The Proof To The Lie Of Iraq, From the Bat Cave

[batmanchester]

Just declassified under the Freedom Of Information Act, the National Archive shows fully and undeniably that the invasion of Iraq was planned in 1999. War plans at that time called for 400,000 troops to be used to pacify the population, and stated unequivocably that anything less would be a disaster. When Bush and company stole the election, I mean won election in 2000, then Sec. Of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld didn't like that plan and replaced the CENTCOM commander with General Tommy Franks, who whittled the planned force by 240,000 troops. This was done for expediency purposes, and to lull the American people into the belief that this would be a swift invasion, followed by a quick installment of a friendly government, and an even faster withdrawal of U.S. forces.

Interesting to note in the declassified documents is the caveat that we would be permanently stationing 5,000 troops in Iraq, which gives proof to the lies of the administration's stated position that they never intended to have permanent bases in Iraq. "Completely unrealistic assumptions about a post-Saddam Iraq permeate these war plans," said National Security Archive Executive Director Thomas Blanton. "First, they assumed that a provisional government would be in place by 'D-Day', then that the Iraqis would stay in their garrisons and be reliable partners, and finally that the post-hostilities phase would be a matter of mere 'months'. All of these were delusions."

But yet, here we are in 2007, with the violence spiraling out of control, and a desperate President and Vice-President who continue to lie to us about pre-war planning, post Saddam expectations, and thrust upon us, against our will, a surge in troops in Baghdad. You can see these war plans for yourself here: http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB214/index.htm

When your outrage gets to the boiling point, remember the premise of this entire argument. They planned to invade Iraq come hell or high water in 1999! The events of 9/11 gave them the pretext to do just that as Americans were confused and afraid, and this bunch of war criminals took advantage of that fear to drag us into a conflgration against a country that had nothing to do with that attack. I daresay that we ought to re-examine that day's events themselves to possibly get to the bottom of everything. Now to push your buttons again. The 'Scooter' Libby trial would have put Vice-President Cheney on the stand had it proceeded as it was supposed to. But, inexplicably, the defense rested yesterday without testimony from either the Vice-President, nor from Libby himself. They were not going to allow Cheney to testify under oath about anything, let alone what dragged us into this war. I would love to know what back room deals were made with Libby in order for him to shut up and take the hit, possibly even going to prison should he be convicted. And that's an almost certainty, if you've followed the trial at all.

I urge you to go to the National Archive site and read all of the documents for yourself. Follow the links that lead to other documents, one of which quotes then Sec. Of State Powell telling the President he was about to become the proud owner of 25 million people. To close this piece, I leave you with another quote from General Bernard Trainor; "Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Tommy Franks spent most of their time and energy on the least demanding task - defeating Saddam's weakened conventional forces - and the least amount on the most demanding - rehabilitation of and security for the new Iraq. The result was a surprising contradiction. The United States did not have nearly enough troops to secure the hundreds of suspected WMD sites that had supposedly been identified in Iraq or to secure the nation's long, porous borders. Had the Iraqis possessed WMD and terrorist groups been prevalent in Iraq as the Bush administration so loudly asserted, U.S. forces might well have failed to prevent the WMD from being spirited out of the country and falling into the hands of the dark forces the administration had declared war against."

Any Questions? Batmanchester

http://vigilantwatchnewsandblog.com/blog.html

[Kat Kanning]

Wow.  Do you have any links to the declassified info?

[error]

Unfortunately, this isn't news.

It wasn't even news a few months ago when it was first "revealed."

Here's something most people don't know.

The Pentagon makes plans. For everything it can think of. It keeps them busy between wars. 99% of these plans sit on the shelf, never to be seen again. Until, of course, some politician wants to dust one off and either fight a war, or gain points against his opposition by exposing the plan's existence to those who don't know that the Pentagon makes plans. For everything it can think of.

The real surprise here is that an Iraq war plan was dated 1999. I would have expected the plan to be much older than that.

[KBCraig]

There are plans right now to invade Cuba, Iran, Venezuela, and... Canada. Seriously.

[Pat K]

There are plans right now to invade Cuba, Iran, Venezuela, and... Canada. Seriously.

Well I should hope so, those Canadian bastards are sending frigid
air down here as I type.

[Caleb]

There are plans right now to invade Cuba, Iran, Venezuela, and... Canada. Seriously.

I have a problem with that.  I have no plans to invade anyone, for any reason. 

[error]

I have plans to invade New Hampshire and liberate it from the oppressive ... oh, wait.

[Dreepa]

There are plans right now to invade Cuba, Iran, Venezuela, and... Canada. Seriously.

They have plans to invade just about everywhere.

[Russell Kanning]

and people are funding this madness

[error]

and people are funding this madness

I'm certainly not!

[KBCraig]

Plans don't take much funding.

[Russell Kanning]

sure they do .... those guys don't make money when they sit in rooms discussing the right way to invade a country? .... it doesn't cost money to print up the endless reports?

[CNHT]

Wow.  Do you have any links to the declassified info?

Iraq was decided long ago - signed onto by the Clinton administration as described in this article, long before GWB was in office. It's a 'machine', and they are all part of it, which is why there is no point in wasting time thrashing any one person over it.

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/campaignmatters?bid=45&pid=166714

[KBCraig]

sure they do .... those guys don't make money when they sit in rooms discussing the right way to invade a country? .... it doesn't cost money to print up the endless reports?

But comparatively... it costs bupkus. At least compared to live fire exercises, field training, or especially the cost of weapons expended in an actual invasion. Bill Clinton spent more on Tomahawk cruise missiles blowing up empty tents and unoccupied aspirin factories, than the sum total of career salaries and printing costs for all current contingency plans.

Of course, I'm not arguing with you about how much to spend on the military, since your position would be "zero", and mine would be "drastically less than now, but more than zero". I'm just trying to keep things in perspective for other readers.

Kevin

[maineiac]

sure they do .... those guys don't make money when they sit in rooms discussing the right way to invade a country? .... it doesn't cost money to print up the endless reports?

But comparatively... it costs bupkus. At least compared to live fire exercises, field training, or especially the cost of weapons expended in an actual invasion. Bill Clinton spent more on Tomahawk cruise missiles blowing up empty tents and unoccupied aspirin factories, than the sum total of career salaries and printing costs for all current contingency plans.

Of course, I'm not arguing with you about how much to spend on the military, since your position would be "zero", and mine would be "drastically less than now, but more than zero". I'm just trying to keep things in perspective for other readers.

Kevin

Perhaps, but it sure came across as though you were supporting/justifying the war planning of government, to me, at least.