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"There's a good reason why we in the media are so partial to a nice, torrid sex scandal," he said as he opened yet another Nightline Iraqgate report last July [1992]. "It is, among other things, so easy to explain and so easy to understand. Nothing at all, in other words, like allegations of a government coverup, which tend to be not at all easy to explain, and even more difficult to understand...."It is becoming increasingly clear," said a grave Ted Koppel, "that George Bush, operating largely behind the scenes throughout the 1980s, initiated and supported much of the financing, intelligence, and military help that built Saddam's Iraq into the aggressive power that the United States ultimately had to destroy." " --CJR, April, 1993

"What the speech did not offer, though, is any evidence that Hussein is amassing weapons of mass destruction for use against the United States. That, as far as I can understand it, is the charge on which the American-executed death penalty would be based. Without that evidence, the rationale seems to go something like this: Saddam Hussein has "dissed" the United Nations and menaced his neighbors, and if the United Nations is too chicken to do anything about it, then America will." --William Raspberry, Sept. 13, 2002

"We all know Saddam Hussein is a vicious, cruel dictator – we knew that when he was our friend – but the President insisted on telling us again. Saddam had repeatedly flouted UN Security Council resolutions; no mention here, of course, of Israel's flouting of resolutions 242 and 338 demanding an end to the occupation of Palestinian land.

"Mr Bush spoke of the tens of thousands of opponents of Saddam Hussein who had been arrested and imprisoned and summarily executed and tortured – "all of these horrors concealed from the world by the apparatus of a totalitarian state".

"But there was no mention, unfortunately, that all these beatings and burnings and electric shocks and mutilations and rapes were being merrily perpetrated when America was on very good terms with Iraq before 1990, when the Pentagon was sending intelligence information to Saddam to help him kill more Iranians. There was no reference to Saddam's flouting of UN resolutions when the Americans were helping him." --Robert Fisk, Sept. 13, 2002

"Mr Bush is right to say that the UN's credibility will be undermined if its resolutions are ignored and its weapons inspectors remain excluded.... The damage will be far-reaching if the US does not now apply the same standards of compliance to other states such as Israel, China, Russia and Turkey that have often and repeatedly defied the international community's will. --Guardian Ed, Sept. 13, 2002<

Simply put, Bush wants to go to war against Iraq because he can. The other countries breaking many of the same UN resolutions that Bush is pointing to as reasons to invade Iraq are either friendly to the U.S., more capable of putting up a fight against a U.S. invasion, or able to cause nuclear harm to the surrounding countries being held hostage against a U.S. attack. --Politex, September 17, 2002

Manufacturing Consent

As we begin our national dialogue on the necessity for an Iraq Attack and its cost to us, reporters seem puzzled about the numerous leaks from the Bush Administration about war strategies and the seemingly chaotic discussions going on at the White House, the State Department, and the Pentagon. Bush doesn't seem particularly upset about the leaks. He has long since voiced his outrage when it came to leaks about what was going on behind the scenes during Cheney discussions with the energy mogals and the FBI is currently looking at leaks of 9/11 warnings. Politicians on the Hill don't seem particularly upsent about Iraq Attack leaks, either. While Bush, members of his administration, and the legislators pay lip service of outrage about the leaks, the tone is on the order of Claude Raines in CASABLANCA. "I'm shocked, shocked, I say !" The fact is, the leaks have pushed some of the Bush economic scandal off the front page, so the cynics among us might be forgiven for thinking that they could have been engineered to do just that. Further, the leaks are just one more way to keep the Iraq Attack pot simmering to lead into the call for a national dialogue.

And while a national dialogue is called for, keep in mind that it comes when the polls suggest that, while Bush's 2004 voting bloc is falling below 50%, the American people's willingness to support Bush during a war holds at 60%, so it's just good politics on Bush's part not to complain if the nation, through Congress, wants to debate the issue. Further, since the rest of the world, even Tony Blair's England, is moving away from the idea of an Iraq Attack unless Saddam does something particularly egregious, it would be well for Bush to get the American people on record as wanting a war. Even though Congress would then gain back some power from Bush by being the Constitutional body to hand him the war directive, Bush must feel that it's a small price to pay for doing what he obviously wants to do. What Bush seems to believe is that he can't go wrong betting on the Hawkish leanings of the majority of voting Americans after their minds have been massaged by White House spin for six months. Of course, Bush is counting upon the media to nail down the nation's desire for an Iraq Attack, as expressed by the majority of members of both houses of Congress, after, of course, the national dialogue has taken place. --Politex, August 1, 2002

"Iraq: In All But Name, The War Is On" "Attacks of various kinds are ongoing. Their intensity and intrusiveness can increase at any time ... or decrease again. It's a game of options and contingencies, backed by ever increasing material capabilities; perhaps a game of prodding Saddam into a tactical mistake or a flight-forward reaction...Some high-speed, high-intensity strikes may later be called "The Iraq War", but it began no later than [last] March." --Mark Erikson, August 17, 2002

Bush Points To Iraq Gas, But Reagan/Bush Acquiesced To Iraq's Use Vs. Iran "Iraq's use of gas in that conflict [with Iran] is repeatedly cited by President Bush and, this week, by his national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, as justification for "regime change" in Iraq.

A "former senior [U.S.] D.I.A. official who was an expert on the Iraqi military said the Reagan administration's treatment of the issue — publicly condemning Iraq's use of gas while privately acquiescing in its employment on the battlefield — was an example of the "Realpolitik" of American interests in the war....The Pentagon "wasn't so horrified by Iraq's use of gas," said one veteran of the program. "It was just another way of killing people — whether with a bullet or phosgene, it didn't make any difference," he said." --NYT, Aug. 18, 2002

BUSH INDICATES WE NEED TO KNOW THAT IRAQ WAR IS HIS DECISION ALONE, NOT OURS

"Listen, it's a healthy debate for people to express their opinion. People should be allowed to express their opinion. But America needs to know, I'll be making up my mind based upon the latest intelligence and how best to protect our own country plus our friends and allies." --NYT Aug. 16, 2002

...And Our Opinions Are Meaningless, His Mind's Already Made Up...

"And we got a lot of work to do, we've got a lot of work to do. And that's why this budget I submitted is a significant budget. The House passed its version, the Senate passed its version. They've now got to get together as quickly as possible, as soon as possible, and get the defense appropriations bill to my desk nearly upon arrival. In other words, as soon as they get back from the recess, I need to sign the bill so we can plan for the war. (Applause)" --Bush South Dakota Speech, August 15, 2002 (White House Transcript)

"Left To Be Debated Now [Is]...Who's Going To Be Killed In It"

"The White House keeps saying that no decision has been made about Iraq, but of course a decision has been made. Richard Perle, an administration Iraq hawk, gave away the game in yesterday's Times: "The failure to take on Saddam after what the president said" would lead to "a collapse of confidence." Translation: If Mr. Bush doesn't get rid of Saddam after all this saber rattling, he will look like the biggest wimp since — well, his father. Democrats, as timid in challenging Mr. Bush on Iraq as they were in letting his tax cut through Congress, keep calling for a "debate." What world are they living in? Mr. Bush is no sooner going to abandon his pursuit of Saddam than his crusade to eliminate the estate tax. These are his only core beliefs. The questions left to be debated now are who's going to pay for the war, who's going to be killed in it, who's going to police what could be a decade-long cleanup." --Frank Rich, Aug. 17, 2002

"Mobilizations Hint at Date and Strategy for Iraq War... As the debate over a potential U.S. attack on Iraq continues in Washington and abroad, a subtle increase in the mobilization of Army combat troops is underway. This development offers a hint as to the Pentagon's evolving Iraq strategy, with the specific units involved indicating that a conventional attack on Iraq could be slated for January or February, with a major thrust possibly coming from Turkey." --Stratfor, Aug. 2, 2002.

