Lies Big Brother Told Me

posted by The Vidiot @ 2:59 PM Permalink

Iraq is connected to al Qaeda:

Bush: "We know that Iraq and al Qaeda have had high-level contacts that go back a decade. Some al Qaeda leaders who fled Afghanistan went to Iraq. These include one very senior al Qaeda leader who received medical treatment in Baghdad this year, and who has been associated with planning for chemical and biological attacks. We've learned that Iraq has trained al Qaeda members in bomb-making and poisons and deadly gases."*

But then:

The Sept. 11 commission reported yesterday that it has found no "collaborative relationship" between Iraq and al Qaeda, challenging one of the Bush administration's main justifications for the war in Iraq.

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Iraq has weapons of mass destruction:

Cheney: "Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction.

Rumsfeld: "We know where they are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat."

But then:

Saddam Hussein did not possess stockpiles of illicit weapons at the time of the U.S. invasion in March 2003 and had not begun any program to produce them, a CIA report concludes.

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The war will be over quickly and we will be greeted as liberators:

March 16, Vice President Cheney, on NBC's Meet the Press: "I think things have gotten so bad inside Iraq, from the standpoint of the Iraqi people, my belief is we will, in fact, be greeted as liberators. . . . I think it will go relatively quickly, . . . (in) weeks rather than months."

But then:

US Casualties By Year
Year	US Deaths	US Wounded
2003	486	2409
2004	848	7989
2005	846	5944
2006	110	311
Total	2290	16653

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The war will pay for itself:

Earlier this year, experts said the war and aftermath in Iraq would cost hundreds of billions of dollars, a fact the White House refused to acknowledge as valid, even going so far as to fire Lawrence Lindsey for his realistic projections.
[...]
Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz: "There's a lot of money to pay for this that doesn't have to be U.S. taxpayer money, and it starts with the assets of the Iraqi people…and on a rough recollection, the oil revenues of that country could bring between $50 and $100 billion over the course of the next two or three years…We're dealing with a country that can really finance its own reconstruction, and relatively soon." [Source: House Committee on Appropriations Hearing on a Supplemental War Regulation, 3/27/03]

But then:

The Pentagon is spending more than $5.8 billion a month on the war in Iraq, according to the military's top generals.
That is nearly a 50 percent increase above the $4 billion-a-month benchmark the Pentagon has used to estimate the cost of the war so far.

... the war in Iraq, which has cost an estimated $250 billion since the U.S. invasion in March 2003.

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The insurgency is in its death throes:

June 20, 2005, interview on CNN's Larry King Live:
Hailing what he described as "major progress" in Iraq, Cheney said, "I think they're in the last throes, if you will, of the insurgency."

But then:

But a former British ambassador to Iraq predicted Sunday that increasing sectarian bloodshed would require that troops in the U.S.-led foreign coalition stay for some time to help keep peace among rival ethnic and religious groups.

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More Iraqi Troops are ready every day:

Already more than 35 Iraqi battalions have assumed control of their own areas of responsibility - including nearly half of Baghdad province and sectors of South-Central, Southeast, Western and North-Central Iraq.

But then:

U.S. Report on Iraqi Troops Is Mixed

The number of Iraqi army battalions judged by their American trainers to be capable of fighting insurgents without U.S. help has fallen from one to none since September, Pentagon officials said yesterday.

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Light at the end of the tunnel:

The U.S. report claimed important successes against the insurgency and said the term "insurgency" is not necessarily appropriate anymore because the synergy that once existed among various rebel elements "is breaking apart." The report asserted that the insurgents have alienated most ordinary Iraqis. "Terrorist attacks have failed to create and spread sectarian conflict," it said.

But then:

Iraq defence minister warns against civil war
BAGHDAD, Feb 25 (Reuters) - Iraq's Defence Minister said on Saturday civil war would never end if it erupts and that he was ready to put tanks on the streets to impose order.

*Bonus quote from the same speech: Bush-"Some worry that a change of leadership in Iraq could create instability and make the situation worse."