{"id":25557,"date":"2023-03-20T12:02:55","date_gmt":"2023-03-20T19:02:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=25557"},"modified":"2023-03-20T12:04:14","modified_gmt":"2023-03-20T19:04:14","slug":"the-architects-of-the-iraq-war-where-are-they-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2023\/03\/20\/the-architects-of-the-iraq-war-where-are-they-now\/","title":{"rendered":"THE ARCHITECTS OF THE IRAQ WAR: WHERE ARE THEY NOW?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

<\/a><\/a>BECOME A MEMBER<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, President George W. Bush, and Vice President Dick Cheney at the Pentagon in Arlington, Va., on Dec. 15, 2006. Photo: Charles Ommanney\/Getty Im<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They\u2019re all doing great, thanks for asking.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Jon Schwarz<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

March 15 2023, 1:52 p.m. (Common Dreams.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE U.S. AND its allies invaded Iraq 20 years ago in Operation Iraqi Freedom. President George W. Bush\u2019s press secretary Ari Fleischer twice<\/a> accidentally referred<\/a> to it as Operation Iraqi Liberation, which was definitely not its official name and would have generated an unfortunate acronym.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The men and women who launched this catastrophic, criminal war have paid no price over the past two decades. On the contrary, they\u2019ve been showered with promotions and cash. There are two ways to look at this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One is that their job was to make the right decisions for America (politicians) and to tell the truth (journalists). This would mean that since then, the system has malfunctioned over and over again, accidentally promoting people who are blatantly incompetent failures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another way to look at it is that their job was to start a war that would extend the U.S. empire and be extremely profitable for the U.S. defense establishment and oil industry, with no regard for what\u2019s best for America or telling the truth. This would mean that they were extremely competent, and the system has not been making hundreds of terrible mistakes, but rather has done exactly the right thing by promoting them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can read this and then decide for yourself which perspective makes the most sense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The following list doesn\u2019t include anything about the Iraqis who\u2019ve died since 2003. Partly, this is because it\u2019s traditional for the U.S. media to pay no attention to the lives of foreigners. Partly, this is because we have no idea how many Iraqis deaths there have been. Various estimates range from 151,000 to over a million. While the U.S. ultimately spent at least $3 trillion on the war<\/a> and the CIA put down $1 billion just to figure out that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction, we\u2019ve allocated exactly zero dollars to learn how many Iraqis have died thanks to us. Come on, we\u2019re not made of money!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

George W. Bush<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Former president Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin are the 21st century\u2019s premier war criminals. In a better world, they\u2019d be sharing a cell at The Hague, playing lots of pinochle and getting up to various mass murderer hijinks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But here in this universe, Bush is gobbling down huge quantities of money on the speaking circuit, where he charges at least $100,000<\/a> for an hour of his pens\u00e9es. He recently condemned \u201cthe decision of one man to launch a wholly unjustified and brutal invasion of Iraq.\u201d Then he said, \u201cI mean, of Ukraine!\u201d and he and his audience all chortled, because you have to admit that\u2019s pretty funny.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His time is also devoted to painting and being buddies with the Clintons and the Obamas. In particular, he likes to sneak candy<\/a> to Michelle Obama at solemn events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI mean, of Ukraine!\u201d Ha ha ha ha ha, what a scamp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/youtube.com\/watch?v=s1kwq52NKmo%3Fautoplay%3D0%26rel%3D0%26enablejsapi%3D1%26origin%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Ftheintercept.com%26widgetid%3D1<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dick Cheney<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Vice President Cheney told one of the most blatant lies about Iraq during the buildup to the war. In an August 2002 speech, he claimed<\/a> that when Saddam Hussein\u2019s son-in-law Hussein Kamel defected in 1995, he revealed that Iraq was trying to make nuclear weapons again. In reality, Kamel had insisted that Iraq had no unconventional weapons of any kind. This was not a big secret: Kamel said it on CNN in an interview that was available to anyone with an internet connection<\/a>. America\u2019s crack press corps ripped the lid off Cheney\u2019s obvious deceit by completely missing it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since leaving office, Cheney has spent his time fishing, endorsing Donald Trump for president in 2016, and not being prosecuted for torture. Also, for a period of time, he had a kind of external mechanical heart that pushed blood through his veins continuously, meaning that he had no heartbeat<\/a> yet was still alive (?).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Donald Rumsfeld<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

