Iraq, 9/11 and Oil

Iraq, 9/11, and Oil

By Arabesque

What exactly do Iraq, 9/11, and oil have to do with each other?

While many object to the Iraq war for its conduct:

“Suppose that a President invaded another country, and adopted the unusual tactic of sending our troops in unarmed and unprotected, one platoon at a time, holding signs that said: We want to take over your country! Please surrender! And suppose that, unsurprisingly, the result of this was that those troops were all killed, one after the other. Suppose that the President was urged to adopt a different strategy, but refused, on the grounds that admitting mistakes would give comfort to our enemies; and that when some people began to mutter: not as much comfort as making those mistakes in the first place, he accused them of being defeatists. Finally, suppose that after several thousand troops had been killed in this way, the American people stopped supporting this President and his war. It would be beyond galling for the President to lecture them on their lack of will, or their insufficient concern for the people of the invaded country, when the reason for their lack of support was that his own idiocy had made any good outcome impossible.” -- Obsidian Wings

Others object to its premise:

Repeating the lies for starting a war does not make them true.

"See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda." George Bush, May 24, 2005

George Bush truly is a master of this disinformation technique. Take for example, the claim that Iraq had a connection with 9/11. Here is what Bush has to say about the subject:

“We have no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved with the 11 September attacks.” September 3, 2003

"The reason I keep insisting that there was a relationship between Iraq and Saddam and al Qaeda: because there was a relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda" June 18, 2004

“What did Iraq have to do with… [9/11]? Nothing!” August 21, 2006

“The same folks that are bombing innocent people in Iraq were the ones who attacked us in America on September the 11th.” July 12, 2007

Now, to some, it is a serious matter to lie about reasons to start a war. Some would say it's a basis for impeachment:

“To put it bluntly, if Bush has taken Congress and the nation into war based on bogus information, he is cooked. Manipulation or deliberate misuse of national security intelligence data, if proven, could be "a high crime" under the Constitution's impeachment clause.” John W. Dean, June 6, 2003

What have others said about the relationship of Iraq to 9/11?

“Saddam Hussein's government did not cooperate with al Qaeda prior to the U.S. invasion of Iraq, the U.S. Defense Department said in a report based on interrogations of the deposed leader and two of his former aides.” Associated Press, April 6, 2007

“There is ‘no credible evidence’ that Saddam Hussein's government in Iraq collaborated with the al Qaeda terrorist network on any attacks on the United States, according to a new staff report released this morning by the [9/11] commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.” Washington Post, June 16, 2004

The Pentagon and the 9/11 Commission claim that Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11. Even Bush admitted it once. But perhaps we shouldn't be surprised about the repetition of lies after hearing:

“We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality.” New York Times, October 17, 2004

The embarrassing problem with creating your own reality is that you can’t always remember your lies.

Question: When did the US administration decide it wanted to go to war with Iraq? Was it after 9/11, or before 9/11?

“From the very beginning, there was a conviction, that Saddam Hussein was a bad person and that he needed to go,” says O’Neill, who adds that going after Saddam was topic "A" 10 days after the inauguration - eight months before Sept. 11. “From the very first instance, it was about Iraq. It was about what we can do to change this regime,” says Suskind. “Day one, these things were laid and sealed.” As treasury secretary, O'Neill was a permanent member of the National Security Council. He says in the book he was surprised at the meeting that questions such as "Why Saddam?" and "Why now?" were never asked. "It was all about finding a way to do it. That was the tone of it. The president saying ‘Go find me a way to do this,’" says O’Neill. “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.”

Why would they want to do this?

Before 9/11, Dick Cheney arranged secret Energy Task Force meetings. Judicial Watch sued for the release of documents from these meetings:

"These are documents turned over by the Commerce Department, under a March 5, 2002 court order as a result of Judicial Watch’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit concerning the activities of the Cheney Energy Task Force. The documents contain a map of Iraqi oilfields, pipelines, refineries and terminals, as well as 2 charts detailing Iraqi oil and gas projects, and “Foreign Suitors for Iraqi Oilfield Contracts.” The documents are dated March 2001.