NEWS AND OPINION ABOUT AN IRAQ ATTACK

WP While Bush Hawks Continue Iraq Attack, Bush Continues To Campaign And Collect Dough 09.17.02 www.bushwatch.com

GUARDIAN Saddam Capitulation Gets Mixed Reception 09.17.02 www.bushwatch.com

GUARDIAN Round-Up Of World Reaction To Saddam Capitulation 09.17.02 www.bushwatch.com

WALKON "Bush now has to refuse to take yes for an answer. " 09.17.02 www.bushwatch.com

WP ED "SINCE PRESIDENT BUSH'S speech to the United Nations, support for enforcing the Security Council's resolutions on Iraq has been growing steadily. Many countries now are prepared to support a new resolution setting a deadline for Iraq to allow weapons inspectors into the country -- so many that Iraq yesterday sought to preempt any such action by informing Secretary General Kofi Annan that it would allow the inspectors in. " 09.17.02 www.bushwatch.com

NYT ED "Iraq's offer to allow United Nations weapons inspectors back to Baghdad without conditions, if sincere, could open the way to resolving the crisis peacefully and should certainly be tested. " 09.17.02 www.bushwatch.com

BG Ongoing U.S. War In Iraq. "In the midst of the debate over war in Iraq, the United States has quietly changed its strategy in enforcing the ''no fly'' zones over northern and southern parts of that country, expanding the list of targets to include communications centers in an attempt to debilitate Iraqi air defenses, US officials confirmed yesterday. " 09.17.02 www.bushwatch.com

SULLENTROP Will Bush's Ambassador To The United States (Tony Blair) Be Able To Convince The American People? 09.17.02 www.bushwatch.com

OLIPHANT "The Bush administration has at last decided to challenge the UN rather than ignore it - the course advocated through a difficult summer by Secretary of State Colin Powell against the weak reasoning by the rest of the president's national security team (most prominently Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld) that going to Baghdad via New York would tie the United States in diplomatic knots. " 09.17.02 www.bushwatch.com

MACINTYRE "Saddam should be given the chance to avoid a war that seems inevitable. To be credible, a UN ultimatum has to offer Saddam's regime a genuine way out if he chooses to take it." 09.17.02 www.bushwatch.com

PERRITT "My Party Must Say No To War. As a Democratic candidate for Congress in this season of war talk against Iraq, I deplore the failure of my party to raise its voice more clearly on issues of foreign policy and national security."09.17.02 www.bushwatch.com

GOUREVITCH A Cautious Opposition. Will Dems Block The Road Or Pave The Way To Baghdad? 09.17.02 www.bushwatch.com

GUARDIAN Brit Citizens Nearly Even On Going To War With Iraq 09.17.02 www.bushwatch.com

HATTERSLEY "The more that the president and the prime minister base their argument on the undoubted villainy of Saddam, the more we are entitled to believe that they cannot demonstrate, even to their own satisfaction, that he is likely to attack Israel or the west." 09.17.02 www.bushwatch.com

ZANGANA "Now the US is pushing for a massive assault on Iraq, and Blair is one of the few leaders willing to offer troops. Can it be true that the man I voted for is now preparing to "liberate" Iraq, in the same way he liberated Afghanistan, by ensuring the death of thousands of civilians? Is it true that he is relying on the Iraqi National Congress, a group set up in the early 90s with CIA help, and now funded by the State Department? Does he know that they are loathed by most Iraqis? " 09.17.02 www.bushwatch.com

RASPBERRY "What [Bush's U.N.] speech did not offer is any evidence that Hussein is amassing weapons of mass destruction for use against the United States. That, as far as I can understand it, is the charge on which the American-executed death penalty would be based. Without that evidence, the rationale seems to go something like this: Saddam Hussein has "dissed" the United Nations and menaced his neighbors, and if the United Nations is too chicken to do anything about it, then America will. " 09.14.02 www.bushwatch.com

NYT ED "Bush has outlined his strategy for dealing with Iraq, but he has not shown that immediate action is warranted. " 09.14.02 www.bushwatch.com

NYT Bush Publicly Badmouths Idea Of Iraq Meeting U.N. Demands. Possibly Looking At Dec. To Begin Bombing. 09.14.02 www.bushwatch.com

NYT U.S. Moves to Persuade Security Council to Confront Iraq on Arms Inspections. 09.14.02 www.bushwatch.com

WP Putin Hints at Cooperation in Return for Free Hand in Georgia 09.14.02 www.bushwatch.com

AP "Egypt's foreign minister said his government would support a U.S. strike on Iraq but only if it were permitted under a U.N. Security Council resolution. " 09.14.02 www.bushwatch.com

WP Baghdad indicates allowing arms inspectors back won't solve dispute. 09.14.02 www.bushwatch.com

RICH "If the Democrats can't challenge the president about taxes, they certainly won't about war. " 09.14.02 www.bushwatch.com

NYT Democrats, Wary of War in Iraq, Also Worry About Battling Bush On It. 09.14.02 www.bushwatch.com

WP Democratic Hopefuls Back Bush on Iraq. Gephardt, Lieberman, Edwards Support Launching Preemptive Strike 09.14.02 www.bushwatch.com

WP ED "MOST OF THREE months has passed since President Bush laid out his vision for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and still there has been next to no follow-up by his administration.... Despite the president's clarion call for Palestinian democracy, the administration has quietly joined Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in opposing the holding of Palestinian national elections anytime in the near future. In effect, what the president cast on June 24 as a major initiative for Middle East peace has all but vanished; in its place is a suddenly all-consuming campaign against Iraq that could soon lead to a new Middle East war." 09.14.02 www.bushwatch.com

SCHUMER "Installing devices that could detect nuclear weapons as terrorists attempt to smuggle them into the country would cost far less than an invasion of Iraq. " 09.14.02 www.bushwatch.com

WEISBROT "Today's "economic draft" continues a long tradition of having poor and working people fight and die for the ambitions of the rich and powerful. And it is perhaps more clear than ever that this is what our troops will be fighting and dying for. While the Bush Administration has (for now) given up on its attempts to link Saddam Hussein to September 11 or to terrorism, and has offered scant new evidence of a security threat from Iraq, there are other reasons for war. The economy is sputtering, and a number of scandals threaten to ruin this Presidency. The President himself profited from accounting scams very similar to those that brought down Enron while he was a director of Harken Energy Corporation. Cheney is under even more suspicion for his chairmanship at Halliburton, which includes -- among other things -- accounting irregularities and his own $18.5 million profit from selling stock not long before bad news about the company became public. Then there is the most massive intelligence failure in American history -- the ignored or unnoticed warning signals of September 11. Add in various corporate accountability scandals (including Enron) and voters' anger and disgust, and any of the likely domestic issues in the November elections -- for example, Medicare and prescription drugs, Social Security -- and it is easy to see why this administration is eager to embrace war. Without even a single shot being fired, the Bush Administration has managed to shove aside almost all the issues that could hurt them politically, and focus the media's attention on Iraq. " 09.13.02 www.bushwatch.com

