The Presidency of George W. Bush has been under scrutiny right from the start of his Administration. Questions to this day, still linger, over his election in 2000 and the need for the predominantly Right Wing Supreme Court, to confirm the election results. Add to this, a Terrorist Attack that, many people felt he and his administration should have known about. This brings us to the biggest question of his Presidency, next to the authorization, of Water Boarding. The evidence presented, to justify and initiate, the War with Iraq.

A Weapon of Mass Destruction (WMD) is defined from the following;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weapons_of_mass_destruction
weapon of mass destruction (WMD) is a weapon that can kill large numbers of humans and/or cause great damage to man-made structures (e.g. buildings), natural structures (e.g. mountains), or the biosphere in general.
The term is often used to cover several weapon types, including nuclear, biological, chemical (NBC) and radiological weapons. Additional terms used in a military context include atomic, biological, and chemical warfare (ABC) and chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) warfare.

The initial act of Military Action was the response to the Terrorist Attack that occurred on September 11, 2001. The removal of the Taliban government in Afghanistan and the pursuit of the terrorist group Al-Qaida, along with their leader Osama Bin-Laden, began on October 7, 2001. As this campaign continued the Bush Administration began laying the groundwork that Saddam Hussein, President of Iraq, was a supporter of Terrorism, the terrorist group Al-Qaida and was in possession of Weapons of Mass Destruction. The Administration began a very elaborate media blitz and campaign to show evidence of Iraq attempting to gain access to Nuclear Weapons. This charge was challenged by many political opponents as well as the general public. The Intelligence Agencies around the world could not agree if Iraq still had WMDs from the previous Gulf War or if they had been destroyed. United Nations Weapons Inspectors claimed no WMDs existed but, the Bush Administration dismissed their claims. As the doubts mounted, the Bush Administration used the Terrorist Attacks to full advantage and on March 20, 2003, launched the initial invasion of Iraq.

Did the Bush Administration know, in advance, of the Attacks of September 11, 2001? Did they fabricate and influence evidence to justify a planned attack on another Sovereign Nation? Let us take a look at what was being discussed behind closed doors long before George W. Bush decided to run for President.

On March 10, 1991, then President George Herbert Walker Bush initiated the removal of all U.S. Troops out of the Persian Gulf Area. This was after the end of the Gulf War was announced. There were some criticisms made that we should have moved on to Baghdad and removed Saddam Hussein from power. President H.W. Bush, along with his National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft, felt the Coalition that was formed would not have gone along with the idea, as well as, a much higher cost of Human life and Political upheaval.
Then Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney stated;
I would guess if we had gone in there, I would still have forces in Baghdad today. We'd be running the country. We would not have been able to get everybody out and bring everybody home. And the final point that I think needs to be made is this question of casualties. I don't think you could have done all of that without significant additional U.S. casualties, and while everybody was tremendously impressed with the low cost of the (1991) conflict, for the 146 Americans who were killed in action and for their families, it wasn't a cheap war. And the question in my mind is, how many additional American casualties is Saddam (Hussein) worth? And the answer is, not that damned many. So, I think we got it right, both when we decided to expel him from Kuwait, but also when the President made the decision that we'd achieved our objectives and we were not going to go get bogged down in the problems of trying to take over and govern Iraq.[47
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_War#The_end_of_active_hostilities
Gee, if that really is how Dick Cheney felt, then what happened between then and when he became Vice President to George W. Bush?

Under Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz was one of the voices who believed we should have continued into Baghdad. Soon after the First Gulf War, Wolfowitz, along with his then assistant I. Lewis Libby (Scooter), wrote the Wolfowitz Doctrine. This was the unofficial title given to the initial version of the Defense Planning Guidance for the 1994-1999 fiscal years. This document was dated February 18, 1992. Due to some of the controversial policies within this document, it was rewritten under the supervision of Defense Secretary Cheney and released to the public officially on April 16, 1992. Of course, this document was never initiated because President H.W. Bush lost re-election to President William Jefferson Clinton. Strangely enough, the Wolfowitz Doctrine became the template for the Bush Doctrine of President George W. Bush.