Project Censored remarked:

“Documented plans of occupation and exploitation predating September 11 confirm heightened suspicion that U.S. policy is driven by the dictates of the energy industry.”

In fact, there were also plans to go to war with Afghanistan before 9/11 happened.

So then, why are Bush and the mainstream media continuously lying about Iraq's connection to 9/11?

Because they needed a justification—like "a new Pearl Harbor" to go to war. It's an old trick.

9/11 supplied what they needed.

Family Security Matters Advocates Bush become ‘President-for-Life’

Family Security Matters Advocates Bush become ‘President-for-Life’

By Arabesque

"If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator."[1] George Bush, December 18, 2000

An organization called “Family Security Matters” with links to Dick Cheney promotes the idea that Bush should be dictator for life:

“He could then follow Caesar's example and use his newfound popularity with the military to wield military power to become the first permanent president of America, and end the civil chaos caused by the continually squabbling Congress and the out-of-control Supreme Court.  President Bush can fail in his duty to himself, his country, and his God, by becoming ‘ex-president’ Bush or he can become ‘President-for-Life’ Bush: the conqueror of Iraq, who brings sense to the Congress and sanity to the Supreme Court. Then who would be able to stop Bush from emulating Augustus Caesar and becoming ruler of the world? For only an America united under one ruler has the power to save humanity from the threat of a new Dark Age wrought by terrorists armed with nuclear weapons."[2] Philip Atkinson, Conquering the Drawbacks of Democracy [sic]

This embarrassing article was quickly deleted, presumably over negative feedback. 

Blogger Mark Parent connects the dots:

“Well, it turns out that "Family Security Matters (FSM) is a front group for the Center for Security Policy (CSP), a conservative Washington think tank ‘committed to the time-tested philosophy of promoting international peace through American strength.’ (The phone number listed on the FSM website is answered by the CSP.)  So now we are led to the Center for Security Policy, and who's connected to that group?  Dick Cheney, Vice President of the U.S. under George W. Bush, was an early member of Center's Board of Advisors (which is now called the National Security Advisory Council).”[3]

Paul Joseph Watson followed up on this story:

“If you thought Stu Bykovsky's call for a new 9/11 was the lowest the Neo-Cons could sink, think again. A right-wing foundation with links to Dick Cheney has called for Bush to be made lifetime president, ruler of the world, and for Iraq to be ethnically cleansed of Arabs by means of a nuclear holocaust… Though FSM chose to delete the article from their website after it started to get bad press, the cache is still available and Atkinson's previous articles betray the fact that he is a real columnist and he really believes this crap!”[4] 

While many would reject the idea of Bush as permanent dictator as offensive, unlikely, and absurd, this article echoes a document signed by President Bush himself, which would theoretically give him a dictatorship in the aftermath of a “Catastrophic Emergency”.  The National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive signed on May 9, 2007 reads:

“’Catastrophic Emergency’ means any incident, regardless of location, that results in extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the U.S. population, infrastructure, environment, economy, or government functions… The President shall lead the activities of the Federal Government.”[5]

While the media has remained silent on this document, many including Craig Paul Roberts,[6] Webster Tarpley,[7] and others[8] have spoken out on its significance.  Lee Rogers writes:

“This is nothing more than a power grab that centralizes power and will make the President a dictator in the case of a so called ‘Catastrophic Emergency’. It is insane that this directive claims that its purpose is to define procedures to protect a working constitutional government when the very language in the document destroys what a working constitutional government is supposed to be. A working constitutional government contains a separation of powers between three equally powerful branches and this directive states that the executive branch has the power to coordinate the activities of the other branches. This directive is a clear violation of constitutional separation of powers.”[9]

Is the Family Security Matters article a precursor to more Neo-conservative propaganda promoting the idea that Bush should be Dictator for life?

I had my suspicions about “Family security matters” when I read this from the website a few days before this Bush as dictator article came out:

“As a matter of pure logic, former Director Woolsey remarked that the first and most important condition necessary to keep America safe is ‘not to tie the president's hands’ when it comes to our intelligence programs. A prime example of what not to do is the spectacle that transpired in the Senate just this past week with liberals insisting that court orders be obtained under the FISA program to intercept suspected terrorist conversations occurring between foreign countries! What are they smoking?”