NATION "The UN Gambit. It is a reasonable supposition that shooting will begin in some form sooner or later. And if Bush has his way on Capitol Hill, sooner than the November elections." 09.13.02 www.bushwatch.com

KESSLER Bush Has Now Decided to Preempt Potential Threats. "His speech underscores the emerging strategy to combat threats even before they fully materialize...The president's catalogue of charges against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein contained no new revelations, and in fact included complaints -- such as Hussein's gassing of Iranians -- that are more than a decade old....Yet the president left little doubt that the United States reserves the right to strike first against a potentially hostile government...He offered no proof that Hussein has supplied terrorists with weapons of mass destruction, or even considered taking such a step. But, he contended, the possibility is enough to warrant an immediate response." 09.13.02 www.bushwatch.com

PLESCH "Iraq first, Iran and China next . Weapons of mass destruction aren't the issue, it's about global control. President Bush's concern over Iraq's weapons of mass destruction is a pretext for a global strategy of pre-emptive attack. He and his advisers intend to establish precedents with Iraq that can be used against other states that stand out against US global control. " 09.13.02 www.bushwatch.com

WP "Observers: Evidence For War Lacking. Report Against Iraq Holds Little That's New ." 09.13.02 www.bushwatch.com

DIONNE "When Bush laid out the six demands that Iraq must meet if it "wishes peace," he did not propose, as many of America's allies wish he would, one more try at tough and intrusive inspections....The administration has offered shifting rationales for going after Hussein and has not been able to draw a clear link between the Iraqi dictator and Sept. 11....It's now clear: President Bush is resting his case for war against Saddam Hussein on nukes....Congress should not be rushed into a vote on war before the administration has made clear why such a vote is required now. Like it or not, the suspicion would always exist that a war vote was being pushed for political purposes, to influence this fall's elections and to box Democrats into voting to give Bush what he wants or face charges of "softness. " 09.13.02 www.bushwatch.com

ALBRIGHT Bush Is Putting Cart Before The Horse. "I hope...that the president will not be pushed by his hard-line advisers into an unwise timetable for military action. We should pick this fight at a moment that best suits our interests. And right now, our primary interest remains the thorough destruction and disruption of Al Qaeda and related terrorist networks....Although the president's speech yesterday was persuasive in many respects, he was neither specific nor compelling in his effort to link Saddam Hussein to other, more urgent threats." 09.13.02 www.bushwatch.com

KRISTOF "War should be a last resort instead of the first tool that President Bush grabs off the shelf. " 09.13.02 www.bushwatch.com

ZUNES The Case Against War 09.13.02 www.bushwatch.com

NYT ED Bush "must demonstrate sincerity about working closely with the U.N. on Iraq, and developing a thoughtful and resourceful plan. He must not treat yesterday's speech as a symbolic gesture that can quickly be set aside to make way for an American attack....Mr. Bush spoke hopefully of a democratic Iraq one day joining a democratic Afghanistan and democratic Palestine, topics of two other of his eloquent speeches in recent months. But such places do not yet exist and there has been little progress in making them a reality." 09.13.02 www.bushwatch.com

WP ED "If the United Nations remains passive in the face of this long-standing and flagrant violation of its authority in a matter involving weapons of mass destruction, it certainly will risk the irrelevance of which Mr. Bush warned. " 09.13.02 www.bushwatch.com

FISK "The President insisted on telling us again. Saddam had repeatedly flouted UN Security Council resolutions; no mention here, of course, of Israel's flouting of resolutions 242 and 338 demanding an end to the occupation of Palestinian land.Mr Bush spoke of the tens of thousands of opponents of Saddam Hussein who had been arrested and imprisoned and summarily executed and tortured - "all of these horrors concealed from the world by the apparatus of a totalitarian state" But there was no mention, unfortunately, that all these beatings and burnings and electric shocks and mutilations and rapes were being merrily perpetrated when America was on very good terms with Iraq before 1990, when the Pentagon was sending intelligence information to Saddam to help him kill more Iranians. " 09.13.02 www.bushwatch.com

GUARD ED "But while Mr Bush is right to say that the UN's credibility will be undermined if its resolutions are ignored and its weapons inspectors remain excluded, the damage may be even greater if, faced ultimately by a UN that will not do its bidding, the US goes ahead and attacks Iraq anyway. The damage will be far-reaching if the US does not now apply the same standards of compliance to other states such as Israel, China, Russia and Turkey that have often and repeatedly defied the international community's will. The damage may be incalculable if, in the future, the US continues to veto or block UN actions it does not welcome simply because they do not serve the narrow US national interest. Support for the UN's integrity cannot be selective. For Mr Bush and the US, a la carte multilateralism is not an option. " 09.13.02 www.bushwatch.com

CORN "Bush presented no heretofore unknown information about the threat posed by Iraq. And he offered no specific proposals on how to deal with the threat--real or hyped. He was making a case for despising Hussein (as if that was needed). But his case for war against Iraq remained vague. His message [to the UN] was, either you do something, or I will. That is, Bush said nothing new. " 09.13.02 www.bushwatch.com

TOYNBEE "Even now, the drafters are working at a UN resolution to square (or fudge) the needs of the US war party with French and Russian hesitation. Deals are brokered, poor countries' arms are twisted with aid and trade while Russia may be allowed to kill a few more Chechens. But a deal there must be. The only ones who hope the UN fumbles are the Rumsfeld/Cheney warriors who want no straitjacket, no option for Saddam to avoid the war now sharpening its knives on his borders. Moving command headquarters from Florida to Qatar could hardly send a louder message: America wants war, America means war. " 09.13.02 www.bushwatch.com

TYLER "Bush made no case today that Mr. Hussein's government in Baghdad was connected in any way to the terrorists who plotted the hijackings and assault on the United States. Nor did he share any new intelligence that Iraq has made any significant strides in rebuilding its arsenal of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons....Instead, the president moved on to new ground, arguing that the credibility of the United Nations and a secure world order require that the international community respond to the intolerable threat Mr. Bush says is posed by Iraq's "weapons of mass murder," developed to brandish against America and its allies." 09.13.02 www.bushwatch.com

IGNATIUS "In arguing the case for going to war, the intelligence officials don't appear to be worried about the Iraqi military, its air defense, its nuclear program, its links to al Qaeda or its ability to mobilize global support. And they doubt there will be much instability in the Arab world, as long as the Iraqi people seem happy and other countries such as Syria, Jordan and Egypt share in the economic windfall that would come from rebuilding Iraq. So what frightens them? The very fact that Saddam Hussein will go down fighting as hard as he can. "He knows we're going for his throat," says one of the intelligence officials. 'That will focus his mind on the dark end of the spectrum.'" 09.13.02 www.bushwatch.com

