Let's use Woodward to promote the DSM and try to find out more.

[Pirate Smile]

Last night on Hardball, Matthews made a comment about how Woodward's book "Plan of Attack" did show that BushCo intended to begin the Iraq War even when they were saying they would try to avoid it - we all know that BUT is there anything in there that we can use in conjunction with the information from the Downing Street Minutes?

Woodward is going to be on Larry King tonight so he will be taking telephone questions (hopefully).

Now, I'm not particularly high on Woodward when it comes to BushCo - he was just at the White House today (doing what, I don't know) - but if he can add to the premise that everyone was lying to the American people about the war, I think we need to use it.

Did anyone read the book?

[wurzel]

1. We don't need a Woodward. We need a Bradlee! n/t

[FogerRox]

2. I read the book and was not impressed

[AirAmFan]

3. Parts of the book--including the index--may be online at URL

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00024XSNA/104-7676489-4143904?v=glance

I'm getting an error message right now, so I can't check for index entries under "Iraq". But maybe someone else can.

In any case, there are a couple of reader reviews of the book at that URL that would help immensely in phrasing a question for Woodward.

[Pirate Smile]

6. Here is some info from Woodward's 60 Minutes interview:

"“And there's this low boil on Iraq until the day before Thanksgiving, Nov. 21, 2001. This is 72 days after 9/11. This is part of this secret history. President Bush, after a National Security Council meeting, takes Don Rumsfeld aside, collars him physically, and takes him into a little cubbyhole room and closes the door and says, ‘What have you got in terms of plans for Iraq? What is the status of the war plan? I want you to get on it. I want you to keep it secret.’"

Woodward says immediately after that, Rumsfeld told Gen. Tommy Franks to develop a war plan to invade Iraq and remove Saddam - and that Rumsfeld gave Franks a blank check.

”Rumsfeld and Franks work out a deal essentially where Franks can spend any money he needs. And so he starts building runways and pipelines and doing all the preparations in Kuwait, specifically to make war possible,” says Woodward.

“Gets to a point where in July, the end of July 2002, they need $700 million, a large amount of money for all these tasks. And the president approves it. But Congress doesn't know and it is done. They get the money from a supplemental appropriation for the Afghan War, which Congress has approved. …Some people are gonna look at a document called the Constitution which says that no money will be drawn from the Treasury unless appropriated by Congress. Congress was totally in the dark on this."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Woodward says there was a lot happening that only key Bush people knew about.

”A year before the war started, three things are going on. Franks is secretly developing this war plan that he's briefing the president in detail on,” says Woodward. “Franks simultaneously is publicly denying that he's ever been asked to do any plan.”

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/04/15/60minutes/main612067.shtml

[Pirate Smile]

7. Here is something the DNC put out:

Plan of Attack, the new book by veteran journalist Bob Woodward, provides an inside view of the Bush administration's plans to invade Iraq, shattering the myths pushed by a White House obsessed with politics. Woodward interviewed 75 top administration officials and learned that the administration's public story about how and when the war was planned was full of holes.

Here are just a few of the top revelations about the Bush administration's rush to war from Woodward's book.

1. STEALING MONEY FROM AFGHAN WAR FOR IRAQ: Bush Took Money From Afghan War For Iraq -- Bush Hid Move From Congress
"Some of the funding would come from the supplemental appropriations bill being worked out in Congress for the Afghanistan war and the general war on terrorism. The rest would come from old appropriations. By the end of July, Bush had approved some 30 projects that would eventually cost $700 million. He discussed it with Nicholas E. Calio, the head of White House congressional relations. Congress, which is supposed to control the purse strings, had no real knowledge or involvement, had not even been notified that the Pentagon wanted to reprogram money."

2. EARLY OBSESSION: Bush Had Rumsfeld Draw Up War Plan In 2001
On November 21, Bush pulled Rumsfeld into one of the cubbyhole offices near the Situation Room and said "I want you...What kind of war plan do you have for Iraq.?" After a brief discussion, Bush told him "Let's get started on this. And get Tommy Franks looking at what it would take to protect America by removing Saddam Hussein if we have to."

