Unwarranted Aggression Quotes

In 2002, President George W. Bush, determined to invade Iraq and bring democracy to the Muslim Middle East, reported that Iraq had stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction and were very close to a nuclear bomb. They had even used biological weapons against Iran and the Kurdish minority in Iraq. The president claimed that the evidence was incontrovertible and removed those generals who questioned the wisdom of an Iraq invasion and besmirched the character and patriotism of those civilian officials and figures who questioned the evidence or its sources. After the invasion, it turned out that there were not only no stockpiles of WMD but there was no capability to manufacture WMD as had existed before the Gulf War. Bush claimed he was misled by the CIA and other intelligence operatives. It turned out that the Vice President and other administration officials only examined the intelligence which supported their justification for war.

Lloyd George had just ousted her husband, Herbert Asquith, from the Prime Ministership.

The facts given by the administration to justify the preemptive invasion of Iraq turned out to be wrong. Moore who is usually not very circumspect in his accusations delicately used the term “misled” as the major debate became one or whether 1) the wrong intelligence was given to the President and his administration and they unknowingly used and reported the false information to the public. 2) the uncertainty of the intelligence accuracy and the contrary evidence was given to the administration which had a predisposition to believe one scenario and the deluded themselves and our allies and the public. 3) The decision to invade Iraq was made with full knowledge that the intelligence was wrong in some areas and weak in others and some administration members pressured the intelligence agencies to make the kind of assessment they administration wanted. “Misled” covers all 3 possibilities.

Prior to this question, Thomas had not been called on at a White House press conference for 3 years. After it, she was again avoided.