... via blogger T. Dunlop:
'I expected to go back to a round of meetings examining what the next attacks could be, what our vulnerabilities were, what we could do about them in the short term. Instead, I walked into a series of discussions about Iraq. At first I was incredulous that we were talking about something other than getting al Qaeda. Then I realized with almost a sharp physical pain that Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz were going to try and take advantage of this national tragedy to promote their agenda about Iraq. Since the beginning of the administration, indeed well before, they had been pressing for a war with Iraq. My friends in the Pentagon had been telling me that the word was we would be invading Iraq sometime in 2002. On the morning of the 12th DOD's focus was already beginning to shift from al Qaeda. CIA was explicit now that al Qaeda was guilty of the attacks, but Paul Wolfowitz...was not persuaded.
Later, on the evening of the 12th, I left the Video Conferencing Center and there, wandering alone around the Situation Room, was the President. He looked like he wanted something to do. He grabbed a few of us and close the door to the conference room. "Look," he told us, "I know you have a lot to do and all..but I want you, as soon as you can, to go back over everything, everything. See if Saddam did this. See if he's linked in any way...."
Many of today's news stories have recounted this section of the book, but the ones I've heard have all left out the rest of the story:
"I was once again taken aback, incredulous, and it showed. "But Mr. President, al Qaeda did this."
"I know, I know, but...see if Saddam is involved. Just look. I want to know any shred..."
"Absolutely we will look....again." I was trying to be more respectful, more responsive.
"But, you know, we have looked several times for state sponsorship of al Qaeda and not found any real linkages to Iraq. Iran plays a little, as does Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia, Yemen."
"Look into Iraq, Saddam," the President said testily and left us. Lisa Gordon-Hegarty stared after him with her mouth hanging open.
In the Presidential Emergency Operations Center the cast was decidedly more political. In addition to the Vice President and Condi Rice, there was the Vice President's wife, Lynne; his political advisor Mary Matalin; his security advisor, Scooter Libby; the Deputy White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten; and White House communications director Karen Hughes. The monitors were simultaneously blaring the coverage from five networks. On one screen, I could see the Situation Room. I grabbed Mike Fenzel. "How's it going over here?" I asked. "It's fine, Major Fenzel whispered, "but I can't hear the crisis conference because Mrs Cheney keeps turning down the volume so she can hear CNN...and the Vice President keeps hanging up the line to you." Mrs Cheney was more than just a family member who had to be protected. Like her husband, she was a right wing ideologue and she was offering her advice and opinions in the bunker.'
From
http://www.roadtosurfdom.com/surfdomarchives/002119.php
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