Rice: Iraq War 'Seemed the Course'

OIL

Norris Ward, Secretary Rice's statement, "We have to be right 100 percent of the time, they have to be right once", has nothing to do with group think. It is a fact. For what ever reason, the jihadists have not attacked us on our own soil since 9/11. That doesn't mean that they don't have something in the works -- the first attack on the World Trade Center happened in the early 1990s and it took until 2001 to attack America again. I would say that the Administration did not do everything right after 9/11 - there were mistakes and there was a lot of uncertainty. I am most opposed to the creation of the Department of Homeland Security and any deviation from our Constitution within the US and involving US citizens (Enemy Combatants are different). Whatever your opinion of Bush et al., he faced immense challenges and with a few exceptions, I wish him well. I also wish President elect Obama well and that he understands the threats we face, the limitations on the federal government's power in the Constitution, and that big government alone will only cause a depression.

Joe C.,

While I agree with your sentiments, you seem to be one of those people who haven't realized that Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11 and wasn't a threat to us at all. W. has argued that the public mood after 9/11 required the invasion. Nothing could be further from the truth. The opinion polls in the U.S. almost up to the time of the invasion (except after Colin Powell's U.N. speech) were almost as against it as they were in Europe. So it was only this Administration's erroneous intelligence that prompted it.

All W. has accomplished is to remove our first line of defense against Iran, as all the Mideast countries begged him not to do before the war. (He has made us a lot poorer too, but let's overlook that for the moment).

Saddam was glib and arrogant...but he was no world threat. He was the result of "kick the cat" mentallity that Dubya brought into office after his dad screwed Kuwait up.

Rice is despicable. So is the entire Bush adm. They should be charged with war crimes, deceit, and murder.

JimF, I also should have said that I actually do agree that we went into Iraq with faulty intelligence, no realistic plan, and not enough troops.

Saddam attempted to assinate a U. S. president, Europe and the UN were in bed with Saddam over billions in corrupt food aid to Iraq. Wouldn't Saddam be in a nuclear race with Iran today if he were still in power?
I think in the long run the people of Iraq and the US will better off because Saddam is gone.

More people were murdered in Chicago than US soldiers lost in Iraq this year. Where is the outcry? More babies lives were terminated in the womb this year than all the US soldiers lost in Iraq since the war began. Where is the outcry? How many millions of women are now free to vote and go to school in the middle east because of the policies of President Bush? There are two sides to the coin. I still remember how President Reagan was mocked by the liberals when he left office. Liberals don't understand history and don't care to learn. Time will prove that President Bush was years ahead in leadership.

Cheney/Satan 2012

As Bush and Condi work to rewrite history and whitewash their actions, we must remember that Bush stated meetings on an Iraq invasion within days of gaining the white house, long before 9/11 or any of their great WMD concerns surfaced. They saw 9/11 as a prefect excuse to do what their ego's dictated.

Frankly - 1st of all WMDs WERE found. Chemical weapons were found. Bio units were found minus the weapons which would fit in a vial and could have easily been buried in the sand. We know materials were hauled to Syria - not sure what. The recent Israeli raid resulted in radiation - probably from Iraq WMDs. But who knows?

But even if there had been no WMDs how many decades do you allow a country to twart UN resolutions and break the ceasefire they signed after Gulf War I? Might as well eliminate the UN if they won't enforce any sanctions after 10 years. So the international war was justified and was successful. Took just a few weeks. Mission accomplished. What was a dismal failure was the 5 year mop-up peacekeeping operation. Had the coalition been more tough in the beginning it would not have taken 5 years. We were overly concerned with collateral damage and PR. A Patton could have dealt with it in less than a year.

The end result is a democratic Iraq - a great success by George W. Bush.

I am an intelligence officer in the military. For the entire period of my service following the Gulf War up until 2003, it was "common knowledge" amongst all of us intelligence analysts that Iraq "had weapons of mass destruction". My point is: Bush, Rumsfeld, and Rice didn't create this erroneous intelligence in the mid-90's that I read daily in Iraq intelligence reports because they knew they were going to be in charge and use it to invade Iraq. The fact of the matter is that there are numerous low-level intelligence analysts out there right now who were full of it and now Bush, Rice, Powell, and Rumsfeld are going to be blamed in eternity. These analyses were all based on the fact that Saddam did in fact have and use WMD's against Iran (gas).

