How Pres. Clinton Marketed the Invasion of Iraq

Flopping Aces ^ | 06-10-08 | Scott Malensek

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Much has been made for the past six years of President Bush and his administration's efforts to convince the American people and the world of the necessity to invade Iraq and remove Saddam Hussein. It is an issue that has left few stones unturned, and as such, the time has come for history to examine the role that President Clinton and officials from his administration and the era of his reign had in marketing the idea that Saddam Hussein was a WMD threat.

The rhetorical buildup to the invasion of Iraq started with the inclusion of Iraq in the famous Jan 2002 Axis of Evil comment made at the State of the Union address. However, there was almost no more rhetoric from the Bush Administration for the following 9 months-not until his Sept 12, 2002 address to the United Nations where President Bush challenged the UN to peacefully resolve the question of Saddam's missing WMD after 11years of UN failure to do so. Immediately after that speech, the military buildup began in preparation for the UN's typical failure re Saddam's Iraq. Similarly, so too did the bi-partisan rhetoric and claims that Saddam's Iraq had WMD still hidden from the UN. It was at this point when officials from the former Clinton Administration, President Clinton, and Senator Clinton went to work to justify and promote the invasion of Iraq.

"We know that he has stored secret supplies of biological and chemical weapons throughout his country." - Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002

On October 2, 2002, a classified National Intelligence Estimate was put together and presented to Congress by the 16 different American intelligence agencies. Only a handful of Senators and Congressmen signed in to view the classified report. Still, somehow, President Clinton (who was in England at the time and couldn't possibly have seen the report) promoted the invasion of Iraq.

The restrictions imposed in 1998 are not acceptable and will not do the job. There should be a deadline and no lack of clarity about what Iraq must do. There is no doubt that Saddam Hussein's regime poses a threat to his people, his neighbours and the world at large because of his biological and chemical weapons and his nuclear programme. They admitted to vast stores of biological and chemical stocks in 1995. -Former President Bill Clinton 10/2/02 at British Labour Party Conference

Two days later, a declassified version of the National Intelligence Estimate was presented to Congress. It gave an overview of the intelligence on Saddam's WMD, but the sections on how substantive and reliable various intelligence claims were was left out/classified so that the world wouldn't know how weak, limited, and thin the intelligence was at the time. That didn't matter to some people-like Sen. Hillary Clinton. She had the unique "experience" of having been in the White House during all those years of Saddam's WMD hide/seek game, and the unique ability to ask her husband as well as formed Administration officials (many of whom were also serving in the Bush Administration) how reliable the intelligence was.

"In the four years since the inspectors left, intelligence reports show that Saddam Hussein has worked to rebuild his chemical and biological weapons stock, his missile delivery capability, and his nuclear program. He has also given aid, comfort, and sanctuary to terrorists, including al Qaeda members ... It is clear, however, that if left unchecked, Saddam Hussein will continue to increase his capacity to wage biological and chemical warfare, and will keep trying to develop nuclear weapons." - Sen. Hillary Clinton (D, NY), Oct 10, 2002

Other Clinton Admin officials were privately telling Democrats who were about to authorize the invasion that Saddam had WMD: