ABOVE: An Iraqi child leans on a door which was hit by shrapnel which residents said was from a bomb which fell nearby during the 1998 U.S and British raids on Iraq. REUETERS/Faleh Kheiber (August 27, 2002)
Q One question for you both. Do you believe that there is a link between Saddam Hussein, a direct link, and the men who attacked on September the 11th?
THE PRESIDENT: I can't make that claim.
THE PRIME MINISTER: That answers your question...
From the January 31, 2003 White House press conference with George W. Bush and Tony Blair. See the entire transcript on the White House site here.
After the December 13/14, 2003 "capture" of the former U.S. government ally...
Like War? This is the neoconservative agenda. - Paul Craig Roberts, August 23, 2004 [LewRockwell.com]
Congress Ignores 'Dirty War' Past of New Iraq Envoy John Negroponte, the Bush administration's nominee to become Washington's first ambassador to Iraq since last year's invasion, was talking about how much "sovereignty" the country's new government will enjoy after Jun. 30, when U.S. military forces will remain in control of security. - Jim Lobe, July 2, 2004 [LewRockwell.com]
Bad News for Control Freaks The Middle East is much more complex than you will ever learn by watching Fox television. - Charley Reese, June 5, 2004 [LewRockwell.com]
The Same Old Failed Policies in Iraq We never seem to learn, and the Muslim Middle East never forgets. - Rep. Ron Paul, MD, June 3, 2004 [LewRockwell.com]
Five Smooth Stones The same government that tried to control Iraq is at war against the liberty, property, and privacy of Americans. - Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr., June 3, 2004 [LewRockwell.com]
So if Iraq is Vietnam, What is the War on Terror? As the U.S. government sends more troops to Iraq, and as both Bush and Kerry share the sentiment that the United States needs to maintain the occupation, we see little hope in the war subsiding. - Anthony Gregory, May 12, 2004 [LewRockwell.com]
Between Iraq and a Hard Place But photographs – first of some twenty flag-draped coffins of American soldiers, then of Iraqi citizens being gleefully tortured by American troops – were able to insinuate themselves into the consciousness of even a few erstwhile flag-wavers. - Butler Shaffer, May 8, 2004 [LewRockwell.com]
Iraq Prisoner Images Anger Arabs, Bush Arab outrage flashed across the Middle East on Friday as TV stations showed graphic images of naked Iraqi prisoners being humiliated by smiling U.S. military police. - Nadia Abou El-Magd, April 30, 2004 [The Miami Herald]
Eyewitness in Fallujah The biggest hospital after the main one was bombed is in US territory and cut off from the clinic by snipers. - Jo Wilding, April 18, 2004 [Sunday Herald]
Report from Fallujah--Destroying a Town in Order to Save It To Americans, 'Fallujah' may still mean four mercenaries killed, with their corpses then mutilated and abused; to Iraqis, 'Fallujah' means the savage collective punishment for that attack, in which over 600 Iraqis have been killed, with an estimated 200 women and over 100 children. - Rahul Mahajan, April 13, 2004 [Strike the Root]
A Superpower Defeated The actions of the Bush administration and its disastrous war are not the actions of our country as such. It was a few misguided fanatics who do not have an appreciation for the value of freedom. - Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr., April 9, 2004 [LewRockwell.com]
Iraq plunges into hostage drama Iraqi militants are threatening to kill three Japanese hostages unless Tokyo withdraws its troops within three days. - April 8, 2004 [BBC News]
Resisting the Occupation (“Liberation”) of Iraq Imagine that Chinese troops have invaded the United States with the stated goal of liberating the American people from the grips of the IRS, DEA, BATF, and the many other departments and agencies that violate the principles of freedom set forth by our Founding Fathers in the Declaration of Independence. - Jacob G. Hornberger, April 2, 2004 [The Future of Freedom Foundation]
Iraq: One Year Later When Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was asked whether the deaths of the Americans were worth it, he said, “Oh, my goodness, yes. There’s just no question.... Twenty-five million people in Iraq are free.” - Sheldon Richman, March 19, 2004 [The Future of Freedom Foundation]
Bush’s War Story Is All Wrong President Bush likes to say that if his war critics had their way, Saddam Hussein would still be in power. - Sheldon Richman, March 1, 2004 [The Future of Freedom Foundation]