It was the bait and switch move on a grand scale. Al Qaida attacks us and Bush/Rice pivot to invade Saddam. He has no ties to Al Qaida and even acts as a buffer against Islamic fanatics and Iran. Cheney conjures up some phony intel about an Al Qaida tie in and immiment threat from WMDs and we're off. Those who attacked us are still at large and dangerous 7 years later. Another Bush con job.

All the fuss and nobody speak the truth and the thruth is SADAM HUSSEIN had all the WMD's sent to Syria and it is all in the hands of Hezbollah and expat-Palestians in Syria and Jordan ( it is in good hands, as expat-Iraqs says)and in the next war against Israel they will use it... and dont be too surprised if these same WMD be used in American soil. That's the truth: all Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction is stationned in Syria and other parts of MidEast.

If you read Colin Powell's self-penned biography, he clearly states that it was he who put an end to our pursuit and destruction of the Iraqi army and Saddam Hussein in 1991 because he didn't think it was "right" to have the video images of us destroying another country's armed forces on the evening news. He advised the President to stop the onslaught. Were it not for him, George H.W. Bush would have gotten rid of Saddam the first time around and none of this would have been an issue.

The Bush gang had an agenda in search of events or fabrications to implement that agenda. All the evidence shows that they instantly saw 9/11 as a way to go after Saddam. But we learned an important lesson -- information and "facts" are only as good as the integrity of the person pushing them - even if that person is the president of the United States!

hopesprings52,

Millions in America will miss President Bush amidist sorrow tears and little consolation. Hope you wont be one of them.

universe2069,

The millions who miss W. will find their consolation in Sarah. I won't be one of them.

If CHURCHILL had faced the opposition President BUSH faced, Hittler would have won the war.
So, I for one, SALUTE YOU PRESIDENT BUSH for your LEARDESHIP!

There are times one simply can not compromise. And, you didnt. You havent compromisde. Therefore, YOU WIN. YOU WON.

And, surely many more winnings are on the way for you.

Thank You! for having kept AMERICA safe.

And Thank You! Condoleezza Rice for the good job as well.

The Ron Suskind book "Price of Loyalty" about Paul O'Neill's two years as Secretary of the Treasury during Bush's first term show the administration's determination to invade Iraq from the get go, from the very first cabinet meetings. They even had a map ready of how the oil fields would be divided. Remember this was long before 9/11. The book, which came out shortly before Bush Part II, should have toppled Bush from the throne, but people had blinders on. People, WHY DID YOU REELECT THIS IDIOT?! Where are all of you voters making amends to this country and the people of Iraq! Nobody accountable. At least feel shameful. Search for the phrase "Paul O'Neill first cabinet meeting" to revisit some of O'Neill's astute observations. OR buy the book.

universe2069,

Ahmadinejad won the war with greatly increased influence for Iran, as well as Vladimir, who now can increase Russian presence in Syria and Iran without much opposition. And they didn't have to spend a nickel for it, W. did it all for them. But I neglected to mention Bin Laden, who now has another country to operate from.

Being wrong does not make you a liar. As I recall, Great Britain, France, Poland, Italy, etc, all thought Iraq had WMD. Are they all liars as well?

Condi is the worse Secretary of State in history.
She is nothing more than a George Bush butt kisser that has done nothing of consequence in her position. I will be so glad to see her go!

In retrospect the weapon inspectors(Hans Blits & company)were right yet many in the Bush administration dismissed them as dummies.Iraq&Sadam Hussan were contained by the UN.al Qaeda was almost non existant there.I believe Bush,Cheney had their minds made up to eliminate Sadam.The invasion of Iraq was a blessing to al Qaeda,Iran,BinLaden and all our enemies.

Rice was ineffective because she is unable to think independently. What wasted intelligence. She and Rove and Bush know full well that they are lying when they keep repeating that it was the fault of intelligence and that everyone had the same intel. They gambled with soldiers lives and the soldiers lost.

Secretary of State Rice is an extraordinarly intelligent person. Unfortunately she was a failure as Secretary of State due to exogenous factors. She had to contend with Cheney, Rumsfield, Card, Rove, Libby, Perle, Wolfowitz (whether in or out of office). They contrived the b.s. about WMD to attack Iraq to defuse them before they could attack Israel once our troops were withdrawn from Saudi Arabia at the request of the Saudi Government. They wanted the US troops out as it was the main gripe of Al Quida and Bin Ladin. They didn't want foreign troops in the country that houses Mecca. These neocons, who have no conscious, harmed both Rice and a true American hero Colin Powell. Hopefully, Obama can reverse all the damage created by this totally incompetent administration comprised of liars and egotistical jerks.