An August 20, 2007 article by Family Security Matters writer Luke Sheahan derides Kevin Barrett and the 9/11 Truth movement:

“Columbus 9/11 Truth is an organization in Ohio that argues that the attacks of 9/11 were an inside job. Got that? In June the organization hosted the ‘Truth Film Festival,’ which screened a number of documentaries questioning the government’s role in the attacks. The last two films explicitly argued that the U.S. government orchestrated the attacks… What would make distinguished professors at a major American research university fall for the patently absurd ideas propagated by the likes of Columbus 9/11 Truth? Or even allow themselves to be associated with such clearly unsavory fellows as Abukar Arman and Ahmad Al-Akhras? This isn’t just your run of the mill anti-Americanism, its full blown crazy black helicopter conspiracy theories. However, there is a connection. The vision that makes some academics anti-American also lends itself to making them conspiracy theorists.”[10]

While weak, ad-hominem filled attack pieces on the truth movement are common, I think it is reasonable to consider Family Security Matters a biased source of information, and likely a direct propaganda arm of the Bush administration itself. 

---

[1] CNN, Transcript, Transition of Power: President-Elect Bush Meets With Congressional Leaders on Capitol Hill, http://transcripts.cnn.com/, December 18, 2000

[2] Philip Atkinson, Exclusive: Conquering the Drawbacks of Democracy [sic], The Family Security Foundation, Inc., http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/, August 3, 2007 [embarrassing article removed from internet]

Google Cache of this article: http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:cnnnSRimWmcJ:www.familysecuritymatters.org/index.php%3Fid%3D1208571+%22president+for+life+bush%22+site:familysecuritymatters.org&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=3&gl=us&client=firefox-a.  See also:

Source Watch, Family Security Matters, http://www.sourcewatch.org/, external links:

“Philip Atkinson, ‘Conquering the Drawbacks of Democracy’, Family Security Matters, August 3, 2007. (This is an archived version of a FSM article that has now been removed from their site).”

[3] Marc Parent, Group that advocated Bush become "President-for-Life" linked to Bush Administration itself, http://mparent7777-2.blogspot.com/, August 16, 2007

[4] Paul Joseph Watson, Neo-Cons: Make Bush Dictator Of The World, http://www.prisonplanet.com/, August 17, 2007

[5] White House, National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive, http://www.whitehouse.gov/, May 9, 2007

[6] Paul Craig Roberts, My wake-up call: Watch for another 9/11-WMD experience, Online Journal, http://onlinejournal.com/, July 20, 2007:

“Whether authentic or orchestrated, an attack will activate Bush's new executive orders, which create a dictatorial police state in event of ‘national emergency.’” See also:

Muriel Kane, Old-line Republican warns 'something's in the works' to trigger a police state, http://rawstory.com/, July 19, 2007

[7] Webster Tarpley, The Next 9-11: Cheney Determined To Strike This Summer: Only Impeachment, Removal or General Strike Can Stop Him, http://www.911truth.org/ July 21, 2007.  See also:

Scholars for 9/11 Truth, GOP Welcomes New 9/11: Reports Lay Groundwork for Attack, Scholars Say, http://pr-gb.com/, August 3, 2007:

“A spate of new reports of al Qaida resurgence appears to be laying the foundation for a fake attack on the US to bolster support for the ‘war on terror’ and Bush's sagging political fortunes.”

[8] Larry Chin, New presidential directive gives Bush dictatorial power: National Security & Homeland Security Presidential Directive establishes ‘National Continuity Policy’, http://www.globalresearch.ca/, May 21, 2007

“This directive, completely unnoticed by the media, and given no scrutiny by Congress, literally gives the White House unprecedented dictatorial power over the government and the country, bypassing the US Congress and obliterating the separation of powers.”

Kurt Nimmo, Bush Pens Dictatorship Directive, Few Notice, http://www.globalresearch.ca/, May 30, 2007

“Bush may now declare himself absolute ruler at any moment and Congress can like it or lump it.  Naturally, this act of betrayal is of so little importance and consequence, the corporate media believes you are better served knowing Justin Timberlake is in love.”