Just Die, Already In fact, it would be ideal if he would die soon, like Jack Ruby, who contracted cancer and died – just like that – before he could be brought to trial. - Paul Hein, December 20, 2003 [LewRockwell.com]
War Crimes Trials and Errors The earlier photo of Donald Rumsfeld shaking hands with Saddam Hussein is but one exhibit tending to show the symbiotic relationship that unites all statists in a conspiracy against the human race. - Butler Shaffer, December 19, 2003 [LewRockwell.com]
The War Fête It was all so predictable. Any and all doubt has been erased in the minds of the war hawks. The US military caught Saddam, so therefore, all anti-war sentiment can be proven absurd and/or irrelevant. - Karen De Coster, December 16, 2003 [LewRockwell.com]
Saddam’s Capture Means Trouble for U.S. Officials How likely is it that U.S. officials will permit Saddam Hussein to be delivered to a tribunal whose judges they are unable to control — to judges who would permit Saddam to testify freely, openly, and publicly about the details of his relationship with Reagan-Bush officials to a transfixed world. - Jacob G. Hornberger, December 15, 2003 [The Future of Freedom Foundation]
After the March 19, 2003 U.S. government invasion...
Crocodile Teardrops Bush sheds a tear for the troops – but what about those two Iraqi girls they may have killed? - Justin Raimondo, December 1, 2003 [antiwar.com]
Bright Shining Lies, Blistering Truth Fourteen administration lies are listed below. They represent less than a third of the well-circulated and promoted storylines "manufactured or at least engineered that distorted the picture of Gulf II for the American and British people." - Karen Kwiatkowski, November 12, 2003 [LewRockwell.com]
Phooey on Tough Talk I would feel better about President George Bush's tough schoolboy rhetoric if he were in Baghdad, Fallujah or Tikrit instead of lolling about on his ranch or at Camp David in between fund-raising trips and photo ops. He ought to go to Iraq to see what his policy has wrought. - Charley Reese, November 8, 2003 [Antiwar.com]
Is it Worth it? But please, ask with humility. Plead your undeniable ignorance. Show some restraint as you punch in a ballot that will dictate the fate of others. After all, your vote has victims.- Emily Katz, November 7, 2003 [LewRockwell.com]
Snatching Defeat from the Jaws of Victory Just before the preemptive 2003 march by the world’s only superpower into the desert of a fourth rate but superbly geo-strategically located Arab country, Iraq apparently offered the Bush Administration everything it wanted and more, no strings attached. - Karen Kwiatkowski, November 7, 2003 [LewRockwell.com]
A Nightmare in Iraq Americans soldiers are killing innocent Iraqi civilians almost on a regular basis. In recent days and in separate incidents they killed eight Iraqi policemen, an Iraqi interpreter working for the U.S. occupiers, a woman and her child at a wedding, and a young teenager at another wedding. - Sheldon Richman, September 24, 2003 [The Future of Freedom Foundation]
Congressional Complicity in WMD Duplicity Why has Congress been relatively quiet on the executive branch’s deception about Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction? - Jacob G. Hornberger, August 22, 2003 [The Future of Freedom Foundation]
Civilian War Deaths in Iraq You probably did not notice, but I doubt you have ever read an estimate, formal or informal, of the number of Iraqi civilians who were killed in the recent Gulf War. Collateral damage in the USA’s "liberation" of the Iraqi people. - Jude Wanniski, August 21, 2003 [Wanniski.com]
Bush’s WMD Flimflams The Bush administration’s rush to war against Iraq was justified largely by the danger that Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction supposedly posed to the United States and to U.S. allies. - James Bovard, August 4, 2003 [The Future of Freedom Foundation]
Even with Weapons, Hussein Was No Threat The glaring absence of unconventional Iraqi arms should not blind us to the fact that even if Saddam Hussein had amassed chemical, biological, and — yes — even nuclear weapons, he would not have posed a threat to the American people. -Sheldon Richman, July 23, 2003 [LewRockwell.com]