HA'ARETZ "What Sharon wants is pretty clear. But if you're riding on the back of tiger, it's not a bad idea to think about what might happen tomorrow. What if Bush's plan to replace evil regimes with good regimes falls through? What if Saddam stays put, or a Shi'ite regime takes his place? What will we be up against then? What will the sheikh's son look like? What price will we pay for our lack of initiative and inaction when there is no longer anyone to fall back on, and we are surrounded on all sides by those who have scores to settle and hunger for revenge?" 09.13.02 www.bushwatch.com

CHOMSKY ""As for a US attack against Iraq, no one, including Donald Rumsfeld, can realistically guess the possible costs and consequences. Radical Islamist extremists surely hope that an attack on Iraq will kill many people and destroy much of the country, providing recruits for terrorist actions. " 09.09.02 www.bushwatch.com

HOLMES "The Bush Administration didn't see 9/11 coming, and it should have....Invading Iraq isn't an extension of the war on terror, it's a distraction from it....A lot of us thought Sept. 11 would convince the Bushies that the U.S. ignored the rest of the world at our peril. But they have squandered the global goodwill that flowed our way after the attacks, and seem convinced the way to fight a menace that knows no borders is to alienate everyone outside our own." 09.09.02 www.bushwatch.com

PRESTON "How do you have a Campaign for the Destruction of Weapons of Mass Destruction? One problem is that there is no such campaign by our masters of awful warning. For the Camp David two, issuing their stirring injunctions, are pretty soft on all of these weapons. They rather cherish their nukes; and as for pills and poison potions, George W - like other presidents before him - imposes his own restrictions on homeland chemical and biological inspection. America's greatest ally in the Middle East, good old reliable Ariel Sharon, has capability under every heading, and attracts not a word of remonstration. Or even, most of the time, a mention." 09.09.02 www.bushwatch.com

HIATT Bush Talks But Does Not Walk. "After achieving a crushing military victory last fall, Americans said that they would not walk away again from Afghanistan. Bush invoked the Marshall Plan. Yet, incredibly, with not even a year gone, Washington's attention is drifting away. Administration officials say that they would not oppose broadening the inadequate peacekeeping force. But they wait for others to do the job."We have a greater objective than eliminating threats and containing resentment," President Bush said in his State of the Union speech. "We seek a just and peaceful world beyond the war on terror." That is the right aspiration. No lesser goal could provide a foundation for war. But no speeches on Iraq will carry the day, no matter how inspiring the rhetoric or solemn the promises to stay the course, if explosions in Afghanistan are the accompaniment." 09.09.02 www.bushwatch.com

NYT Sunday Talk Shows. "In almost identical language that signaled a coordinated campaign, the vice president and others cited Saddam Hussein's efforts to increase Iraq's arsenal. " 09.09.02 www.bushwatch.com

RASPBERRY Bush's "Insane Focus On Iraq. One sign of maturity is the ability to suffer outrage and gut-wrenching grief without going nuts. Days before America's saddest anniversary since Pearl Harbor, Americans remain clearly -- and justifiably -- outraged, and our grief is palpable. But must we go nuts? The administration's monomaniacal focus on Iraq's Saddam Hussein as the fount of all terrorism was starting to sound like a clinical case of transference." 09.09.02 www.bushwatch.com

WP Bush War Cabinet Argues for Iraq Attack. Cheney, others say Bush may ask for authorization to act within weeks. 09.09.02 www.bushwatch.com

GUARDIAN "President Bush is to throw down the gauntlet to the United Nations to enforce its own resolutions or drop objections to US-British military action against Iraq. A joint Bush-Blair initiative will demand that the UN imposes an urgent deadline on Iraq to cooperate over arms inspectors or face the military consequences. The challenge may be set out in a UN resolution tabled by Britain." 09.09.02 www.bushwatch.com

NYT "If Mr. Bush makes a strong, detailed case that Mr. Hussein has vigorously reactivated programs to make biological, chemical and especially nuclear weapons since United Nations inspectors were last in Iraq in December 1998, many nations will be willing to listen, diplomats said.But a number of countries, including some major allies of the United States, are balking at the way the administration has pitched its argument so far. They were taken by surprise by American officials' assertions in recent days that Mr. Hussein had suddenly become so dangerous that he must be quickly toppled. Security Council members bridled at Vice President Dick Cheney's suggestion that a return of United Nations weapons inspectors to Iraq would be a waste of precious time.In the background is the Bush administration's policy of "regime change." The notion is anathema to many at the United Nations, who see it as smacking of the American arrogance of the cold war, when Washington sponsored coups to unseat governments it did not like." 09.09.02 www.bushwatch.com

GUARDIAN IAEA Says Blair's "Evidence" Is Inconclusive 09.09.02 www.bushwatch.com

CORNWELL Going Through The Motions. "The process began on Friday morning, with one of those pieces of personal diplomacy whose practical execution defies the imagination. In the space of 30 minutes, according to the White House, President George Bush spoke to Presidents Jacques Chirac of France, Jiang Zemin of China and Vladimir Putin of Russia, to discuss the crisis over Iraq. Now Mr Bush, to use his own phrase, is not a "multinational kind of guy", so one presumes interpreters were employed, meaning that the actual exchanges may have lasted no more than five minutes apiece. Their exact contents have not been vouchsafed to the rest of us, but given the time restraints, they are unlikely to have been especially profound.Certainly, they do not appear to have greatly modified the objections of these three permanent United Nations Security Council members." 09.09.02 www.bushwatch.com

IND "Belgium led a chorus of European disapproval yesterday by claiming Tony Blair's "unquestioning" support for America was the main reason for the lack of a unified EU policy on tackling Saddam Hussein. " 09.09.02 www.bushwatch.com

NYT "President Jacques Chirac proposed a two-stage plan that could lead to United Nations authorization of military force. " 09.09.02 www.bushwatch.com

NYT Stance on Bush Policy Could Swing Election in Germany. 09.09.02 www.bushwatch.com

RITTER "Iraq is not a sponsor of the kind of terror perpetrated against the United States on September 11 and in fact is active in suppressing the sort of fundamental extremism that characterizes those who attacked the United States on that horrible day...If Iraq has weapons today, like President Bush says, clearly they would have had to reconstitute these capabilities since December 1998. And this is something that the Bush administration needs to make a better case for, especially before we talk about going to war. " 09.09.02 www.bushwatch.com

NYT Yesterday, Bush Presented "Evidence" Of Saddam Being "Six Months" Away From Having A Nuclear Device, But The Evidence Was Ten Years Old. 09.08.02 www.bushwatch.com

CSM Gulf War Lies In Previous Bush Administration And The Same Players In This Bush Administration Lead Informed Observers To Be Suspicious Of Any Evidence Bush Presents 09.08.02 www.bushwatch.com

NYT "The Central Intelligence Agency still says it would take Iraq five to seven years to make a nuclear weapon if it must produce its own supply of highly enriched uranium for a bomb, an administration official said. American intelligence officials believe that Iraq could assemble a nuclear device in a year or somewhat less if it obtained the nuclear material for a bomb on the black market. But they say there are no signs that Iraq has acquired such a supply." 09.08.02 www.bushwatch.com

WP Bush Begs Evidence Question, Says We Already Have All The Evidence We Need. 09.08.02 www.bushwatch.com

REUTERS 64% Of Americans Polled Say Bush Has Yet To Make A Clear Case For Iraq Attack, 67% Say We Must Have Allied Support 09.08.02 www.bushwatch.com

