Monday, 5 December 2005 - 6:15 AM CST

For an extremely fair appraisal of the responses of the last three administrations to the growing threat of jihadist terrorism during the past decade, read Daniel Benjamin's The Age of Sacred Terror.

In connection with the 9-11 Commission's alarming final report which comes out today, also read Daniel Benjamin's new book, The Next Attack.

Monday, 5 December 2005 - 6:15 AM CST

For an extremely fair appraisal of the responses of the last three administrations to the growing threat of jihadist terrorism during the past decade, read Daniel Benjamin's The Age of Sacred Terror.

In connection with the 9-11 Commission's alarming final report which comes out today, also read Daniel Benjamin's new book, The Next Attack.

Monday, 5 December 2005 - 7:56 AM CST

You need to refresh your memory of the historical context of these quotes, starting with Clinton's. In 1998 he was dealing with Saddam's obstruction of inspections. The IAEA had issued a statement however that as far as they were able to tell Saddam had no nukes. Clinton is talking about chemicals and possible missles. He was talking on the basis of the intell we had then. There was plenty of intell since then that told a different story. At the end of the year he ordered a missle strike on a number of facilities, but the purpose was to foment an Iraqi revolt against Saddam. Beyond that, Clinton was content that containment was working. Note he did not order an invasion of ground troops!

Monday, 5 December 2005 - 7:31 PM CST

Intell since 1998 that told a different story:

http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=24889

Those who voted for the IWR foolishly trusted President Bush, took him at his word. Fool me once, shame on you.

Try to distinguish yourselves, comrades ---from the enemies of your country.

You really have to wonder about the loyalty of a man who so frequently turns on fellow countrymen that don't happen to share his views, calls them the enemy, and attacks them as traitors. When he sees roughly 60% of the American people as the enemy, in what sense can he be said to be pro-American?

Monday, 5 December 2005 - 9:35 PM CST

If I happen to catch them in the clearance shelves at my favorite used book store, I will certainly snatch them up. Thanks for the recommendations.

Monday, 5 December 2005 - 9:38 PM CST

Rider:

At the end of the year he ordered a missle strike on a number of facilities, but the purpose was to foment an Iraqi revolt against Saddam.

Was the emphasis made to guarantee that I would pay attention to The Stupidest Notion Ever?

Good going: it worked.

Tuesday, 6 December 2005 - 6:27 AM CST

So innocent, so naive. Yeah, Bush is the Zen master of fomenting Iraqi insurgencies. No contest.

Tuesday, 6 December 2005 - 7:17 AM CST

Rand: Facilitating Coups or Rebellions

http://www.rand.org/publications/MR/MR1385/MR1385.ch3.pdf

"Degrading Saddam’s security apparatus was one of the objectives of the four-day Operation Desert Fox bombing that followed the withdrawal of UNSCOM inspectors from Iraq in December 1998. The declared objective of the bombing was to diminish Iraq’s ability to develop WMD and to degrade its capabilities to threaten its neighbors.In terms of these military objectives, the Desert Fox attacks proved generally successful.

But there was also a subsidiary U.S. goal: to kill and demoralize the elite forces closest to the Iraqi leader and to send a message to them, and to the less-politicized Iraqi army, that the United States considers supporters of the regime targets for future attacks. As the chairman of the JCS, General Henry H. Shelton, put it: “We know who protects the center of gravity, and so that’s who we targeted.”

Among other targets, U.S. and U.K. aircraft struck Iraqi commandand-control centers, helicopter deployment areas, and the barracks of the Republican Guard and Special Republican Guard forces. According to General Shelton, the air strikes probably killed “several individuals” who were in the upper structure of the Iraqi leadership and possibly as many as 1,600 guard troops. While CENTCOM commander General Anthony Zinni believed that the raids had “shaken” Saddam Hussein, such short-lived and limited attacks were obviously unable to degrade Saddam’s security apparatus sufficiently to prompt his overthrow."

For Clinton's overall assessment of the Iraqi compliance situation one month before Operation Desert Fox, read his letter to Congress of November, 1998 (note that the nuclear threat is way down the list):

www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/iraqcomp.htm

Tuesday, 6 December 2005 - 9:19 AM CST

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3340723/print/1/displaymode/1098/

Feb. 24, 2003 - CIA report on proliferation "We do not have any direct evidence that Iraq has used the period since Desert Fox to reconstitute its Weapons of Mass Destruction [chemical and biological] programs, although given its past behavior, this type of activity must be regarded as likely.”

As for the nuclear weapons program, Iraq’s reconstitution capabilities remain limited.

“We believe that Iraq has probably continued low-level theoretical R&D associated with its nuclear program. A sufficient source of fissile material remains Iraq’s most significant obstacle to being able to produce a nuclear weapon,”