Tuesday, November 18, 2003
Leaked Department of Defense memo
A memo was prepared by the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, Douglas J. Feith, and was sent to the Senate Intelligence Committee. The committee wanted documentation of the pre-war intelligence claims regarding the connections between Al Qaida terrorists and Iraq officials. The memo contains many damning proofs that this connection existed. However, the debate is now raging as to whether or not this memo contains definitive proofs that the war was justified.
If the details provided in the memo are indeed true, then Bush did not provide false justification, and it is a good thing the regime has been ousted. In response to this leaked memo, the Department of Defense issued the following statement: :
"News reports that the Defense Department recently confirmed new information with respect to contacts between al-Qaida and Iraq in a letter to the Senate Intelligence Committee are inaccurate... The classified annex was not an analysis of the substantive issue of the relationship between Iraq and al Qaida, and it drew no conclusions."
In essence, this tells us nothing. It neither accepts nor refutes the claims made in the memo. It makes a very interesting read. I need to read it closer before talking about it more, maybe tomorrow.
It does however, pose some interesting dilemmas. If it is true, why is it not all over the news? Well, the liberal media will not propagate something that supports Bush and would most likely gain him more public support. If it is not true, then it still calls into question our true reasons for invading Iraq.
Here is my personal beef-I have very little trust for the media, and Iraq related reporting really makes me leery. Here is one reason: since the Iraq war "ended", some newspapers across the country have received letters from soldiers declaring their happiness at being in Iraq, helping their people, and seeing a huge change there as a result. Here's the kicker-some of the soldiers who supposedly wrote these letters, never did. They have public stated that. Other soldiers simply do not exist. A PR campaign by the military? I do not know, but it's very fishy. I read a blog by an Iraqi lambasting war critics. I read it, wondering the whole time if it was actually from an Iraqi or if it was another PR move. I don't know. As a result, I am severely skeptical. I hope the above memo is legitimate and that the claims have been substantiated. But I do not know. Read it, and decide for yourself.
If the details provided in the memo are indeed true, then Bush did not provide false justification, and it is a good thing the regime has been ousted. In response to this leaked memo, the Department of Defense issued the following statement: :
"News reports that the Defense Department recently confirmed new information with respect to contacts between al-Qaida and Iraq in a letter to the Senate Intelligence Committee are inaccurate... The classified annex was not an analysis of the substantive issue of the relationship between Iraq and al Qaida, and it drew no conclusions."
In essence, this tells us nothing. It neither accepts nor refutes the claims made in the memo. It makes a very interesting read. I need to read it closer before talking about it more, maybe tomorrow.
It does however, pose some interesting dilemmas. If it is true, why is it not all over the news? Well, the liberal media will not propagate something that supports Bush and would most likely gain him more public support. If it is not true, then it still calls into question our true reasons for invading Iraq.
Here is my personal beef-I have very little trust for the media, and Iraq related reporting really makes me leery. Here is one reason: since the Iraq war "ended", some newspapers across the country have received letters from soldiers declaring their happiness at being in Iraq, helping their people, and seeing a huge change there as a result. Here's the kicker-some of the soldiers who supposedly wrote these letters, never did. They have public stated that. Other soldiers simply do not exist. A PR campaign by the military? I do not know, but it's very fishy. I read a blog by an Iraqi lambasting war critics. I read it, wondering the whole time if it was actually from an Iraqi or if it was another PR move. I don't know. As a result, I am severely skeptical. I hope the above memo is legitimate and that the claims have been substantiated. But I do not know. Read it, and decide for yourself.
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