GUARDIAN Bush/Blair Money Connection Through Defense Contracts. Brit Ministers Want To Privatize Gvt. Defense Research Industry With Daddy's Carlyle. 09.08.02 www.bushwatch.com

RAWNSLEY "Deputy Blair is as enthusiastic a member of the White House War Posse as Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney. Like them, he speaks in apocalyptic terms about the danger of leaving Saddam Hussein in place in Baghdad. Like them, he refers to regime change. Like them - in fact, going rather further than them - he talks about 'when the shooting starts'. So much for that tosh about no decisions having been made. War is not an if; it is a when. " 09.08.02 www.bushwatch.com

AHMED/VULLIAMY "They looked unlikely allies, but now Tony Blair is leading the support for the Bush agenda on military action against Iraq. But what drives this relationship, so crucial to peace? " 09.08.02 www.bushwatch.com

NYT Brit Opposition Is Growing to Blair's Stand on Iraq 09.08.02 www.bushwatch.com

GUARDIAN "US pours arms into Gulf region. Equipment and troops move in on a scale not seen since Desert Storm as planes strike Iraqi base." 09.08.02 www.bushwatch.com

MILLER Bush-Backing Senator Says, "Forgive my bluntness, but [my voters] want to hear the president and the vice president say that this war is not about oil." 09.08.02 www.bushwatch.com

WP Russia Sees U.S. As New Market For Oil Reserves. Deals Could Ease Washington's Reliance On Mideast, Create Windfall for Moscow 09.08.02 www.bushwatch.com

NYT Powell Defends a First Strike as Iraq Option 09.08.02 www.bushwatch.com

HIRSH "Most Republicans believe Bush will ultimately go to war. But some also think he has awakened to the idea that he needs broad consensus, not least because he doesn’t want to be blamed for an Iraq quagmire—one that may involve a long-term peacekeeping presence in an Arab country—when the 2004 election rolls around." 09.08.02 www.bushwatch.com

PINCUS Bush's Father Feared Expanded Role in Iraq. Advisers Agreed Not to Seek Regime Change09.08.02 www.bushwatch.com

LAWSON Is Bush On The Sauce Again? "With a president contemplating pre-emptive war in the world's least stable region, it's fair that there should be scrutiny and scepticism. A self-cured drinker at the highest level of politics must be regarded as a big risk." 09.08.02 www.bushwatch.com

CHANCELLOR "I still think an invasion won't take place, but no longer because of anything Bush has or hasn't said. He seems permanently befogged and befuddled. A couple of years ago, when he couldn't find an enemy to focus on, he declared, "When I was coming up, it was a dangerous world, and you knew exactly who they were. It was us versus them, and it was clear who them was. Today, we are not so sure who they are, but we know they're there." Would there be any point in asking such a man if he's got a weapon of mass destruction in his suitcase? " 09.08.02 www.bushwatch.com

NYT Bush Aides Set Strategy to Sell Citizens Policy on Iraq 09.07.02 www.bushwatch.com

CSM Some US Assertions From First Iraq War Still Appear Dubious 09.07.02 www.bushwatch.com

REGAN "While war with Iraq may truly be inevitable, it serves us all well if we make sure the reasons we go are legitimate ones, and not ones cooked up by richly funded public relation firms. " 09.07.02 www.bushwatch.com

KINSLEY "Government By Op-Ed. The Bush administration will decide in the next few weeks that the cause is worth the blood, or that it isn't. In either case, shouldn't someone resign?" 09.07.02 www.bushwatch.com

WP "Bush plans to tell world leaders at the United Nations next week that unless they take quick, unequivocally strong action to disarm Iraq, the United States will be forced to act on its own, senior administration officials said yesterday." 09.07.02 www.bushwatch.com

GUARDIAN "Concerted efforts by George Bush and Tony Blair to round up international support for a military confrontation with Saddam Hussein hit a snag yesterday when President Vladimir Putin insisted there were 'no grounds for attack.' " 09.07.02 www.bushwatch.com

HOLBROOKE "I continue to believe that the United States can achieve the necessary Security Council resolution. But what if that judgment is wrong? What if Russia, for example, refuses to support a strong resolution?...Even an unsuccessful effort to obtain an airtight resolution will strengthen international support for Washington, which could then be based on earlier U.N. resolutions that Saddam Hussein has repeatedly violated." 09.07.02 www.bushwatch.com

RICH "What's been most remarkable about the Iraq project so far is how an administration as effectively secretive as this one could spring so many leaks of invasion scenarios to the press. It strains credulity to assert that this is all an ingenious conspiracy to fake out Saddam. The leaks fake us out instead, inuring us to the new war to come. The only mystery is when D-Day will be. Given the administration's history, I'd guess that it will put on the big show as soon as its political self-preservation is at stake. Certainly the White House's priorities are clear enough. It has guarded the records of Dick Cheney's energy task force and the S.E.C. investigation of Harken far more zealously than war plans that might endanger the lives of the so-called real Americans who will have to fight Saddam." 09.07.02 www.bushwatch.com

IVINS When You Can't Win The Debate, Impugn The Opposition. Bush Backers Are Doing This With Global Warming And Their Iraq Attack Plans 09.03.02 www.bushwatch.com

ENGEL "Leave aside the question of whether its Iraq policy - whatever it actually is this morning - might possibly be right. What is indisputable is that the US government has wrecked, possibly beyond repair, its hopes of persuading any other country to that effect by simple, arrogant incompetence. It is terrifying to watch. It could be the next bestseller: How to Lose Friends and Influence No One, by George W Bush. " 09.03.02 www.bushwatch.com

CORN "Bush has proceeded recklessly by foreclosing all options but war. Even if a misguided Congress or a spineless U.N. says no to Bush, how can Bush and Cheney justify respecting the decision? Doesn’t the sheriff and his deputy know best? Bush and Cheney are practicing no-way-out geopolitics. He’s not patient. He’s eager. His words and those of his underlings -- even if confusing at moments -- have set the course for war. " 09.03.02 www.bushwatch.com

FLOYD "Sham Debate. The war will come. The oligarchs of Kennebunkport, Wall Street and Texas will at last control the vast oil fields of Babylon. As usual, the hapless American people will pay for it all, with their blood, their money and the continuing degradation of their liberty, their land and their communities -- victims of the Bush family's firmly-held credo: 'Tough luck, suckers.'" 09.03.02 www.bushwatch.com

MARGOLIS "The results of public manipulation and fear are painfully clear. The U.S. media have convinced a majority of Americans they are totally innocent victims of evil forces, and that Iraq was behind 9/11, though there exists not a shred of evidence. So Americans clamour for war against Saddam. Over 75% of Europeans oppose attacking Iraq, in spite of efforts by right-wing British media to fan war fever. In fact, a common view here in Europe is that the Bush administration has run amok and is a greater threat than international terrorism, or Iraq. " 09.03.02 www.bushwatch.com

NYT Russia Backs Iraq Over U.S. Threat. 09.03.02 www.bushwatch.com

REEVES "Bush Is Losing It. Former Secretary of State Alexander Haig, writing in The Washington Post last Thursday under the headline "On Invading Iraq: Less Talk, More Unity," warned the Bush administration that too many official voices are saying too many contradictory things about Iraq. "Loose lips sink ships," he said, and they could sink the administration's war plans, too." 09.03.02 www.bushwatch.com

