Kay Warns U.S. Not to Repeat Iraq Mistakes in Iran

[leftchick]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050207/ts_nm/iran_usa_kay_dc&cid=564&ncid=1480

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. official who declared the White House's hunt for illicit weapons in Iraq (news - web sites) to be a failure driven by faulty intelligence has warned the Bush administration against repeating its mistakes in the current war of words with arch-foe Iran.

"There is an eerie similarity to the events preceding the Iraq war," David Kay, who led the search for banned weapons of mass destruction in postwar Iraq, said on Monday in an opinion piece in The Washington Post.


"Nuclear weapons in the hands of Iran would be a grave danger to the world. That is not what is in doubt," he wrote.


"What is in doubt is the ability (of) the U.S. government to honestly assess Iran's nuclear status and to craft a set of measures that will cope with that threat short of military action by the United States or Israel," Kay added.


President Bush (news - web sites) justified the March 2003 invasion of Iraq by saying Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) posed a threat because Baghdad had stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons and was reviving its nuclear weapons program.

...yeah right, like it was a "mistake". :eyes:

[BeHereNow]

1. Uh, Mr Kay?

Mr. Bush doesn't think he has made any mistakes...
BHN

[Supersedeas]

2. who can say with confidence 'what' justified * invasion of Iraq

[barb162]

4. I think the shrubster had it in for Iraq ever since his daddy did Desert

Storm. According to Richard Clarke's book, after 9/11 Bush thought it was Iraq first who did it and Clarke looked at Bush like Bush was nuts.

[Chico Man]

6. Seems Clinton did too

See the US Bombing watch...

http://www.ccmep.org/usbombingwatch/2003.htm

[barb162]

23. Bush 1 and 2 "warred" with Iraq, Clinton bombed them re violations

of Desert Storm accords. Also Clinton I believe was quite aware of the Al Quaida threat (again per the Clarke book) and tried knocking them out. Clarke said Bush and Condi Rice (his boss) were oblivious to the terrorist threats. Also when you read the Woodward book, it is amazing how that book tracks with Richard Clarke. Bush wanted to knock Iraq out and would have looked for any excuse to do it. WMD became the operative three letters to get the war going.

[Chico Man]

24. WMD was also the reason for Operation Desert Fox

What sets Bush apart is his desire to get the patriotic fervor going on the home front... hmm I wonder why?

http://www.defenselink.mil/specials/desert_fox/

OPERATION NAME: Operation Desert Fox

MISSION: To strike military and security targets in Iraq that contribute to Iraq's ability to produce, store, maintain and deliver weapons of mass destruction.

MISSION GOALS: To degrade Saddam Hussein's ability to make and to use weapons of mass destruction. To diminish Saddam Hussein's ability to wage war against his neighbors. To demonstrate to Saddam Hussein the consequences of violating international obligations.

PRIMARY MISSION ASSETS: The operation employs U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps aircraft flying from the decks of the USS ENTERPRISE; U.S. Air Force and Royal Air Force aircraft operating from land bases in the region; and Tomahawk cruise missiles launched from U.S. Navy ships at sea and United States Air Force B-52s.

[Just Me]

19. Maybe. But, the neoCONspirators have the M.E. on their PNAC map.

Iraq was one of the nations the neoCONspirators planned to occupy and control (including a permanent military presence).

Iran and Syria is on their list, too.

On edit: see www.pnac.info for a summary/update/info

[understandinglife]

3. Kay in WaPo: "Let's Not Make the Same Mistakes in Iran"

By David Kay
Monday, February 7, 2005; Page A21

"One year ago I told the Senate Armed Services Committee that I had concluded "we were almost all wrong" at the time of the Iraq war about that country's activities with regard to weapons of mass destruction -- and never more wrong than in the assessment that Iraq had a resurgent program on the verge of producing nuclear weapons. I testified about what I saw as the major reasons we got it so wrong, and I urged the establishment of an independent commission to examine this failure and begin the long-overdue process of adjusting our intelligence capabilities to the new national security environment we face. It is an environment dominated by too-easy access to weapons of mass destruction capabilities and to the means of concealing such capabilities from international inspection and national intelligence agencies.

A year later we are still awaiting the independent commission's report. The discussion of intelligence reform has focused on reordering and adding structure on top of an eroded intelligence foundation. And now we hear the drumrolls again, this time announcing an accelerating nuclear weapons program in Iran."

(more at link):

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A3601-2005Feb6.html


BE THE BU$H OPPOSITION; 24/7

[struggle4progress]

14. Hmmm. Something's in the wind. DK may be more talented than many ...

... other Bushista shills, but in the final analysis his WMD investigation was largely about how to cover W's butt without losing his own credibility. Is DK being shined up so he'll look pretty for his next assignment?

The Art of Camouflage
David Kay comes clean, almost.
By Fred Kaplan
Posted Monday, Jan. 26, 2004, at 2:41 PM PT
...Kay didn't exactly lie ... but he did his best to camouflage ...
http://slate.msn.com/id/2094415/

[Sparky McGruff]

27. I think Bush WILL take his advice...

Why should we make the same mistakes again, when we've got so many NEW mistakes we could make. Sure, Bush and crew will make some of the same mistakes. But, I suspect they've got a whole lot of new mistakes all lined up to use in their new adventures!

Besides, the word "mistake" suggests that the whole "weapons of mass destruction" thing was a mistake (which it wasn't), instead of what it was -- a deliberate lie.

