Reading Current Events

From http://www.lossless-audio.com/usa/index1.php:

August 26, 2002, Dick Cheney
Speech to VFW National Convention:

"Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction."

December 6, 2002, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer
BBC article:

"The president of the United States and the secretary of defense would not assert as plainly and bluntly as they have that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction if it was not true, and if they did not have a solid basis for saying it."

September 12, 2002, George W. Bush
Speech to UN General Assembly:

"Right now, Iraq is expanding and improving facilities that were used for the production of biological weapons."

September 24, 2002, Tony Blair
Comments on September Dossier:

"The assessed intelligence has established beyond doubt that Saddam has continued to produce chemical and biological weapons, that he continues in his efforts to develop nuclear weapons, and that he has been able to extend the range of his ballistic missile programme."
          
January 9, 2003, Ari Fleischer
Press Briefing:

"We know for a fact that there are weapons there."
          
January 28, 2003, George W. Bush
State of the Union Address:

"Our intelligence officials estimate that Saddam Hussein had the materials to produce as much as 500 tons of sarin, mustard and VX nerve agent."
          
February 5, 2003, Colin Powell
Remarks to UN Security Council:

"We know that Saddam Hussein is determined to keep his weapons of mass destruction, is determined to make more."

February 8, 2003, George W. Bush
Radio Address:

"We have sources that tell us that Saddam Hussein recently authorized Iraqi field commanders to use chemical weapons -- the very weapons the dictator tells us he does not have."
          
February 28, 2003, Colin Powell
Interview with Radio France International:

"If Iraq had disarmed itself, gotten rid of its weapons of mass destruction over the past 12 years, or over the last several months since (UN Resolution) 1441 was enacted, we would not be facing the crisis that we now have before us . . . But the suggestion that we are doing this because we want to go to every country in the Middle East and rearrange all of its pieces is not correct."
          
March 7, 2003, Colin Powell
Remarks to UN Security Council:

"So has the strategic decision been made to disarm Iraq of its weapons of mass destruction by the leadership in Baghdad? . . . I think our judgment has to be clearly not."
          
March 16, 2003, Dick Cheney
Interview on NBC's 'Meet the Press':

"We know he [Saddam] has been absolutely devoted to trying to acquire nuclear weapons. And we believe he has, in fact, reconstituted nuclear weapons."
          
March 17, 2003, George W. Bush
Address to the Nation:

"Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised."
          
March 21, 2003, Ari Fleisher
Press Briefing:

"Well, there is no question that we have evidence and information that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction, biological and chemical particularly . . . all this will be made clear in the course of the operation, for whatever duration it takes."
          
March 22, 2003, Gen. Tommy Franks
Press Conference:

"There is no doubt that the regime of Saddam Hussein possesses weapons of mass destruction. And . . . as this operation continues, those weapons will be identified, found, along with the people who have produced them and who guard them."
          
March 23, 2003, Defense Policy Board member Kenneth Adelman
Washington Post:

"I have no doubt we're going to find big stores of weapons of mass destruction."
          
March 22, 2003, Pentagon Spokeswoman Victoria Clark
Press Briefing:

"One of our top objectives is to find and destroy the WMD. There are a number of sites."
          
March 30, 2003, Donald Rumsfeld
ABC Interview:

"We know where they are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat."
          
April 9, 2003, Neocon scholar Robert Kagan
Washington Post op-ed:

"Obviously the administration intends to publicize all the weapons of mass destruction U.S. forces find -- and there will be plenty."
          
April 10, 2003, Ari Fleischer
Press Briefing:

"But make no mistake -- as I said earlier -- we have high confidence that they have weapons of mass destruction. That is what this war was about and it is about. And we have high confidence it will be found."
          
April 24, 2003, George W. Bush
NBC Interview:

"We are learning more as we interrogate or have discussions with Iraqi scientists and people within the Iraqi structure, that perhaps he destroyed some, perhaps he dispersed some. And so we will find them."

April 25, 2003, Donald Rumsfeld
Press Briefing:

"There are people who in large measure have information that we need . . . so that we can track down the weapons of mass destruction in that country."
          
May 3, 2003, George W. Bush
Remarks to Reporters ( cached ):

"We'll find them. It'll be a matter of time to do so."
          
May 4, 2003, Colin Powell
Remarks to Reporters:

"I'm absolutely sure that there are weapons of mass destruction there and the evidence will be forthcoming. We're just getting it just now."
          
May 4, 2003, Donald Rumsfeld
Fox News Interview:

"We never believed that we'd just tumble over weapons of mass destruction in that country."
          
May 6, 2003, George W. Bush
Remarks to Reporters:

"I'm not surprised if we begin to uncover the weapons program of Saddam Hussein -- because he had a weapons program."
          
May 12, 2003, Condoleeza Rice
Reuters Interview:

"U.S. officials never expected that "we were going to open garages and find" weapons of mass destruction."
          
May 13, 2003, Maj. Gen. David Petraeus, Commander 101st Airborne
Press Briefing:

"I just don't know whether it was all destroyed years ago -- I mean, there's no question that there were chemical weapons years ago -- whether they were destroyed right before the war, (or) whether they're still hidden."
          
May 26, 2003, Gen. Richard Myers, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff
NBC Today Show interview:

"Given time, given the number of prisoners now that we're interrogating, I'm confident that we're going to find weapons of mass destruction."
          
May 27, 2003, Donald Rumsfeld
Remarks to the Council on Foreign Relations:

"They may have had time to destroy them, and I don't know the answer."
          