WALSH/GREY "Cheney’s brief for war: a mass of lies and historical falsifications. " 09.03.02 www.bushwatch.com

DYER "IF YOU REALLY want to attack somebody and you can't come up with any convincing reasons, your best tactic is to accuse your opponents of being appeasers who are planning another Munich. Which is why U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has taken to comparing himself to Winston Churchill. " 09.03.02 www.bushwatch.com

REEVES "Does Bush Really Know What To Do In Iraq? The latest word from the White House, relayed to the rest of us last Tuesday by the president's counsel, Alberto Gonzales, is that President Bush does not have to and does not intend to ask anyone for permission to go to war against Iraq because of the 1991 congressional vote authorizing Desert Shield and Desert Storm, the operational names for his father's Iraq war." 09.03.02 www.bushwatch.com

BRODER Poli-Sci Profs Meet, Discuss Bush. "Because of its difficulties with Congress and the public, several scholars said, the administration has stretched executive powers to the point they may breach constitutional limits.If Bush asserts the authority to attack Iraq without a congressional declaration of war, it could prove the greatest crisis for his presidency, they said." 09.03.02 www.bushwatch.com

GUARDIAN "Iraq is prepared to work with UN to resolve crisis with US, Iraqi deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz says after meeting Kofi Annan. " 09.03.02 www.bushwatch.com

MARGOLIS "US forces are rapidly massing in the Gulf to invade Iraq. Four heavy brigades have been positioned near Iraq, a huge new air complex is now operational in Qatar, and American special forces are active in Iraqi Kurdistan. The White House is hoping its threats of war will provoke a coup against Saddam Hussein by the Iraqi Army. But if one does not come, the Bush Administration shows every sign of plunging into an unprovoked war that the rest of the world will view as blatant aggression. " 08.29.02 www.bushwatch.com

WHEATCROFT "The Bush administration is plainly counting on Britain as an ally against Iraq, but that assumption may be wrong. " 08.29.02 www.bushwatch.com

HAIG "Ultimately, an American foreign policy...that allows a country such as Iraq to acquire weapons of mass destruction while violating solemn agreements is a guarantee of a world on the edge of greater terrors to come. " 08.29.02 www.bushwatch.com

REEVES "The president's men and women look and act like serious people, until you compare what they are saying these days. In the 24 hours or so before Gonzales issued his latest Constitution-breaker...that President Bush does not have to and does not intend to ask anyone for permission to go to war against Iraq because of the 1991 congressional vote authorizing Desert Shield and Desert Storm, the operational names for his father's Iraq war... , other Bushmen offered their thoughts, conflicting ones, on the question of what we are doing and why. Vice President Richard Cheney got the most attention, saying that we don't care what other countries think; we're going ahead with the business of destroying Iraq to make the world safe for democracy everywhere -- except in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia and other Arab dictatorships. " 08.29.02 www.bushwatch.com

NYT Administration officials said that they expected President Bush to seek some sign of approval [as opposed to a formal, Constitutional agreement] from Congress before launching any campaign against Iraq. 08.29.02 www.bushwatch.com

BH Bagdad Bombers Consider Two Ways To Sway Public Opinion For Bush Iraq Attack 08.29.02 www.bushwatch.com

SMH "In Baghdad streets, they're not quaking in their boots. Iraqis are united in their contempt for Washington's war threats." 08.29.02 www.bushwatch.com

REUTERS "The United States will seek Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's ouster regardless of whether he lets U.N. specialists resume inspections of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction capability, a U.S. official said on Wednesday. " 08.29.02 www.bushwatch.com

RUSHDIE "During the past year the Bush administration has made a string of foreign policy miscalculations, and the State Department conference must acknowledge this. After the brief flirtation with consensus-building during the Afghan operation, the United States' brazen return to unilateralism has angered even its natural allies. The Republican grandee James Baker has warned President Bush not to go it alone, at least in the little matter of effecting a "regime change" in Iraq. In the year's major crisis zones, the Bushies have been getting things badly wrong." 08.28.02 www.bushwatch.com

BORGER "So what is going on? Incompetence is a strong possibility. The Bush administration has already demonstrated extraordinary foreign policy clumsiness in its handling of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict - also accompanied by spinning in several contradictory directions at once. But incompetence is more a matter of style than substance. At the heart of Bush's policy on Iraq, as it was on the Middle Eastern mess, there is disagreement and indecision. Moreover, there are signs that anxiety over an Iraqi adventure is beginning to spread from the state department to the White House." 08.28.02 www.bushwatch.com

NYT ED "The White House has yet to meet the difficult burden of showing why Iraq's weapons programs, including its efforts to develop nuclear arms, require an American invasion. " 08.28.02 www.bushwatch.com

DOWD "I was dubious at first. But now I think Dick Cheney has it right.Making the case for going to war in the Middle East to veterans on Monday, the vice president said that "our goal would be . . . a government that is democratic and pluralistic, a nation where the human rights of every ethnic and religious group are recognized and protected." O.K., I'm on board. Let's declare war on Saudi Arabia! Let's do "regime change" in a kingdom that gives medieval a bad name." 08.28.02 www.bushwatch.com

NYT Bush Assails Iraq's Saddam, but Saudis Are Firm in Opposing War. 08.28.02 www.bushwatch.com

BENN "Israeli leaders are overjoyed at the prospect of a U.S. invasion -- but it isn't good politics to admit it. " 08.28.02 www.bushwatch.com

WP Iraqi Envoys Courting Support in Syria, China. U.S. Allies in Mideast Warn of War on Hussein 08.28.02 www.bushwatch.com

WP "Cheney argued today for a preemptive attack on Iraq's Saddam Hussein, declaring there is "no doubt" the dictator has weapons of mass destruction and is preparing to use them against the United States and its allies. " 08.27.02 www.bushwatch.com

NYT "In the Bush administration's most forceful presentation yet for attacking Iraq, the vice president warned that Saddam Hussein would "fairly soon" have nuclear weapons. " 08.27.02 www.bushwatch.com

WP ED "Cheney yesterday delivered the Bush administration's most extensive and forceful statement about the danger posed by the regime of Saddam Hussein and the reasons for taking preventive action against it....He suggested that the Bush administration will soon begin to spell out the details of that case before Congress, the American public and U.S. allies -- an initiative that is both essential and overdue. " 08.27.02 www.bushwatch.com

KEEN "Two bland words - "regime change" - have become shorthand for President Bush's plan to oust Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein....But "regime change" is often misunderstood. It's sometimes used as a euphemism for assassination, although political scientists say that's not the strict definition, and Bush has said that's not his intention. And it's not a new U.S. policy toward Iraq. President Clinton made it a goal four years ago." 08.27.02 www.bushwatch.com

KRISTOF "Most of us are lily-livered sunshine patriots who want an easy victory [over Iraq] but shrink from a difficult one. I'm embarrassed to speak up for gutlessness, but it is a practical approach, and as a nation we often wisely chicken out of dangerous ventures. For example, North Korea is more of a threat than Iraq. North Korea has stronger connections to terrorist activity, runs a more advanced biological, chemical and nuclear weapons program, targets American military bases and is developing missiles that could reach the lower 48 states." 08.27.02 www.bushwatch.com

