TV News LIES

Wednesday, Dec 04th

Last update09:30:06 AM GMT

You are here News War What Donald Rumsfeld Knew We Didn’t Know About Iraq

What Donald Rumsfeld Knew We Didn’t Know About Iraq

E-mail Print PDF

RumsfeldOn September 9, 2002, as the George W. Bush administration was launching its campaign to invade Iraq, a classified report landed on the desk of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. It came from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and it carried an ominous note.

“Please take a look at this material as to what we don’t know about WMD,” Rumsfeld wrote to Air Force General Richard Myers. “It is big.”

The report was an inventory of what U.S. intelligence knew—or more importantly didn’t know—about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. Its assessment was blunt: “We’ve struggled to estimate the unknowns. ... We range from 0% to about 75% knowledge on various aspects of their program.”

Myers already knew about the report. The Joint Staff’s director for intelligence had prepared it, but Rumsfeld’s urgent tone said a great deal about how seriously the head of the Defense Department viewed the report’s potential to undermine the Bush administration’s case for war. But he never shared the eight-page report with key members of the administration such as then-Secretary of State Colin Powell or top officials at the CIA, according to multiple sources at the State Department, White House and CIA who agreed to speak on condition of anonymity.

Instead, the report disappeared, and with it a potentially powerful counter-narrative to the administration’s argument that Saddam Hussein’s nuclear, chemical and biological weapons posed a grave threat to the U.S. and its allies, which was beginning to gain traction in major news outlets, led by the New York Times.

More...

 


Most Recent Related Stories...


In France, a family reckons with World War II Allies' legacy of rape and murder

Allied legacy or rape and death on D DayAs the world commemorated the 80th anniversary this year of the D-Day landings at Normandy and...

US finishes withdrawal, meeting Aug. 31 deadline after 20 years of war

Last plane bringing troops home from AfghanistanThe last plane carrying U.S. forces left Afghanistan on Monday, meeting an  Aug. 31 deadline to withdraw...

‘Lavender’: The AI machine directing Israel’s bombing spree in Gaza

Lavender In 2021, a book titled “The Human-Machine Team: How to Create Synergy Between Human and Artificial...

Historic peace deal in Afghanistan reached with Taliban, allowing withdrawal of US troops

war in Afghanistan may end with new dealU.S. and Taliban negotiators signed an historic agreement Saturday in Qatar that could end 19 years of war...
 
America's # 1 Enemy
Tee Shirt
& Help Support TvNewsLIES.org!
TVNL Tee Shirt
 
TVNL TOTE BAG
Conserve our Planet
& Help Support TvNewsLIES.org!
 
Get your 9/11 & Media
Deception Dollars
& Help Support TvNewsLIES.org!
 
The Loaded Deck
The First & the Best!
The Media & Bush Admin Exposed!