Saddam Ouster Planned Early '01 -says O'neill

[DJcairo]

(CBS) The Bush Administration began making plans for an invasion of Iraq, including the use of American troops, within days of President Bush's inauguration in January of 2001 -- not eight months later after the 9/11 attacks, as has been previously reported.

That's what former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill says in his first interview about his time as a White House insider. O'Neill talks to CBS News Correspondent Lesley Stahl in the interview, to be broadcast on 60 Minutes, Sunday, Jan. 11 at 7 p.m. ET/PT.

"From the very beginning, there was a conviction that Saddam Hussein was a bad person and that he needed to go," he tells Stahl. "For me, the notion of pre-emption, that the U.S. has the unilateral right to do whatever we decide to do is a really huge leap."
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/01/09/60minutes/main592330.shtml

[w13rd0]

1. I'm SHOCKED!

SHOCKED I tell you. Now, what does this say about Bush's comment later on..."Fuck Saddam, we're taking him out." Did he just come from a meeting with his contributors that said, "George, quit looking for this Ossama guy, go do what you promised with Iraq."

They were planning the division of Iraqi oil while "hijackers with boxcutters" planned their attacks in FLORIDA and John Aschroft was covering statues and investigating brothels.

[punpirate]

2. This makes...

... the release of Cheney's energy task force papers much more interesting, doesn't it?

[hellhathnofury]

3. Most definitely. I don't think we'll ever get all of them though.

[DemBones DemBones]

4. I believe I'll have to watch "60 Minutes" for this!

I hope O'Neill spills ALL the beans!

[murielm99]

5. I hope he has good bodyguards and security.

He better be careful about flying, too.

I wonder...does he have much documentation for the things he says, or is it just his word against theirs?

[emulatorloo]

6. He has tons of documentation, per Ron Suskind,

the author of The Price of Loyalty.

From an interview in feb 2004 Esquire, "The Most Explosive Book of the Year", p 131:

Esquire: One last question. You have in your possession nineteen thousand documents that Secretary O'Neill gave you, documents that represent everyday of his tenure and every interaction he had with the White House. What will you do with those documents now?

Suskind: Release them.

[cthrumatrix]

7. May God Bless Paul O'Neill.... may the protection of the Divine watch over

Paul and his family.


The Lord truly does work in mysterious ways.

[Gin]

8. I will buy that book for sure....and I agree with you....God bless

Paul O'Neill and his family. Just when you think there is no hope...
a sliver of light shines through.

[imax2268]

9. This should be good...

I wonder what they will pull out of their bag of tricks today to counter the Oniell interview and all the latest headlines he's been grabbing...

[cthrumatrix]

10. I think they already tried with the Danes "finding 10 yr old shells" from

the Iran war....

Terra terra...the sunday talk shows should be telling...will they go 10+ yr olds mortar shells...or the lies and deceptions which killed 1000's of people?

[DulceDecorum]

11. Mr Cheney, it shall come to pass that

Luke 12
3What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs.

AMEN