May 28, 2003, Paul Wolfowitz
Vanity Fair interview:

"For bureaucratic reasons, we settled on one issue, weapons of mass destruction (as justification for invading Iraq) because it was the one reason everyone could agree on."
          
June 8, 2003, Condoleezza Rice
NBC's 'Meet the Press':

"No one ever said that we knew precisely where all of these agents were, where they were stored."

=========My own contributions:

unknown date, C-SPAN, Donald Rumsfeld:

"I don't know anyone that I can think of that has contended that Iraq had nuclear weapons."

Jan 26, 2004 Scott McClellan, White House Press Secretary:
"[T]he President made the right decision to remove Saddam Hussein from power. The world is a safer and better place, and America is more secure because of the actions that we took,"
[More secure? When the only threat from has been disproved and the ranks of al-qaeda have swelled?]

April 13, 2004 Bush at press conference:
""[Iraq] had long-range missiles that were undeclared to the United Nations."
[false according to CIA Iraq survey]

Bush, unknown date:
"We found the weapons of mass destruction... uhh... we found biological laboratories."

Great summary article on the Neocon war propaganda:
http://www.clw.org/iraqintelligence/

Why does the White House press corps refuse to hold this Administration to account? Why do they always march in step? And why do Democrats shovel the same bullshit, and then act ex post fact like they were against the war the whole time, after they SIGNED ON for it? Oh, we were lied to... Well, the Democrats were reporting the same intelligence that the Neocons were, even back into Clinton's administration.

Look at Joe Wilson and Richard Clarke and what happens when you don't toe the line with these thugs. They bully and intimidate people into accepting their lies at face value.

I imagine Goebbels and the brown shirts went about things in a similar fashion before the Nazis took full control of the media. Am I crying in the wilderness here or do others see the slide into imperialism and fascism?

Ewige Blumenkraft!

This post was edited by mclaincausey on Jul 15, 2004.

That was great.

personal favourite was:

"We know for a fact that there are weapons there."

well, fancy that! A nation having weapons *gasps*...

one of longest bitter-laughs i've had in a long time.
-Mel :P

Look at me! I'm a prostitute robot from the future!

"I imagine Goebbels and the brown shirts went about things in a similar fashion before the Nazis took full control of the media. Am I crying in the wilderness here or do others see the slide into imperialism and fascism?"

I'm worried, deeply and seriously worried. Too many things are in place to gently shove it closer to the edge. Our communications are in too few hands and our large business's have merged into too few hands.

Too many of our countrymen are reacting with "herd mentality", accepting too many nudges away from the freedoms and rights, that too many fought and died for to protect for us.

I personally know people who, everytime a new terror alert is issued, add to their store of bottled water, buy more rounds of ammunition and totally accept that it may be possible we cannot hold elections if a new terrorist attack happens.

They support the idea it's okay for us to torture, to invade without being attacked.....because it happened to us!! How could they forget how many of our children died for those who were invaded, our government was one of the prime movers at the Geneva Convention to prevent torture in the future.

The state of our economy and jobs are up......yeah right...it damn should be....since it's mostly based on major defense contracts and drilling is going gangbusters.

Short sighted President and short sighted houses, we do have. We are, if not the largest consumer of natural oil, in the top two. So, if the possible lack of it, is a threat, why are we not pouring our resources into alternate sources? Why have we not for years past? The answer to that question is a little too obvious.

Bush strikes me as a genius multitasker, doesn't he you? The fact that Rick Perry, our present governor ran the state while he campaigned for president and Texas remains behind in so many areas from other states is a fact. Lol, especially in education.

So now, our genius multitasker is on a bus, trying to get re-elected to another 4 years. Those years will have no re-election at the end of the term.

I'm past worried, I'm scared.

quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

We are, if not the largest consumer of natural oil, in the top two.

I believe that we alone consume as much oil as the rest of the world combined.

Ewige Blumenkraft!

Grins.....then we are definitely in the top two, are we not?

quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

Am I crying in the wilderness here or do others see the slide into imperialism and fascism?

You're not alone; the situation scares me, too. I can only pray that the election will actually be the panacea the optimists seem to hope it will be. Unfortunately, I'm not truly that naive. I think we need more reform than just a new president (especially since our options are so questionable) to repair the problems at hand.

I'm terrified by what the U.S. has become, and the potential it has to worsen. Since I'm currently living abroad, I feel quite removed from the situation, but that doesn't mean it doesn't concern me.

Coming home over Christmas 2003, after being away for several months, was really shocking. Nothing seemed the same. I spent three hours at the airport, listening to the repeated announcements about the terror level having been raised to orange, and I felt like I'd been inserted into an Orwellian or Huxley-esque science fiction. This wasn't my country; it wasn't my home.

I don't want to be an alarmist, but things are not changing for the better. I only take comfort in the fact that there are a multitude of sane Americans (basically, everyone who isn't in D.C.??) who disagree with the administration, monitor their words, and are prepared to voice their discontent. But it scares me to think of those voices being silenced.

Especially in a nation that claims free speech as one of the most sacred human rights. If we don't have freedom of speech, will we really be Americans anymore?

(As an aside, I'm reading a really interesting book right now called "Colossus: The Price of America's Empire," by Niall Ferguson. I can't say that I agree with all of Ferguson's points, but he gives an interesting perspective on American imperialism, suggesting that, in spite of the government's claims to the contrary, the U.S. has always been an empire; nascent in the beginning, and now partially-realized. Worthwhile reading if this topic interests you.)

This post was edited by r_pendragon on Jul 19, 2004.