PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH DISCUSSED REMOVING SADDAM HUSSEIN FROM POWER AS FAR BACK AS MARCH 2002

Drudge Report ^ | March 24, 2003 | Michael Elliott and James Carney via Drudge

[nwrep]

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH DISCUSSED REMOVING SADDAM HUSSEIN FROM POWER AS FAR BACK AS MARCH 2002, TIME REPORTS
Sun Mar 23 2003 10:51:36 ET

New York TIME offers the inside story of how Iraq jumped to the top of Bush's agenda and why outcome there may foreshadow a different world order. TIME?s Michael Elliott and James Carney profile key Bush administration members who were involved in the decision to go to war. TIME?s special double issue will be on newsstands Monday, March 24th.

"F**k Saddam. We?re taking him out," said President George W. Bush in March 2002, after poking his head into the office of National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, TIME reports.

TIME?s story focuses on Paul Wolfowitz, a senior advisor to President Bush, a neoconservative, someone who thinks that the world is a dangerous place where civilization and democracy hang by a thread. Neoconservatives, report Elliott and Carney, also believe that the U.S. is endowed by Providence with the power to make the world better if only it will take the risks of leadership to do so.

In January 1998, Wolfowitz joined other neo-conservatives in signing a letter to President Clinton arguing that "containment" of Saddam had failed and asserting that "removing Saddam Hussein and his regime from power?needs to become the aim of American foreign policy."

Vice President Dick Cheney, another high-ranking neoconservative, agreed. The Vice President told a campaign aide in 2000 "we have swept that problem [Iraq] under the rug for too long. We have a festering problem there." Cheney, who had been instrumental in the ceasefire of the first Gulf War, was outraged by Hussein?s attempted assassination of former President George Bush. He was also, as Wolfowitz put it, "transformed by Sept. 11 ? by the recognition of the danger posed by the connection between terrorists and WMDS [Weapons of Mass Destruction] and by the growing evidence of links between Iraq and al-Qaeda."

As one former senior Administration official puts it: "The eureka moment was that realization by the President that were a WMD to fall into [terrorists] hands, their willingness to use it would be unquestioned. So we must act pre-emptively to ensure that those that have the capability aren?t allowed to proliferate it." One advisor to the president, report Elliott and Carney, went as far as to say that Bush thinks Saddam is insane. "If there is one thing standing between those who want WMDS and those who have them," says this source, "it is this madman. Depending on the sanity of Saddam is not an option."

Developing...

[ewing]

Just wait till we get to Salmon Pak..

[magellan]

Bush would not have used that word in such a cavalier manner. In an angry, reactive moment, perhaps.

Bush is not Clinton or Nixon.

[KansasCanadian]

I don't know if the Christian Coalition will agree with the language of the Resolution to get Saddam, but they will definitely agree with the sentiment

[nwrep]

I didn't know Salmon existed in the Tigris or the Euphrates. I thought they were a cold water fish! (:-)

[RAT Patrol]

I don't believe Bush said that.

[gg188]

"someone who thinks that the world is a dangerous place where civilization and democracy hang by a thread. ... that the U.S. is endowed by Providence"

There's no doubt in my mind about these facts.

[mountaineer]

Agreed. And is "neoconservative" Drudge's description of Cheney, et al., or Time's?

[Drango]

Must be Sunday and Drudge is pimping for his radio show again...

[BRL]

This does not seem like a big revelation to me

[martin_fierro]

Ditto that. If it's Sunday, it's time for another Drudge siren.

[Celtjew Libertarian]

"F**k Saddam. We're taking him out,"

If Clinton had said this to a female aide, it would have had a completely different meaning.

[Aria]

This is an email from my liberal son:

"Look, Bush wants to do the right thing and he thinks
that he is helping people. His strategy is a grand
strategy and it is extremely well thought out.

The idea is to toppel Iraq and then move on to Syria,
Lebanon, Lybia, and Iran. Out of this you create the
Pax-Americana which is pro-democracy and peaceful. It
is a great idea. From this platform you can solve the
Palestinian issue and finally have the strength to
handle N Korea.

The problem is that it requires that the US must be
allowed to use force or any other means it deems fit.


It is that application of force that the entire world
will resist as seen in the UN and in world opinion.
As we go down this path the US will not only isolate
itself more and more but it will also set a terrible
prescedent. What is there to stop other nations from
using the same tactics to achieve their aims when
dealing with countries of lesser power?

I fundamentally do not believe in this approach.

And...you need to realize that we ARE NOT going into
Iraq for the health of their people. We're doing it
as the first step in the creation of the
Pax-Americana. When you argue for war you need to
loose that notion and discuss the overall strategy for
what it is. Maybe brilliant, maybe one of the world's
worst mistakes. Who knows...."

[Drango]

The idea is to toppel Iraq and then move on to Syria, Lebanon, Lybia, and Iran. and FRANCE.

[Reeses]

As far as I can tell the term "neoconservative" as the liberal media uses it seems to roughly mean a New York Jewish conservative, or technically a former liberal that became a conservative. I don't think Cheney or Bush would be properly classified as neoconservatives. The liberal media likes the sound of it as a code word derogatory term.

[Sofa King]

He did call that one guy "a major league asshole". I guess that watching SouthPark: Bigger Longer&uncut has kind of dulled my sensitivity to such language.

[Paraclete]

"I don't believe Bush said that"

. . . and Nixon was a Quaker.

[Fitzcarraldo]

Bush would not have used that word.

[Fitzcarraldo]

Bush would not have used that word.

[ricpic]

Ooh those scary neo-cons. They actually believe in grappling with reality. Shocking!