3. EARLY ACTION: Bush Team Decided To Go To War In Jan 2003 -- Two Months Before Bush Claimed He Had Yet To Make Up His Mind
January 13, 2003, Bush to Powell: "The president said he had made up his mind on war. The United States should go to war."

March 6, 2003, Bush to Public: Bush: "I've not made up our mind about military action."

"... Monday, Jan. 13, Powell and Bush met in the Oval Office... 'I really think I'm going to have to do this.' The president said he had made up his mind on war. The United States should go to war. 'You're sure?' Powell asked. Yes, said Bush."
"...in Washington in early January 2003, Bush took Rumsfeld aside. 'Look, we're going to have to do this, I'm afraid,' he said... It was enough of a decision for Rumsfeld."

4. SHARING SECRETS WITH THE SAUDIS: Cheney And Rumsfeld Showed Top Secret Map To Saudi Ambassador
"...on Saturday, Jan. 11, Cheney invited Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the Saudi ambassador, to his West Wing office. Rumsfeld and Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, were also there... Sitting on the edge of the table in Cheney's office, Myers took out a large map labeled TOP SECRET NOFORN. The NOFORN meant NO FOREIGN -- classified material not to be seen by any foreign nation... Staring intently at the 2-by-3-foot Top Secret map, Bandar, a former fighter pilot, asked a few questions about air operations. Could he have a copy of the large map so he could brief Crown Prince Abdullah? he asked, referring to the de facto leader of Saudi Arabia. 'Above my pay grade,' Myers said. 'We'll give you all the information you want,' Rumsfeld said. As for the map, he added, 'I would rather not give it to you, but you can take notes if you want.'"

5. ELECTION POLITICS: Bandar Says Saudis Will Fix Oil Prices For 2004
"According to Prince Bandar, the Saudis hoped to fine-tune oil prices over 10 months to prime the economy for 2004. What was key, Bandar knew, were the economic conditions before a presidential election, not at the moment of the election."

6. RUSH TO JUDGEMENT: Bush Team Quick To Link Saddam, 9/11
Wolfowitz "estimated there was a 10 to 50 percent chance Saddam was involved in the 9/11 attacks -- an odd conclusion that reflected deep suspicion, but no real evidence."

7. FAITH-BASED DIPLOMACY: Bush Sidestepped Important Diplomatic Questions
"'We will win," the Polish president said, but sounding like Colin Powell, he added plaintively, 'but what are the consequences?' After a pause, he continued, 'You need wide, broad international support. We are with you, don't worry about it. The risk is the U.N. will collapse. What will replace it?'" These were hard questions that Bush sidestepped, saying only, 'We believe that Islam like Christianity can grow in a free and democratic manner.'"

8. VICE PRESIDENT FANATIC: Colin Powell Thought Dick Cheney Had "Fever" For Attack on Iraq
"Powell thought Cheney had the fever. The vice president and Wolfowitz kept looking for the connection between Saddam and 9/11. It was a separate little government that was out there -- Wolfowitz, Libby, Feith and Feith's 'Gestapo office,' as Powell privately put it... Powell thought that Cheney took intelligence and converted uncertainty and ambiguity into fact. It was about the worst charge that Powell could make about the vice president. But there it was." < p.292>

9. FATHERLY CRITIQUE? Scowcroft Received Bush Sr.'s Approval On Critical Op-Ed
"No one was as close to Bush senior as companion, loyalist and foreign policy soul mate. Scowcroft had coauthored the former president's memoirs. He sent him an advance copy of the article and received no reaction. That meant it was okay. The Wall Street Journal ran his article on August 15 <2002> under the provocative headline, 'Don't Attack Saddam.'"

10. MORE WMD DECEPTIONS: Bush Told Elie Wiesel That Attack On Iraq Would Keep Saddam From Attacking Israel With WMD
On February 27, 2003, Bush told Elie Wiesel "If we don't disarm Saddam Hussein, he will put a weapon of mass destruction on Israel and they will do what they think they have to do, and we have to avoid that."

Tell Your Friends
Fill out the form below to tell your friends about our DNC Research special report: The Top 10 Revelations in Bob Woodward's Plan of Attack.

http://www.democrats.org/specialreports/planofattack/

[hector459]

4. Woodward wouldn't do it if ask. Nothing is stopping him now except that

the invasion of Iraq is part of an agenda that he supports.

[Quakerfriend]

5. No. But, it's one of the first things that Paul O'Neil said in his

book when it came out several years ago.

"The Price of Loyalty" has quite a bit about this as I recall.
O'Neil said that within the first couple of days (2000) Bush spoke in a meeting about wanting to go after Saddam Hussein.

I don't trust Woodward, at all. I wish that O'Neil would do some interviews!!

[peacetalksforall]

8. Man you are optimistic about Woodward. Do you think his life long

affiliation to the military and CIA and now PNACers and the Bush dynasty will allow him to become the mythological Hollywood version of Woodward of the 70's?

I am completely cynical about Woodward and the Washington Post - the newspaper of the CIA.

[Pirate Smile]

10. I'm just wondering if he knows or wrote anything that would confirm

some of the info in the minutes.

As I wrote in my original post, I'm skeptical of him also but I wouldn't mind using his book or his current appearances to try to find anything that could add to the DSM and provide an outlet for more publicity.

You never know :shrug: .

[EVDebs]

9. Woodward's Plan of Attack says Bush wanted Iraq plans Nov 2001

Paul O'Neill's Price of Loyalty says Bush wanted to attack from Day One January 2000 basically.

The Downing St Memo says
"From: Matthew Rycroft Date: 23 July 2002" the US was fixing to go to war !

Woodward is what Woodward is, a shill for his military/naval intelligence handlers from the get-go.

Besides, Woodward was used by the CIA during Watergate: Robert Bennett of the Mullen Co, a CIA employee and CIA front pr company (note, in today's paper Woodward does NOT disclose this connection when mentioning Bennett), Alexander Butterfield who disclosed the WH taping system, a CIA employee who's prior assignment was in Australia; the CIA-run Watergate burglary itself; "follow the money" -- if they did they'd find that the Chilean investors (p. 36 of All the President's Men) was CIA money coming back from Chile into Nixon's campaign coffers. The House Committee that was investigating this dropped the ball -- see Renata Adler's "In search of the real Nixon scandal" Dec 1976 Atlantic Monthly for the details.

What you want is the intelligence community to WAKE THE HELL UP and start getting the incriminating evidence to a GRAND JURY. Just pray they haven't declared martial law in the meantime. BTW, that's supposed to be what Felt was trying to prevent with the FBI turf war over the Huston Plan. Too bad it came to pass anyway.

[Pirate Smile]

11. kick

[SoCalDem]

12. Woodward bent over...long ago..

Young, hungry reporters usually break stories..and with the climate these days, that's unlikely.

Most of today's "journalists" are college grads with mountains of college-debt. They cannot afford to take chances..Once they get a bit more well known, they have mortgages and the costs of living well in DC, so they cannot take chances..


Old-school journalism is long dead. That goose was cooked and eaten years ago..

[Disturbed]

13. No indictements.... yet.

...."$700 million, a large amount of money for all these tasks. And the president approves it. But Congress doesn't know and it is done. They get the money from a supplemental appropriation for the Afghan War, which Congress has approved. …Some people are gonna look at a document called the Constitution which says that no money will be drawn from the Treasury unless appropriated by Congress. Congress was totally in the dark on this."

Don't expect Woodward to be anything less that a Bush Regime supporter.

[dave502d]

14. SoCalDem you are so right,how sad it is.n/t