Is Fraud a High Crime or Misdemeanor? The president knowingly and intentionally failed to disclose that material fact when he uttered those 16 words in his State of the Union address, and that critical omission was obviously designed to create a false impression within the minds of the American people. - Jacob G. Hornberger, July 16, 2003 [The Future of Freedom Foundation]
From Apocalypse to Anticlimax It soon transpired that people within the administration, as well as many journalists, had already been looking for an occasion to resume war on Iraq, making plans for it years before 9/11. They were quick to see their opportunity, and an enormous propaganda offensive against Iraq began. - Joseph Sobran, July 31, 2003 [Sobran's]
WMDs Gone MIA Is it possible Iraq never had that vast arsenal of anthrax, VX, sarin, and mustard gas we were led to believe? Did the intelligence agencies fail us, or did someone “cook the books” to meet the recipe for an imperial war? - Pat Buchanan, June 30, 2003 [The American Conservative]
A Sad Story According to an Iraqi witness, last week an American soldier at a propane tank got into an argument with an Iraqi woman, took her propane tank away from her and tossed it on the ground, and gave her a hard shove... - Charley Reese, June 23, 2003 [Charley Reese]
Where Are the WMD? Right now, Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction are as real as flying saucers. But American fighting men died over them. And still do. - R. Cort Kirkwood, June 18, 2003 [LewRockwell.com]
US clouds Iraqi civilian deaths Americans were outraged when 3,000 people were killed in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Now, between Afghanistan and Iraq, our vengeance has killed way more than that. - Boston Globe, June 13, 2003 [Boston Globe]
Conservative Conundrum Conservatives become more inscrutable every day. They spend half their time praising the federal government for its miracles in Iraq (and, if they get their way, in Iran) and the other half of their time ridiculing the Democrats for thinking that the same federal government can provide medical insurance for everyone. - Sheldon Richman, June 9, 2003 [The Future of Freedom Foundation]
Building Democracy in Iraq So the Bush administration is going to bring democracy to Iraq. Leaving aside the dubious connection between democracy and freedom (it wasn’t Operation Iraqi Democracy), there’s a rather large potential problem in realizing that ambition: what if the Iraqis want to do something contrary to the administration’s wishes? - Sheldon Richman, June 5, 2003 [The Future of Freedom Foundation]
Moral Responsiblity for Iraqi Graves Given the failure of U.S. forces to find Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction, the newest justification for the president’s invasion of Iraq has become the mass graves of Iraqis killed by Saddam Hussein’s forces after the Persian Gulf War in 1991...Those Iraqi mass graves are actually just one more reminder of the moral bankruptcy of U.S. foreign policy and specifically U.S. policy toward Iraq for the past 20 years. - Jacob G. Hornberger, May 23, 2003 [The Future of Freedom Foundation]
A Plan for Iraq: Leave The U.S. has done enough damage to this poor country. - Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr., May 8, 2003 [Mises]
Halliburton job bigger than thought Army says $7 B contract to repair Iraq's oil fields includes operations and oil distribution. - May 7, 2003 [CNN]
Dozens die in US arms dump attack Chaos and carnage again gripped the streets of Baghdad last night after a US weapons dump was blown up, killing as many as 40 civilians. - Tom Curtis, April 27, 2003 [The Scotsman]
Some Are Weeping, Some Are Not It has often been said that war is Hell, but the saying is only half right. In truth, it's Hell for some and perfectly splendid for others. - Robert Higgs, April 26, 2003 [LewRockwell.com]
Next Stop, Syria If we invade Syria, we will no longer be fighting against one lone country that has no chance of defeating us. No, will be fighting the rest of the Middle East. And then the rest of the world will line up against us. - Anthony Karnowski, April 21, 2003 [Strike the Root]
The Iraq War: A Case Study on Historical Revisionism For those of us who are well aware of the truly complex issues facing our nation, it is our duty to resist the fairytale tellers’ version of history and deliver a message that is at once consistent with reality, supported by facts, and unadorned with fiction. - Douglas E. Spicer, April 16, 2003 [Strike the Root]
Before the March 19, 2003 U.S. government invasion...
