January 10, 2004
When did Dubya start planning the invasion of Iraq?
The prez started making war plans in the first three months of 2001. That's the charge that former cabinet member Paul O'Neill makes in a forthcoming book about the first two years of Dubya's presidency.
"From the very beginning, there was a conviction that Saddam Hussein was a bad person and that he needed to go," O'Neill said in the "60 Minutes" interview scheduled to air on Sunday. "For me, the notion of pre-emption, that the U.S. has the unilateral right to do whatever we decide to do, is a really huge leap." [...]
O'Neill was also quoted in the book as saying the president was determined to find a reason to go to war and he was surprised nobody on the National Security Council questioned why Iraq should be invaded.
"It was all about finding a way to do it. That was the tone of it," said O'Neill. "The president saying 'Go find me a way to do this.'"
Via Reuters.
Posted by Magpie at January 10, 2004 02:03 PM | TrackBack