Thursday, October 05, 2006
Truth Bush Lied
In his “State of Denial” book, Bob Woodward is removing the veil
over a new episode of Bush’s
series of scandals involving lying to the American public about costs of his
so-called "war on terrorism" as well as reasons to launch the illegal
and unjustified war
on Iraq in March 2003.
The book also sheds light on Bush’s
administration's efforts to hide crucial Iraq intelligence from UK.
The first television interview on the Iraq book written by one of the two
Washington Post reporters who uncovered the Watergate scandal that engulfed the
Nixon administration, will be shown this evening on the CBS show 60 Minutes.
Analysts expect it to fuel the already heated debate over the American
President’s policies in Iraq,
as it provides new details concerning how Bush
and his aids deliberately covered up the truth about the extent of violence in
the war-ravaged country.
“State of Denial” describes the rift between Colin L. Powell, Mr. Bush’s
first secretary of state, and Mr. Rumsfeld: When Mr. Powell, following 2004
elections, told Andrew H. Card Jr., the White House chief of staff, that “if I
go, Don should go,” referring to Mr. Rumsfeld. Mr. Card attempted to lobby
support to oust Mr. Rumsfeld but was overruled by the President, who feared such
decision would disrupt the Iraqi elections.
In his book, Woodward, who initially backed the decision to go to war
in Iraq, accuses Bush
of keeping the American public in the dark about the real situation in the
country.
“There's public [information] and there's private. But what did they do
with the private? They stamp it secret. No one is supposed to know,” Woodward
says.
Woodward moreover suggests that rebel attacks in Iraq
are now running at a rate of about four an hour, noting that officials warn that
the situation may get worse by next year, revelations that could prove to be a
major setback to Bush’s
efforts to win public support ahead of his mid-term elections, scheduled to be
held next month.
Woodward’s book also challenges Republicans’ claims that the American
troops are achieving great progress in the warn-torn country.
“State of Denial”, based on “interviews with President Bush’s
national security team, their deputies, and other senior and key players in the
administration responsible for the military, the diplomacy, and the intelligence
on Iraq,”
as described Mr. Woodward, uncovers how Iraq
war caused deep division inside the White House.
President Bush
is quoted as saying of the situation in Iraq
in November 2003: “I don’t want anyone in the cabinet to say it is an
insurgency. I don’t think we are there yet.”
The book is the third that Mr. Woodward has written discussing debates within
the White House following Sept. 11 attacks that shook the U.S. in 2001, the invasion
of Afghanistan, and the occupation of occupation
of Iraq.
According to the 537-page book, Robert D. Blackwill, then the top Iraq
adviser on the National Security Council, sent to Condoleezza
Rice warning about the need for more troops, suggesting that as many
as 40,000, were desperately needed in Iraq.
Also Mr. Blackwill and L. Paul Bremer III, then the top American official in
Iraq, are said to have briefed Ms. Rice and Stephen J. Hadley, her deputy, about
the urgent need for more troops in Iraq. But the White House didn’t take any
action.
Unlike Woodward’s first two books about the Bush
administration, “Bush
at War” and “Plan of Attack,” where Bush’s
administration is portrayed as a loyal, well-run team responding to a surprise
attack and the retaliation that followed, “State of Denial” shows the
administration believing in the false claim that early success in Iraq gave
way to resentment of the occupiers.
The stunning revelations included in Woodward’s book could not have come at
a worse time for the American President, now preparing for November elections
while both the Democrats and the Republicans fight over how his policies
addressed national security. Woodward's book challenges those who still believe
that the ruling party is best at prosecuting the war.