The CIA's Assets in the Middle East Saddam Hussein came under CIA influence after he had attempted to assassinate Iraq’s leftist military leader, Kassem, in 1958, the same year that Kassem ousted the ruling monarch. - Gary North, March 19, 2003 [LewRockwell.com]
Gun Ownership in Iraq I have twice seen the same film clip on CBS news: an Iraqi citizen buying what looks like a machine gun (Kalashnikov), and another citizen trying out a semi-automatic pistol’s slide action. Both times, the voice-over warned of Iraqis preparing to defend themselves. - Gary North, March 7, 2003 [LewRockwell.com]
US prepares to use toxic gases in Iraq The US is preparing to use the toxic riot-control agents CS gas and pepper spray in Iraq in contravention of the Chemical Weapons Convention, provoking the first split in the Anglo-US alliance. - Geoffrey Lean and Severin Carrell, March 2, 2003 [Independent.co.uk]
Adolf Hussein? I don’t know about you, but I am mighty tired of the warmongers making constant comparisons between Germany 1939 and Iraq 2003. This is not only disingenuous, it is dishonest. - Charles Sebrell, February 27, 2003 [LewRockwell.com]
Lying Us Into War:
Exposing Bush and His "Techniques of Deceit" President George W. Bush and his foreign-policy team have systematically and knowingly deceived the American people in order to gain support for an unprovoked attack on Iraq. - Dennis Hans, February 10, 2003 [Scoop]
All Eyes on Iraq But as the War Party runs interference, President Bush delivered a State of the Union Address that would make Karl Marx blush, and it seems that few pundits or pols are willing to challenge a president and Congress that continue to increase spending at twice the rate of Clinton. - Brian Dunaway, February 8, 2003 [LewRockwell.com]
Do We Need War for the Young? Sure, Bush may believe that Saddam Hussein is a vicious dictator who has some intolerable weapons that should be eliminated. But, may there not well be various other ways of pacifying Saddam beside an out and out military operation? - Tibor Machan, February 6, 2003 [LewRockwell.com]
Not Our Finest Hour President Bush's political dilemma — he wants to go to war with Iraq, while most of the world does not — is in large part a product of the administration's rhetoric, a mix of dogmatic statements and, on occasion, obvious falsehoods. - Charley Reese, January 31, 2003 [Charley Reese]
A War Crime or an Act of War? Before we go to war over Halabja, the administration owes the American people the full facts. And if it has other examples of Saddam Hussein gassing Kurds, it must show that they were not pro-Iranian Kurdish guerrillas who died fighting alongside Iranian Revolutionary Guards. - Stephen C. Pelletiere, January 31, 2003 [New York Times]
An Unjust War What are men of good will to make of this possible war? To what principles and persons may they turn for wise counsel? One source of wisdom is Pope John Paul II. - David Dieteman, January 20, 2003 [LewRockwell.com]
The Lies We Are Told About Iraq The Bush administration's confrontation with Iraq is as much a contest of credibility as it is of military force. - Victor Marshall, January 5, 2003 [Los Angeles Times]
The Embarrassment and Illegality of the No-Fly Zones The Bush administration will have to look elsewhere for its excuse to invade Iraq. - Jacob G. Hornberger, November 21, 2002 [The Future of Freedom Foundation]
The Glass Houses of Dictators President Bush should exercise caution before hastily criticizing the omnipotent powers of foreign dictators. After all, people just might start asking some uncomfortable questions about the powers that he’s exercising and the method by which he is usurping them. - Jacob G. Hornberger, November 18, 2002 [The Future of Freedom Foundation]
We're Already at War with Iraq ...given the common definition of war, we are already waging war, and an unjust one at that, against the people of Iraq. - Lee McCracken, November 12, 2002 [Strike the Root]
