Blast From Past: Woodward book says Bush secretly ordered Iraq war plan

[tuvor]

April 16, 2004

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Bush secretly ordered a war plan drawn up against Iraq less than two months after U.S. forces attacked Afghanistan and was so worried the decision would cause a furor he did not tell everyone on his national security team, says a new book on his Iraq policy.

Bush feared that if news got out about the Iraq plan as U.S. forces were fighting another conflict, people would think he was too eager for war, journalist Bob Woodward writes in Plan of Attack, a behind-the-scenes account of the 16 months leading to the Iraq invasion.

Bush did not address those preparations when asked about them Friday, saying, "I do know that it was Afghanistan that was on my mind and I didn't really start focusing on Iraq 'til later on."

<snip>

"I knew what would happen if people thought we were developing a potential war plan for Iraq," Bush is quoted as telling Woodward. "It was such a high-stakes moment and ... it would look like that I was anxious to go to war. And I'm not anxious to go to war."

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2004-04-16-woodward-book_x.htm

[Maple]

1. "And I'm not anxious to go to war"

Kirk: Well, there it is - war. We didn't want it, but we've got it.

Spock: It is curious how often you humans manage to obtain that which you do not want.

Errand of Mercy

[mcd1982]

2. ooh...good analogy!

i'm gonna have to go home and watch that episode today...