Dave Lindorff, Martial law threat is real, http://axisoflogic.com/, July 31, 2007:

“This is all sitting around like a loaded gun waiting to go off. I think the risk of martial law is trivial right now, but the minute there is a terrorist attack, then it is real. And it stays with us after Bush and Cheney are gone, because terrorism stays with us forever.”

Kaleem Omar, Bush’s Critics Say Threat of Martial Law in The United States is ‘Real’, http://www.thenews.com/, July 29, 2007

Joe Gandelman, ‘Big Surprise’ Promised By Al Qaeda In Web Ad, http://themoderatevoice.com/, August 1, 2007:

“There are already some on the left and right warning about new emergency plan that would go into effect after a terrorist attack that would essentially put the executive wing in charge of the entire government.”

[9] Lee Rogers, Bush To Be Dictator In A Catastrophic Emergency, http://www.globalresearch.ca/, May 21, 2007.   

[10] Luke Sheahan, Chalk Up Two More Academics to Trutherism, Family Security Matters, August 20, 2007

Bush Confirms He Will Seek More Dictatorial Power

While Constitutional experts and even sectors of the corporate mainstream media have denounced the latest power grab by the Bush administration as unnecessary and highly dangerous, the President himself has confirmed that he will seek even more authority from Congress and will attempt to pass more legislation aimed at granting the government unques

read more | digg story

Former Reagan Official: Bush May Stage False Flag Events To Reinstate Draft

Former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration Paul Craig Roberts has gone further than ever before, warning that the Bush administration could be about to stage false flag events and terror attacks in order to reinstate the draft, announce a dictatorship and attack Iran.

read more | digg story

Keith Olbermann Updates The Nexus Of Terror And Politics - Creating Terror

From Crooks and Liars:

On “Countdown” Keith Olbermann talked with Will Bunch of the Philadelphia Daily News about President Bush’s use of trumped up terror alerts to drown out the roar of scandals plaguing his administration. As the heat was turning up on Alberto Gonzales and contempt of Congress charges being brought against Harriet Miers and Josh Bolten, the Bush gang ratcheted up the fear mongering — again.

Download (2347) | Play (2658) Download (840) | Play (1473)

Bunch points out that the press went nuts covering the recent wired cheese dry run terror warnings leaked by the DHS, but as it turns out, the evidence didn’t show any kind of terrorist dry run whatsoever. He also points out that it was completely unnecessary to do this right at the height of the summer travel season, although I imagine that’s exactly why they timed it that way.

read more | digg story

More Olbermann on Terrorism Propaganda:

Download (3651) | Play (2752) Download (1562) | Play (1382)

Keith Olbermann and terrorism analyst Roger Cressey knocks down the lies and spin of Bush’s increasingly delusional assertions of al Qaeda in Iraq.

…it’s completely misleading. The organization that attacked us on 9/11 is still trying to attack us. That is the group that is primarily on the Afghan/Pakistan border that you’ve seen all the intelligence community assessments about in the past few days. The group inside Iraq is very indigenous. It’s a function of what happened in Iraq after Saddam was overthrown. In effect, we’ve actually helped create the conditions that allowed al Qaeda to take root in Iraq. It’s clear that al Qaeda in Iraq has ideological sympathies with al Qaeda Central that clued there’s been some communication between the two, but it is false and misleading for the president to make that direct linkage that he did.

On Monday night's "Countdown" Keith Olbermann updates his disturbing timeline of how the Bush Administration has strategically used terrorism and fear to counter bad publicity, starting in 2002 all the way up to the most recent terrorist plot to blow up JFK airport. This is a long segment so we've broken it down into two files. This is stunning, and dramatic analysis, make sure to watch both parts.

Part one: Download (12169) | Play (13146) Download (7206) | Play (9588)

Part two: Download (9935) | Play (8843) Download (3344) | Play (3447)

…from the mind-bending idea that four guys dressed as Pizza Delivery men were going to out-gun all the soldiers at Fort Dix…to the not-too-thought-out plan to blow-up J-F-K Airport… here we go again. Time for an update of our segment "The Nexus of Politics and Terror".