Pawn Takes Knight Can you imagine going to war over political prisoners and unreturned property? I’m not making light of those transgressions, but how many U.S. allies are guilty of holding political prisoners? - Sheldon Richman, November 9, 2002 [The Future of Freedom Foundation]
Robert Fisk: Bush fights for another clean shot in his war "A clean shot" was The Washington Post's revolting description of the murder of the al-Qa'ida leaders in Yemen by a US "Predator" unmanned aircraft. - November 8, 2002 [independent.co.uk]
Some Nagging Questions Like...If Saddam Hussein’s program to develop weapons of mass destruction is so secret, how did Mr. Bush get aerial photos of all those large above-ground buildings that allegedly house Iraq’s nuclear program? - Sheldon Richman, October 29, 2002 [The Future of Freedom Foundation]
Bush Won't Take Yes For An Answer Bush and his warmongers will never believe either the Iraqis or the inspectors. Bush wants his war, and he will have it, come what may. - Charley Reese, October 9, 2002 [Charley Reese]
Dessert Storm – Iran, Iraq, Whatever Bush declares war back. The Taliban are toast. He argues for a preemptive strike against Iraq, which must certainly be called "Dessert Storm." - Richard Cummings, October 9, 2002 [LewRockwell.com]
Inspection as invasion The US has been seeking to prevent a resolution of the Iraq crisis for the past eight years. - George Monbiot, October 8, 2002 [Guardian Unlimited]
Some Questions About the War My question: If the U.S. invades Iraq without UN approval, wouldn’t that demonstrate the impotence of the UN? - Bob Murphy, September 27, 2002 [LewRockwell.com]
Following Iraq's bioweapons trail An eight-year-old Senate report confirms that disease- producing and poisonous materials were exported, under U.S. government license, to Iraq from 1985 to 1988 during the Iran-Iraq war. - Robert Novak, September 26, 2002 [Freedom of Information Center]
The Mystique Of Iraq For some reason unknown to me, Iraq casts a strange spell on the members of the Bush family when they occupy the White House. - Charley Reese, September 25, 2002 [Charley Reese]
Baghdad, Autumn 2002: City of Doom With an all-out war on Iraq shadowing the near horizon, what are Americans to do if they want to prevent such carnage from happening in their names with their tax dollars? - Norman Solomon, September 24, 2002 [LewRockwell.com]
Who is the Madman Here? - Bush's UN Non-Sequiturs President Bush spoke to the UN General Assembly on Thursday, September 12 about the supposedly urgent need to attack Iraq. The following is a list of statements made by him that are either illogical, half-truths, or outright falsehoods, with responses to each. - Tom Gorman, September 13, 2002 [CounterPunch]
Don't look now: Saddam is drowning kittens The warmongers failed to win public opinion, so they're suddenly cobbling together 'evidence.' - Mark Steel, September 5, 2002 [Independent.co.uk]
Who's Afraid of Iraq? Saddam's missiles can't come close to the U.S. They can reach Moscow, but the Russians aren't concerned; they're signing a $ 40 billion economic and trade cooperation package with Iraq. - Gary Leupp, September 4, 2002 [CounterPunch]
Cheney's War - Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr., August 28, 2002 [LewRockwell.com]
The Propaganda War America, both government and people, is preparing for war with Iraq. - Daniel McCarthy, August 15, 2002 [LewRockwell.com]
How to destroy America in one easy lesson President Bush now seems hell-bent on a plan that could easily lead to a nuclear strike against America – a strike that could cause a disaster many times worse than the World Trade Center attack. - Harry Browne, August 15, 2002 [WorldNetDaily]