On the afternoon of 9\/11, as the Pentagon was still on fire, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld was eagerly asking<\/a> whether the U.S. could now attack Iraq.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rumsfeld died in 2021, but before then, he got in some quality time at his antebellum vacation home on the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. The nickname of Rumsfeld\u2019s estate was Mount Misery. As the New York Times reported<\/a>, it had once been owned by a man named Edward Covey, who was \u201cnotorious for breaking unruly slaves for other farmers.\u201d One subjected to this treatment was a 16-year-old Frederick Douglass, who later wrote it made him \u201cwrecked, changed, and bewildered; goaded almost to madness.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MOST READ<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Cheering Silicon Valley Bank Bailout, Gavin Newsom Doesn\u2019t Mention He\u2019s a Client<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Ken Klippenstein<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Pentagon Analyst Kept Intel Job After Joining Jan. 6 Mob, Planned to Kidnap Jewish Leaders<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

James Risen<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Americans Don\u2019t Care About the Iraqi Dead. They Don\u2019t Even Care About Their Own.<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Peter Maass<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You have to admit there\u2019s a nice historical symmetry here, given Rumsfeld\u2019s own role in tormenting other humans. You can imagine Covey\u2019s ghost visiting Rumsfeld in the darkest night and telling him, \u201cHey \u2014 great job.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Colin Powell<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

One neat thing about Secretary of State Powell\u2019s 2003 presentation at the United Nations was that Powell absolutely knew he was lying<\/a>. Famed Washington Post columnist Mary McGrory responded to Powell\u2019s deluge of deception by proclaiming<\/a>, \u201cHe persuaded me, and I was as tough as France to convince. \u2026 The cumulative effect was stunning.\u201d McGrory apparently did not know the most basic fact about Powell, which was that he was an extremely proficient liar who\u2019d risen to the top by lying about the My Lai massacre in Vietnam<\/a> and then lying about the Iran-Contra scandal<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Related<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Lie After Lie: What Colin Powell Knew About Iraq 15 Years Ago and What He Told the U.N.<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Powell also died in 2021, but before that, he spent his post-political life being rich. Every now and then, people would ask him about his U.N. appearance, and he would tell them he had been horribly misled by individuals he never identified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John Bolton<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Under Secretary of State Bolton played a central role in the Bush administration\u2019s WMD lies by pushing out<\/a> Jos\u00e9 Bustani, the head of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, or OPCW. Bustani had committed a supreme crime: planning to conduct inspections to determine if Iraq had chemical weapons. Bolton\u2019s concern was that the OPCW would discover that Iraq did not. In a particularly nice touch, Bolton threatened Bustani\u2019s children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bolton was rewarded for this by being named national security adviser by Trump. He did experience some distress, however: Trump wasn\u2019t completely sure who he was and sometimes would refer to him<\/a> as \u201cMike Bolton.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Anti-war protesters dressed as U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Vice President Dick Cheney, President George W. Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in prison garb march down Broadway in New York City on April 29, 2006. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photo: Timothy Clary\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Condoleezza Rice<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Related<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Condoleezza Rice and Madeleine Albright Conduct a MasterClass on the Banal Horror of U.S. Foreign Policy<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

National security adviser Rice explained in January 2003 why the U.S. had to invade Iraq if there was any uncertainty: \u201cWe don\u2019t want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud.\u201d The prestigious Hoover Institution at Stanford University later considered her career and decided this was exactly who they wanted as their director. Why? Because<\/a> of \u201cher commitment to the Institution\u2019s core mission of safeguarding peace, prosperity, and freedom.\u201d Hundreds of thousands of dead Iraqis were not available for comment on this commitment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

David Frum<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Frum was a speechwriter in the Bush White House. He famously coined the phrase \u201caxis of evil,\u201d consisting of Iraq, Iran, and North Korea, for Bush\u2019s 2002 State of the Union address. Iraq and Iran were a peculiar axis, given that they were mortal enemies, but Frum was not hobbled by such concepts as \u201cmaking sense.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After leaving the White House, Frum co-wrote a book called \u201cAn End to Evil: How to Win the War on Terror.\u201d Sadly, we did not follow his advice, and evil still besets us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In \u201cAn End to Evil,\u201d Frum reported that \u201cthere is overwhelming evidence that Saddam had extensive chemical and biological weapons programs.\u201d You may not be surprised to learn that this was absolutely false.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Frum was rewarded for this performance by The Atlantic with a job there as a staff writer. This week, Frum wrote a 20th anniversary piece<\/a> for the magazine, which led off with the revelation that Iraq possessed \u201can arsenal of chemical-warfare shells and warheads.\u201d <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You might wonder: Given that Bush and Cheney were totally vindicated by this arsenal, why did they never mention it? Are they just super-modest? This is exactly the kind of question asking that will destroy your career in the prestige media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

