Sid Blumenthal: Bush and Bremer

[kskiska]

Forget his self-serving new memoir. The former proconsul ignored warnings about Iraq -- just like his see-no-evil boss.

(snip)

The flaw with Bremer's apologia is that it too is challenged by the facts. In January 2003, Larry C. Johnson, a longtime CIA operative who was deputy director in the State Department's Office of Counter-Terrorism, where he served with Bremer, sent him a memo that accurately predicted an Iraqi uprising against the occupying forces, "no matter how benign or charitable," and the influence in Iraq of a "belligerent" Iran. "Bremer's reaction," Johnson told me, "was that this was off base, doesn't matter, we're going to war, don't undermine the effort. His mind was made up. There was no brooking any alternative analysis. This is the doctrine, the truth, either you admit to it or you're a heretic." When Bremer was appointed head of the CPA, Johnson tried to put him in touch with intelligence experts to brief him with information that the Bush administration had not considered, but Bremer did not "want to listen."

Bremer was modeling himself on his commander in chief. In fact, elder statesmen of the foreign policy establishment and the Republican Party repeatedly warned President Bush to his face of precisely the consequences of his planned actions. Former National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft and former Secretaries of State James Baker and Lawrence Eagleburger, among others, "never thought the war would come off right," one of those who spoke to Bush told me. "We all felt that strongly. It was going to end with an Islamic republic dominated by Shia and influenced by Iran. There was no question they would have Iranian connections. If you know history, you don't have to be a genius." But Bush would not listen. "It's a sad story."

On the ruins, Rove once again is playing the patriot game to salvage Bush's short-term political position. This time he is attempting to turn Bush's warrantless domestic spying, contrary to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, into a false issue of whether Democrats support gathering intelligence on terrorists. Faith now demands dispensing with the law. The history of the Bush presidency underlines Rove's premise, but not as he wishes: "We need a commander in chief and a Congress who understand the nature of the threat and the gravity of the moment America finds itself in."

more…
http://www.salon.com/opinion/blumenthal/2006/01/26/blind_presidency/

[The_Casual_Observer]

1. understand the nature of the threat and the gravity of the moment

That being the fact that people have figured out that bush is a drooling moron barely capable of connected thought.

[TheBaldyMan]

2. this story also covered in UK's Guardian newspaper

for those of you that can't access the full opinion piece at Salon.com
www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1694797,00.html
Sidney Blumenthal, Thursday January 26, 2006 - The Guardian

[Demeter]

3. Best Paragraph of All

"In fact, elder statesmen of the foreign policy establishment and the Republican party repeatedly warned Bush to his face what the consequences of the war would be - including the former national security adviser Brent Scowcroft and former secretaries of state James Baker and Lawrence Eagleburger. It was "never thought the war would come off right", one of those who spoke to Bush told me. "It was going to end with an Islamic republic dominated by Shias and influenced by Iran ... If you know history, you don't have to be a genius." But Bush would not listen. "It's a sad story.""


Bush will not listen, because what matters isn't the outcome, it's whether he gets to have his way.

Time to see that the opposite happens. Bush's head will implode.