Frustration Over Iraq But meanwhile, what can the rest of us do, as our illegitimate leaders try their best to drag this nation into the dirt? - John deLaubenfels, August 7, 2002 [Strike the Root]
A Kinder, Gentler Saddam Hussein Sometimes it’s easier to admit our own faults than our enemies’ virtues. But to judge from the warrior press, the U.S. Government has no faults, and Saddam Hussein has no virtues. Has everyone forgotten the adage that there’s a little bit of good in the worst of us? - Joseph Sobran, August 1, 2002 [Sobran's]
Leave Iraq alone! Any president who thinks he can decide who should rule a foreign country is a danger to the American people. He's a megalomaniac – putting you and your family at extreme risk to satisfy his own delusions of grandeur. - Harry Browne, May 9, 2002 [WorldNetDaily]
'Poodle' Blair Prepares for Iraq War The man branded President Bush's "poodle" effectively said it was only a matter of time before Britain joined a US military strike aimed at toppling the Iraqi tyrant's "detestable" regime. - Oonagh Blackman, April 9, 2002 [Mirror.co.uk]
Hands off Iraq Neil Clark says that the agitation against Saddam shows there are no limits to the stupidity of liberal imperialism. - Neil Clark, April 6, 2002 [The Spectator]
The US twists arms in the Middle East In return for supporting a new Gulf war, Turkey could get Iraqi oilfields. - Dan Plesch, April 1, 2002 [New Statesman]
Don't Aggress Against Iraq The last thing this world needs is the development of more nuclear weapons, as is now being planned in a pretense for ensuring the peace. - Congressman Ron Paul, MD, March 22, 2002 [LewRockwell.com]
The Mother of All Battles In the end, every empire, even Uncle Sam’s, must return again to the dust. - John Newman, March 20, 2002 [anti-state.com]
Before We Bomb Iraq... We must understand that the American people become less secure when we risk a major conflict driven by commercial interests and not constitutionally authorized by Congress. - Congressman Ron Paul, MD, March 2, 2002 [LewRockwell.com]
Eyes Wide Shut I used to wonder how in the world the German public could claim it knew nothing about the Nazi death camps. - Bob Wallace, February 25, 2002 [LewRockwell.com]
Ron Paul on Another War Against Iraq I strongly oppose House Joint Resolution 75 because it solves none of our problems and only creates new ones. - Congressman Ron Paul, MD, December 21, 2001 [LewRockwell.com]
Saddam Hussein is Right Whether or not you’d like to admit it, you [Conservatives] are the aggressive imperialists that Saddam says you are. - Bill Barnwell, August 10, 2001 [LewRockwell.com]
Catholics, Iraq, and Just War The culprit is not in Bagdad, but in Washington, D.C. That is why every American Catholic has a moral obligation to be aware of the danger the U.S. imperium represents, to resist its encroachments so far as he is able, and to pray for its end. - Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr., July 18, 2000 [LewRockwell.com]
Gas and Government The State Department had given Iraq the thumbs up to take Kuwait, the rich neighbor next door that had once belonged to Iraq and that had been stealing oil sub rosa. But when Saddam Hussein made his move, the US inexplicably wanted to go to war. - Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr., March 21, 2000 [LewRockwell.com]
The Evil of Sanctions While a bomb, missile, or other military ordnance can devastate an entire neighborhood in a moment, the slow death of economic strangulation can so degrade an entire people that they are reduced to a pre-civilizational state, modern savages living at a subsistence level. - Justin Raimondo, April 1998 [Mises]
Time to End Perpetual War Speech delivered in February 1998, as the U.S. prepared to embark on another bombing campaign against Iraq. - Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr., February 1998 [Mises]
Books
America Entangled: The Persian Gulf Crisis and Its Consequences - Ted G. Carpenter (ed)