AP "I don't play this game so much on what's legal and what's not legal," Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., said of a U.S. attack on Iraq. "If the president is going to commit this nation to war, he'd better have the support of the Congress and the American people with him." 08.27.02 www.bushwatch.com

SPERLING "I remember how emotional and widespread the debate was over whether we should go to war in World War II. The heated argument went on and on - in Congress, in our homes, on the street. But now? All I'm hearing or seeing of the debate is in editorials or on TV. There is, as yet, no evidence of a storm of public controversy. Bush, it seems to me, has the green light." 08.27.02 www.bushwatch.com

WP Bush Aides Say Junior Can Attack Iraq Based On Congress' Previous Approval Of Daddy's Iraq Attack In 1991. 08.26.02 www.bushwatch.com

WP War Powers Act Timeline 08.26.02 www.bushwatch.com

BREWER "If war policy is chosen behind closed doors and then conveyed to the people in conjunction with a skillful caricature of the predetermined enemy (supported, perhaps, by intelligence whose precise nature cannot be revealed), the public can be made to prefer an array of unsavory wars that it would never choose in the light of open deliberation. To think that democracy boils down to making sure one's decisions can be made popular in retrospect is to reduce the ideal of democracy to competency in marketing." 08.26.02 www.bushwatch.com

WOFSY "It's not only a matter of whether a US war for "regime change" in Iraq makes sense. What ought to be debated is the Bush doctrine of pre-emptive war, a historic shift in international policy and philosophy. Do the times demand so fundamental a reversal? Where does it lead? " 08.26.02 www.bushwatch.com

HUNSINGER "A war of preemption, advocates maintain, will bring about a highly desired "regime change" in Iraq, install a democratic government there and free the Iraqi people. By just war standards, however, a preemptive attack against Iraq must be condemned. " 08.26.02 www.bushwatch.com

AP Debate on Iraq Elicits Confidence and Caution From Republicans. 08.26.02 www.bushwatch.com

FALK "Nothing in Iraq’s current behavior would justify a preemptive attack against Iraq based upon self-defense as set forth in [UN] Article 51 of the Charter. Even Henry Kissinger has stated, “The notion of justified pre-emption runs counter to modern international law, which sanctions the use of force in self-defense only against actual not potential threats." 08.26.02 www.bushwatch.com

FRIEDMAN "Nothing will restrict America's ability to tell the truth in the Middle East and promote democracy there more than our continued dependence on oil." 08.25.02 www.bushwatch.com

YERGIN "Unless war and disruption spread to other Middle Eastern countries, the impact of attacking Iraq, in oil terms, could be more limited than many anticipate. " 08.25.02 www.bushwatch.com

USA U.S. Public Support Slips For Ousting Saddam 08.25.02 www.bushwatch.com

TS ED "U.S. President George Bush is facing a surge of desertions as he tries to muster American domestic support for a war on Iraq to drive Saddam Hussein from power. Barely 53 per cent of Americans now favour attacking Iraq, down from 74 per cent eight months ago. Only 20 per cent would go in without allies." 08.25.02 www.bushwatch.com

MARGOLIS "A torrent of propaganda, lies and half-truths about Iraq has been pouring from the White House in a campaign reminiscent of old Soviet agitprop. The government-appointed "defence" team representing accused 9/11 plot member Zacharias Moussaui reportedly urged him to falsely claim Iraq was behind the attacks. Moussaui refused. The head of Czech intelligence said there were no contacts in Prague between Iraq and al-Qaida, a key Bush reason for attacking Saddam. CIA veterans and European intelligence officials scoff at White House claims Iraq is a threat to the world. " 08.25.02 www.bushwatch.com

MC GRORY "Bush surely cannot imagine he can wiseguy his way into a war with Saddam Hussein. "I'm a patient man," he said last week at a news conference with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, which they tried to turn into a soft-shoe routine, feeding each other lines and chuckles. Bush repeated that he was a patient man as if that were all the explanation needed for his intentions.He will consult our allies, he said breezily, while Gen. Tommy Franks was telling another audience that he had the war plans." 08.25.02 www.bushwatch.com

DOWD "When it comes to running the country - as opposed to running 5-K's - Mr. Bush owes his reticence to a mixture of insecurity and hauteur. Dick Cheney owes his reticence only to hauteur. The president won't speak clearly, and the vice president won't speak to anybody whose check to the Republican National Committee hasn't cleared. " 08.25.02 www.bushwatch.com

TT U.S. Marine Gen. Zinni Says War With Iraq Is Unwise. 08.25.02 www.bushwatch.com

HOAGLAND "Those who predict that Bush 43 will not come up with an effective diplomatic strategy to support a new gulf war may be dealing in a self-fulfilling prophecy. If Bush cannot show that he has convinced Colin Powell of the wisdom of his Iraq strategy, how can he convince the nation and the world? That is the question that needs to be asked openly and debated clearly, not in sub-rosa fashion. " 08.25.02 www.bushwatch.com

OLIPHANT "In recent days various officials close to Rumsfeld who have been the most assertive in arguing for war have begun to suggest that invasion is not the proper term for summarizing what they have in mind. Instead, they have indicated that the United States could achieve its goals more by assisting an uprising by Iraqi opposition groups than by invading itself with the opposition's assistance. This view has been propounded by the famous Iraq hawk Richard Perle from his perch as chairman of Rumsfeld's principal policy advisory board, but it permeates the latest chatter from senior Pentagon civilians and some White House officials as well. " 08.25.02 www.bushwatch.com

BAKER "If we are to change the regime in Iraq, we will have to occupy the country militarily. The costs of doing so, politically, economically and in terms of casualties, could be great. They will be lessened if the president brings together an international coalition behind the effort. Doing so would also help in achieving the continuing support of the American people, a necessary prerequisite for any successful foreign policy. " 08.25.02 www.bushwatch.com

MARKEY "The best way to obtain nuclear weapons is to buy a nuclear power plant, ostensibly to produce electricity.... The United States, along with Japan and South Korea, has a deal with North Korea to provide it with two light water reactors. Incredibly, the same Bush administration that pinned the label ''axis of evil'' on North Korea refuses to cancel a Clinton administration deal to provide the tools of nuclear destruction to Kim Jong Il's erratic and despotic regime. This is of grave concern given that country's refusal to provide a full accounting of its clandestine nuclear weapons activities and allow international inspectors access to all its suspected nuclear sites. So while we plot to invade one end of the evil axis, we trade nuclear materials with another. The hypocrisy of this policy has had its predictable consequence. The Russians are proceeding with the sale and construction of a light water nuclear reactor in Bushehr, Iran, and they have plans to build up to five more reactors." 08.25.02 www.bushwatch.com

SCHEER "Conveniently, the drug war that obsessed this Administration before September 11 is now ignored. Our new enemy is not dope growers [in Afghanistan] but Iraq, even though Bush has produced no convincing evidence that Baghdad has anything to do with the Al Qaeda network. The country that clearly does, of course, is that hotbed of hypocrisy, Saudi Arabia, homeland of Osama bin Laden and fifteen of the September 11 hijackers. The sheikdom is now being sued for $1 trillion by families of the September 11 victims. But President Bush would never move against the Saudis because American corporations, some led by close Bush family friends and associates, do too much business there. So who else can Bush invade to take our minds off the dismal economy that his much-ballyhooed tax cut failed to save and may have helped wreck? " 08.23.02 www.bushwatch.com