We covered President Bush's painful presser yesterday, but nobody breaks it down like Keith Olbermann. On last night's "Countdown", Keith and Newsweek's Senior White House Correspondent Richard Wolffe discussed the President's misguided statements about al Qaeda, terrorism and certain jouralist's children. They also touched on the Democrats, war funding and of course, the bird that clearly hates our freedoms…

Download (7441) | Play (7431) Download (3260) | Play (4532) (file fixed)

Castro suggests Washington fails to stop attacks on US soil to justify war on terror

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/07/16/news/CB-GEN-Cuba-Castro.php

Castro suggests Washington fails to stop attacks on US soil to justify war on terror

HAVANA: Fidel Castro suggested that Washington has deliberately failed to stop terrorist attacks against Americans because it needed to "deliver a bang" that would justify its war on terror.

In the latest in a series of essays that Cuba's 80-year-old Maximum leader has begun writing every few days, Castro on Sunday seized on U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff's comments this past week expressing a "gut feeling" that the United States faces an increased risk of attack this summer.

"The government of the United States sees and hears all, with or without legal authority," Castro wrote. "They can prevent any attack on their people, unless there is some imperial need to deliver a bang so that they can carry on with and justify the brutal war which has been declared against the culture, religion, economy and independence of other peoples."

The accusation came at the end of an essay titled "Bush, Health and Education," in which Castro claimed Cubans are better cared for than Americans, and that his poor island nation and its legions of doctors working around Latin America have done more for the region than the U.S. ever will.

Published in the Communist Party youth newspaper Juventud Rebelde, the essay criticized U.S. President George W. Bush for suggesting that recent U.S. initiatives have provided quality medical care to Latin Americans.

[...]

"Bush knows that he is lying and that his tall tales are hard to swallow, but he doesn't care," Castro wrote. "He is confident that if he repeats it a thousand times, many will finally believe him."

Janeane Garofalo Blurts "9/11 Was an Inside Job" on Conan O'Brien Show

Janeane Garofalo used an opportunity on Late Night with Conan O'Brien to discuss her wish to hold up a puppy to offset discussion of 'controversial' political issues, naming "9/11 Was an Inside Job" and Bush as the 'worst president of all time.'

read more | digg story

US Justice ties abuse of power to the events of September 11, Patriot act and “persistent fear mongering”

US Justice ties abuse of power to the events of September 11, Patriot act and “persistent fear mongering”

A “longtime attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice” says that “I have never been as ashamed of the department and government that I serve as I am at this time,” calling it “inappropriate, unethical and indeed unlawful.”

John S. Koppel, US department of Justice:

“The public record now plainly demonstrates that both the DOJ and the government as a whole have been thoroughly politicized in a manner that is inappropriate, unethical and indeed unlawful. The unconscionable commutation of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby's sentence, the misuse of warrantless investigative powers under the Patriot Act and the deplorable treatment of U.S. attorneys all point to an unmistakable pattern of abuse.”

[…]

“In the course of its tenure since the Sept. 11 attacks, the Bush administration has turned the entire government (and the DOJ in particular) into a veritable Augean stable on issues such as civil rights, civil liberties, international law and basic human rights, as well as criminal prosecution and federal employment and contracting practices. It has systematically undermined the rule of law in the name of fighting terrorism, and it has sought to insulate its actions from legislative or judicial scrutiny and accountability by invoking national security at every turn, engaging in persistent fear mongering, routinely impugning the integrity and/or patriotism of its critics, and protecting its own lawbreakers. This is neither normal government conduct nor “politics as usual,” but a national disgrace of a magnitude unseen since the days of Watergate — which, in fact, I believe it eclipses.”

[…]

I realize that this constitutionally protected statement subjects me to a substantial risk of unlawful reprisal from extremely ruthless people who have repeatedly taken such action in the past. But I am confident that I am speaking on behalf of countless thousands of honorable public servants, at Justice and elsewhere, who take their responsibilities seriously and share these views. And some things must be said, whatever the risk.