David Brooks<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Journalist Brooks contributed an article to the Weekly Standard just after the start of the war called \u201cThe Collapse of the Dream Palaces<\/a>.\u201d You absolutely must read it; it\u2019s one of the most bonkers things ever to appear in the English language. Its core argument is that opponents of the Iraq War had been \u201cunable to achieve enough emotional detachment from their own political passions to see the world as it really is,\u201d and their fantasy world was about to meet cold, hard reality. North Korean propagandists would have rejected it as too embarrassing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The New York Times saw the quality of this work and soon afterward hired Brooks as a regular columnist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeffrey Goldberg<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Goldberg, then a staff writer at the New Yorker, was one of the most influential proponents of the invasion of Iraq outside of the government. His work was entered into the Congressional Record<\/a> during the debate on the authorization to use military force in fall 2002. In the New Yorker, Goldberg wrote that \u201cthere is no disagreement that Iraq, if unchecked, will have [nuclear weapons] soon.\u201d And of course, everyone knew it already had \u201cstocks of biological and chemical weapons.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In October 2002, Goldberg argued<\/a>, \u201cThe administration is planning today to launch what many people would undoubtedly call a short-sighted and inexcusable act of aggression. In five years, however, I believe that the coming invasion of Iraq will be remembered as an act of profound morality.\u201d You may recall that October 2007 came and went without a lot of celebration of this profound morality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeffrey Goldberg is now the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Judith Miller<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Miller wrote or co-wrote many of the hilariously credulous New York Times articles<\/a> warning readers of the terrifying threat of Iraq\u2019s weapons of mass destruction. Perhaps the funniest piece of her oeuvre was published soon after the invasion, headlined \u201cIllicit Arms Kept Till Eve of War, An Iraqi Scientist Is Said to Assert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It wasn\u2019t based on Miller ever talking to this scientist. However, Miller reported, \u201cWhile this reporter could not interview the scientist, she was permitted to see him from a distance.\u201d This is always how the best journalism has always been done: watching from a distance. She soon went on TV to declare this was \u201cmore than a smoking gun. What they\u2019ve found is a silver bullet.\u201d Whoops!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interestingly, Miller is one of the only people on this list to ever suffer any career damage over Iraq. She resigned\/was fired<\/a> in 2005, but it had more to do with her entanglement in the prosecution of Scooter Libby<\/a> than her cataclysmic WMD work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t feel too bad for her, however. She went on to work for Fox and is currently<\/a> a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. The CFR, you see, is devoted<\/a> to helping Americans \u201cbetter understand the world and the foreign policy choices facing the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joe Biden<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Biden was a Democratic senator from Delaware<\/a> in the run-up to the war and chair of the Senate\u2019s Foreign Relations Committee. He ran hearings making the case for the invasion<\/a> and became one of the most significant Democratic voices supporting it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biden remains prominent in American politics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plus a Cast of Thousands<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This article has to stop here because otherwise it would become an unbelievably depressing 800-page book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reality is that most of the D.C. foreign policy blob signed up to push the Iraq War, and for the most part, they\u2019re all still there, several big steps up the career ladder, just blobbing away. Voltaire said that humanity invented hell to dissuade people from doing wrong when they noticed there didn\u2019t seem to be any consequences for it here on Earth. On this bleak anniversary, you can certainly understand where he was coming from.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BECOME A MEMBER U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, President George W. Bush, and Vice President Dick Cheney at the Pentagon in Arlington, Va., on Dec. 15, 2006. Photo: Charles Ommanney\/Getty Im They\u2019re all doing great, thanks for asking. Jon Schwarz March 15 2023, 1:52 p.m. (Common Dreams.org) THE U.S. AND its allies… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[262,265,267,266,261,263,260,269,264,268],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25557"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25557"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25557\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25559,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25557\/revisions\/25559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}