This article was linked from Froomkin.
Its really damning. Accuses w of saying in 1999 that he needed a "small
war" to raise his numbers so he could push his political agenda. He was
planning to take out Saddam for purely political gain.
“He
was thinking about invading Iraq in 1999,” said author and journalist
Mickey Herskowitz. “It was on his mind. He said to me: ‘One of the keys
to being seen as a great leader is to be seen as a commander-in-chief.’
And he said, ‘My father had all this political capital built up when he
drove the Iraqis out of Kuwait and he wasted it.’ He said, ‘If I have a
chance to invade….if I had that much capital, I’m not going to waste
it. I’m going to get everything passed that I want to get passed and
I’m going to have a successful presidency.”
----------
According
to Herskowitz, George W. Bush’s beliefs on Iraq were based in part on a
notion dating back to the Reagan White House – ascribed in part to
now-vice president Dick Cheney, Chairman of the House Republican Policy
Committee under Reagan. “Start a small war. Pick a country where there
is justification you can jump on, go ahead and invade.”
Bush’s
circle of pre-election advisers had a fixation on the political capital
that British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher collected from the
Falklands War. Said Herskowitz: “They were just absolutely blown away,
just enthralled by the scenes of the troops coming back, of the boats,
people throwing flowers at [Thatcher] and her getting these standing
ovations in Parliament and making these magnificent speeches.”
Tell
that to the parents of the dead soldiers. Their kids were just pawns
for w to use in an effort to gain political capitol. And too bad for
the country of Iraq that's been thrown into chaos.
Not that
this is exactly news to us here, but we've basically been going on
speculation and deduction on his motive. Here it is spelled out.