[Chico Man]

5. Buildup to the Iraq war took 12 YEARS

Starting with the Desert Storm, and then Clinton's persistant upholding of sanctions, covert operations (weapons inspectors) leading to Operation Desert Fox (destroyed Saddam's military and intelligence capabilities), and then daily bombing leading on to Shock and Awe.

After 12 years, Iraq had no ability to defend itself when we finally entered Bagdhad as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. To me, it is becoming clearer that this is how they wanted it..

The last thing the Admin wants to do is to attack a country that could actually defend itself.

(At least I hope so...)

To me, these efforts seem long and drawn out.. and often times span many presidential administrations. I predict we will see an attack on Iran, but probably not until 2010+.

Unless, of course, we get pulled into a war we didn't intend on fighting ..... To me, this is the real risk.

[jmcgowanjm]

9. Indonesia to leave OPEC-reason-Jakarta's in the OPIC now

The US doesn't have 12 years.

ASPO called Indonesia leaving a year ago.
ASPO said 2005 the year it would take a bbl
to pump a bbl in the USMainland. That's now.

Report-freearabvoice.com-25000 US leaving
thru Basra. Now where could 25k be going.

[jmcgowanjm]

7. Notice we've heard nothing from Ankara on Rice's Meeting Saturday

Turkey's the fly in the ointment.

Turkey's ties w/Teheran grow by the day.

Israel's stultify.

Oh, and bush41 invaded for the oil and a strong dollar.
Iran's oil bourse, trading oil in Euros, maybe Dinars
opens in the Spring. About the same time US will
begin military ops against them.

[Chico Man]

8. But peace has already been achieved in the Middle East

Didn't you read CNN.com? Duhhh!!! ;)

[jmcgowanjm]

10. The peace of the dead, maybe

back at ya, Chico Man ;}

[jmcgowanjm]

15. Some light reading: Rice Arrives Just in Time to Oversee U.S. Decline

http://www.blackcommentator.com/123/123_cover_rice.html

tbrnews.org/Archives/a1359.htm

[TexasLawyer]

11. Right-- Iraq did not happen by mistake

It was simply the PNAC cult members' "dream deferred"-- until they got their hoped-for Pearl Harbor event.

When they get their NEXT Pearl Harbor event we'll institute a draft and PNAC then will get Iran and Syria.

Mistakes? No, things seem to be going to plan.

[KansDem]

12. "Archfoe?"

Has "archfoe" become the "hot-button" word in preparing us for war with Iran?

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. official who declared the White House's hunt for illicit weapons in Iraq (news - web sites) to be a failure driven by faulty intelligence has warned the Bush administration against repeating its mistakes in the current war of words with arch-foe Iran.
(From the above article)

and from another thread today...

RIYADH, Feb 7 (AFP) - Delegates from the United States and archfoe Iran engaged in a "heated" exchange at a counter-terrorism conference in Saudi Arabia, the local media reported Monday, but a US official insisted the encounter was "professional."
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1219288

I wonder who's telling the media to push the "archfoe" designation?

[yinkaafrica]

18. 'archfoe' sounds stupid. They should use 'arch villain' ala Batman!

Why not use a term like 'potential ally'?

[Jacobin]

25. It's part of the official lexicon of the upcoming Iran Invasion

I wonder what the cutesy name for the invasion will be?

"Iran Hammer"?

"Hammer Iran"?

"Bar bar bar bar bar Iran"?

anyone?

anyone?

[Earth_First]

13. Mistakes? What mistakes?

:eyes:

[jmcgowanjm]

17. "It is the Iranians that are isolated, they are, they are!!

"It is the Iranians that are isolated on this issue, not the United States," she pleaded Friday.

http://www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?ID=36923

”By contrast, none of the gains the U.S. had sought in Iraq and
in the region as a whole has been realized, almost two years
after Baghdad fell, seemingly so easily: not the capturing of
the Iraqi oil, not the ability to use Iraq as the main military
base in the region so as to begin an orderly withdrawal from
Saudi Arabia, not the dream of using Iraq as a base for
launching attacks against Syria, Iran, Lebanon or whatever.
A demonstration of the invincibility of American power has
come together with the overwhelming evidence of the limits
of American power of the ground. We can now witness an
imperial overreach even before they have reached very
far.”

The Black Commentator

[Gloria]

20. Yup, Iran is very isolated...signing deals with Russia, France

and other European countries for trade and nuke reactors; building roads and pipeline deals with Afghanistan, etc., etc. Yup, they're totally isolated....

[TexasLawyer]

16. Clues that the next "mistake" is on its way

Here's one.

From another current DU thread:
U.S. cranks up ammo output (quadrupling production)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1218811

[coreystone]

21. Condi Rice FLUNKED her first mission in diplomacy, last week...

when she attached the "at this point" in her public statement:

"U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says an attack on Iran over its nuclear program is "not on the agenda at this point."

She obviously does not understand the subtleties of "diplomatic" language; or, perhaps she does. In any event, she certainly poured a lot of vinegar on Iran. so much for "honey"!

Link: http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/02/04/uk.rice/

:-)

[donheld]

22. It's a hollow warning

This administration is never really held accountable by anyone. If Bush does repeat the Iraq mistakes in any country is anyone really going to do anything about it?

[radfringe]

26. to learn from mistakes

first you have to recognize that you've made a mistake

to date -- I haven't heard any such admissions from the bushies...have you? Instead they blame others, refuse to take responsibility and have avoided being held accountable