Jan. 31, 2003, Bush and Blair say Iraq, Al Qaeda, no connection.

[madfloridian]

http://www.thememoryhole.com/war/no-saddam-qaeda.htm

Yet here we are in Iraq and wondering what to do next. And wondering how to handle it.

[The_Casual_Observer]

1. Kristol asks the question :

Would Saddam still be in "power" if Kerry had been president?

Since Kerry wasn't president, who would possibly know. All I know is that we have a world class mess on our hands now that we didn't have back in 2002.

[madfloridian]

3. And the world class mess is affecting our country's future.

It is taking money from the care of seniors, though some here deny it. It is requiring cutting of programs that benefit good people.

If taxes are cut so much, where is the government getting the money to run a war? It is a simple little question. There is no one answering it.

[madfloridian]

2. And this 9/22/02 Bookman classic.....sad because it was ignored.

This is from the Atlanta Journal Constitution, not exactly a liberal mouthpiece. Not exactly a liberal editor. It was impressive then, and it is true now.

Look at the date: September 22, 2002. I have always said how it was here at DU before the war. I can never get to the archived articles through bookmarks, but I did find this. It is not that way here now. Those of us who opposed the war and see the horrible implications for our future are marginalized. What we did was wrong. It was wrong because that is not what America is about.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article2319.htm

SNIP..."
The official story on Iraq has never made sense. The connection that the Bush administration has tried to draw between Iraq and al-Qaida has always seemed contrived and artificial. In fact, it was hard to believe that smart people in the Bush administration would start a major war based on such flimsy evidence.
The pieces just didn't fit. Something else had to be going on; something was missing.

In recent days, those missing pieces have finally begun to fall into place. As it turns out, this is not really about Iraq. It is not about weapons of mass destruction, or terrorism, or Saddam, or U.N. resolutions.

This war, should it come, is intended to mark the official emergence of the United States as a full-fledged global empire, seizing sole responsibility and authority as planetary policeman. It would be the culmination of a plan 10 years or more in the making, carried out by those who believe the United States must seize the opportunity for global domination, even if it means becoming the "American imperialists" that our enemies always claimed we were."

Do NOT tell me they were fooled. Do not tell me that.