In 1997, The Project for the New American Century was formed. It was co founded by neo-conservatives William Kristol and Robert Kagan.
http://www.newamericancentury.org/
The link above will take you to the website where the philosophies of this organization can be reviewed. In January of 1998, PNAC members including Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, and Robert Zoellick placed an open letter, on the organizations website, to President Clinton asking for the removal of Saddam Hussein from power since he was refusing to cooperate with the United Nations Weapons Inspectors. Letters were sent to members of Congress as well as editorials, written by Kristol, appeared in various publications calling for regime change in Iraq. All of this before George W. Bush announced his candidacy for President.

During this time, an unknown was being mentored. Her name is Condoleeza Rice. Dr. Rice was the director for the Soviet and East European Affairs of the National Security Council under Brent Scowcroft. Near the end of 1998, George W. Bush met Dr. Rice at the request of his father H.W. Bush. George W. was impressed enough that he asked her to take charge of the foreign policy, for his recently announced, Presidential Campaign. Soon afterward, Paul Wolfowitz, George P. Schultz and Dick Cheney joined the campaign as well.

When the Foreign Policy Advisory Team was complete, they were nicknamed the Vulcans. This team, being lead by Condoleeza Rice, included Richard Armitage, Robert Blackwill, Stephen Hadley, Richard Perle, Dov S. Zakheim, Robert Zoellick, Paul Wolfowitz along with Dick Cheney, George P. Shultz and Colin Powell. All majority of which are members of PNAC.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Vulcans

When George W. Bush won the election in 2000, all of the members of the Foreign Policy Advisory Team received lucrative positions in his administration. They were as follows;
Condoleeza Rice – U.S National Security Advisor, then U.S. Secretary of State.
Paul Wolfowitz – U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense under Donald Rumsfeld, then President of the World Bank.
Richard Armitage – U.S. Deputy Secretary of State under Colin Powell.
Robert Blackwill – U.S Ambassador to India, then U.S. Deputy National Security Advisor.
Stephen Hadley – U.S Deputy National Security Advisor under Condoleeza Rice, then U.S. National Security Advisor.
Richard Perle – appointed Chairman of the U.S. Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee.
Dov Zakheim – Comptroller of the Pentagon.
Robert Zoellick – U.S. Trade Representative, United States Deputy Secretary of State, then World Bank President in May of 2007.
Now, Presidential appointments to friends and associates are common when a new President is elected. But, the background of these appointees has to make you wonder.

So, if Saddam Hussein associated with Al-Qaida, why did the Bush Administration ignore the briefings and warnings about the Terrorist group, from the outgoing Clinton Administration? Al-Qaida had been implicated in the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993 as well as the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole in Yemen in 2000. These, along with internal intelligence of Middle Eastern Males being trained in flight schools here in the states, should have meant something to the incoming administration, especially Dr. Rice. However, she disregarded this information.

Now, we have not even covered our countries involvement in the Iraq/Iran War (Persian Gulf War) 1980 – 1988. During that time, we favored Saddam Hussein and may have even helped him with his weaponry in some way. Never the less, with the Wolfowitz Doctrine of regime change, (Funny, no mention of terrorism association in it) and the slow banging of the war drum from the PNAC, I believe a war in Iraq was a certainty under the George W. Bush Administration. The September 11, attack was the catalyst used. I am sure that no one has shed a tear about the demise of Saddam Hussein. The world may even be better off without him. But, were the reasons used to go to war legal? Did we really have any legitimate reason for our unprecedented pre-emptive strike on a sovereign nation? I’m sure this will be debated for a very long time in the future. However, I believe a world outcry to find the truth, may stimulate the World Court on International Law to take a good hard look sooner, rather than, later.

You know, I seem to recall a country about 75 years ago, had a leader that used fear to gain prominence. Then he created anger towards a made up enemy. His country used to play their National Anthem all the time on the radio, not just at 12 noon like we do. His Administration had their version of Homeland Security and a means to spread information or disinformation like we used to see. He also had a Doctrine for his Fiscal Years. He called it the Final Solution. Oh yeah, come to think of it, his political beliefs began with the prefix “Neo” as well. Hmm!


That’s how I see it.