John S. Koppel has been a civil appellate attorney with the Department of Justice since 1981.

http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_6308408

FBI Knowingly Allowed Bin Laden To Personally Charter Flight After 9/11

FBI Knowingly Allowed Bin Laden To Personally Charter Flight After 9/11

Steve Watson
Prison Planet
Thursday, June 21, 2007

The FBI were aware that Osama Bin Laden may have chartered one of the flights that took Bin Laden family members out of the U.S. in the days after the 9/11 attacks, yet allowed the planes to depart without even questioning them, new Agency documents reveal.

While all other air traffic had been grounded for days by the authorities they knowingly allowed the immediate family of their prime suspect behind the attacks to get into planes and fly out at Bin Laden's own request.

The previously confidential documents (PDF link) have been obtained by Judicial Watch through the Freedom of Information Act and ongoing litigation.

The documents state:

ON 9/19/01, A 727 PLANE LEFT LAX, RYAN FLT #441 TO ORLANDO, FL W/ETA (estimated time of arrival) OF 4-5PM. THE PLANE WAS CHARTERED EITHER BY THE SAUDI ARABIAN ROYAL FAMILY OR OSAMA BIN LADEN… THE LA FBI SEARCHED THE PLANE [REDACTED] LUGGAGE, OF WHICH NOTHING UNUSUAL WAS FOUND.

Traffic control reports show that the plane made four stops to pick up passengers and was then allowed to depart the United States for Paris where all passengers disembarked on 9/20/01.

The documents reveal that the FBI did not consider a single Saudi national nor any of the Bin Laden family worthy of investigative value.

“Eight days after the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history, Osama bin Laden possibly charters a flight to whisk his family out of the country, and it’s not worth more than a luggage search and a few brief interviews?” asked Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “Clearly these documents prove the FBI conducted a slapdash investigation of these Saudi flights. We’ll never know how many investigative leads were lost due to the FBI’s lack of diligence.”

U.S. District Court Judge Richard W. Roberts ordered the FBI to resubmit “proper disclosures” to the Court and Judicial Watch, leading to these incredible findings.

It was revealed that the FBI had previously redacted Osama Bin Laden’s name from the records in order “to protect privacy interests.”

Note the previously blacked out "Osama Bin Laden" - privacy interests? get real.

The documents provide clear proof that the FBI was protecting Bin Laden while the rest of the world was being told that he had masterminded the biggest terror attack in history. The FBI then attempted to cover up this fact. [...]

Perhaps the FBI allowed Bin Laden to charter the flight and take all his family members out of the USA because they know he is not a suspect. The FBI's most wanted page for Osama bin Laden still does not include an apportion of blame for 9/11 and there has still been no formal indictment of Bin Laden almost six years after 9/11.

The protection of Bin Laden by federal authorities has been ongoing since BEFORE 9/11 when agents were told to 'back off the Bin Laden family' in order to protect business interests that the Bush family had with the Bin Ladens and other Saudi nationals.

The FBI asserts that no one on the planes that left had any terrorist links. yet documents (specifically FBI document 199I WF213589) found back in November 2001 prove this to be a falsehood. [...]

In the 1980s George W Bush made millions on the back of a company financed by Osama Bin Laden's elder brother, Salem. In addition both presidents Bush had lucrative stakes along with the Bin Ladens in The Carlyle Group which has gone on to become one of America's biggest defence contractors.

On the very morning of 9/11 George W. Bush's father was meeting with Osama bin Laden's brother, Shafig Bin Laden, in the Ritz-Carlton Hotel on Carlyle Group business. The Bin Ladens sold their stake in Carlyle soon after 9/11.

FBI Special agent Robert Wright broke down when testifying that he had been gagged and could not reveal the true extent of what he knew about the Bush-Bin Laden connection and 9/11. His lawyer stepped up and said live on C-Span that "The Bush Family vacations with the Bin Ladens".

The ties run deep and all lead to money, huge amounts of money. This is how the Bushes do business, this is how they have always done business, they own the best enemies money can buy and the latest revelations underscore the fact that an independent and thorough investigation into 9/11 and the Bush Administration's role in it is absolutely imperative.

read more | digg story