RUBIN "The prospect of an American war against Iraq is generating growing opposition around the world. One way the administration could transform the debate is to lay out, in advance and in some detail, its vision for Iraq after Saddam Hussein. And to prove America's ability to implement such a vision, the administration must demonstrate a new resolve to secure and rebuild Afghanistan. " 08.23.02 www.bushwatch.com

IGNATIUS "A war to remake the face of the Arab world is worth a careful debate for one final reason: When the big guys in Washington dream of transforming the world, it's the little guys who come home in body bags. " 08.23.02 www.bushwatch.com

LYONS "If endless terrorism and war are what Americans want, attacking Iraq is the surest way to get it. " 08.23.02 www.bushwatch.com

CONASON Bush Reads a Book, World Awaits Result. 08.23.02 www.bushwatch.com

OLIPHANT "Through a combination of press oversimplification and partisan spin from opponents (and, ironically, proponents) of war, the impression has been created of widespread disagreement with the administration on the part of Republican and Democratic predecessors, including senior policy makers in the administration of Bush's father. Nothing could be further from the truth." 08.23.02 www.bushwatch.com

LEVINE "Despite the war talk, Bush is unlikely to attack Iraq. " 08.23.02 www.bushwatch.com

WOLLACOTT "A simple retreat from war would once again abandon Iraqis to their fate, hand Saddam a triumph, and leave Americans equally embittered at Europe's failure to help." 08.23.02 www.bushwatch.com

LEHIGH "If the president is truly determined to commit American troops to a war against Iraq, he should take the case to Congress, subject his evidence and reasons to its scrutiny, and seek a formal declaration of war before moving forward. " 08.23.02 www.bushwatch.com

NYT "Reinstating United Nations weapons inspectors — not the removal of Saddam Hussein — is the centerpiece of Britain's policy toward Iraq, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said today. " 08.23.02 www.bushwatch.com

IHT Jittery about Iraq threat, Israelis get gas masks and prepare for the worst. 08.23.02 www.bushwatch.com

BG Bush Promises To "Consult" Congress And Allies Before Attacking Iraq 08.22.02 www.bushwatch.com

MC GRORY "Condi Rice has served us well, although possibly in a way she didn't expect. Her moral outburst served to make the point that in all the racket, there is one great silence -- from the man we most need to hear from, the president, and it's time for him to speak up. He's supposed to be the man with moral clarity. " 08.22.02 www.bushwatch.com

BLOOM U.S. Rejects Iraq Offer to Resume Arms Inspection Talks With UN 08.22.02 www.bushwatch.com

KRUGMAN "When Al Gore wrote an Op-Ed article condemning the elitist policies of the Bush administration, pundits - and many Democratic politicians, including his former running mate - jumped on him with both feet. Populism, everyone insisted, doesn't work in American politics. " 08.20.02 www.bushwatch.com

WP "The retreat by U.S. oil companies from Iraq's oil market comes as the Bush administration is seeking to increase pressure on Hussein and weighing options for how to meet its goal of removing the Iraqi leader from power....Their flight may...signal a desire to locate alternative sources of crude in the event of U.S. military action in the region." 08.20.02 www.bushwatch.com

WP "Cheney appears already to have turned his back on his old colleagues from the first Bush administration and sided with the hardliners....Bush himself is in Texas reading a neoconservative guide to warfare. " 08.20.02 www.bushwatch.com

NATION Two "influential neocon military think tanks, the Center for Security Policy and the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs. The groups don't just want war with Iraq; they want "total war" with all Arab regimes. Their hawkishness is motivated in part by financial self-interest: Both groups' advisory boards are chock-full of people who work or have worked for a military contractor." --Slate 08.20.02 www.bushwatch.com

CHERNUS "If You Love Israel, Stop the War Against Iraq. " 08.20.02 www.bushwatch.com

WP White House Claims Wednesday Meeting Is About Missile Defense, Not Iraq Attack 08.20.02 www.bushwatch.com

WP As BushAdmin Iraq Attack Talk Continues, Powell Shipped Off To Africa To Discuss Green Issues 08.20.02 www.bushwatch.com

BALZ Democrats Worry About Iraq as Issue. Debate on War Seen as Diversion From Economy. 08.19.02 www.bushwatch.com

MARGOLIS IRAQ'S HISTORY IS WRITTEN IN BLOOD 08.19.02 www.bushwatch.com

AP "Bahrain, a key U.S. ally in the Persian Gulf region, joined Iran on Sunday in opposing American military action against Iraq. " 08.19.02 www.bushwatch.com

IND "Going to war with Iraq could bring Blair the mother of all party splits " 08.19.02 www.bushwatch.com

NATION Men From The Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA) want "not just a US invasion of Iraq but total "war" against Arab regimes." 08.19.02 www.bushwatch.com

MANTHORPE The physical war on Iraq is already under way 08.18.02 www.bushwatch.com

REUTERS U.S. And British Planes Raid Southern Iraq. 08.18.02 www.bushwatch.com

ACKERMAN "The first President Bush has often been derided for lack of vision, but these actions created a precedent that gave legal substance to his "new world order." In the aftermath of the Cold War, Bush was establishing the principle that America could deal with threats to world peace without recourse to an imperial presidency. He was inaugurating a new era in which major wars were not to be launched by presidential fiat, but only after the considered approval of representatives of the nation and the world. The second President Bush has surrounded himself with advisers who condemn this vision as a harmful delusion. It is not enough for them to correct his father's mistake in failing to march on Baghdad; it is no less important to destroy the checks and balances his father constructed on the road to war. In the face of the father's multilateralism, the son is constructing a double unilateralism -- freed from the restraints of the Security Council abroad and Congress at home, the imperial presidency claims the authority to strike preemptively at any danger." 08.18.02 www.bushwatch.com

WP "The prospect of initiating a war against a regime that has not attacked the United States, albeit a threatening and odious regime, would be a momentous step. It should not be undertaken unless the administration can offer a persuasive case to allies, Congress and the American public. Nor should it be undertaken unless this country is committed to help Iraq rebuild after the war. The consensus among the former [White House national security] advisers seemed to be that the administration was a long way from having laid that groundwork." 08.18.02 www.bushwatch.com

DOWD "Junior Gets A Spanking. Did 41 allow his old foreign policy valet to send a message on Iraq to 43 that he could not bear to impart himself?" 08.18.02 www.bushwatch.com

BRZEZINSKI "There is a right and a wrong way for America to wage war. Obviously, if it is attacked, America must respond with all its might. The same is true if an ally is attacked. But the issue becomes much more complex if a threat, but not an attack, is involved. America must then consider carefully the consequences of its actions, both for itself as the world's preeminent power and for the longer-term evolution of the international system as a whole. " 08.18.02 www.bushwatch.com

FRIEDMAN "If the Bush team is serious about Iraq, it needs to zero in on one clear objective, produce a tightly focused war plan around it and then sell it — with a simple bumper sticker — to America and the world. If the Bush administration's different factions — which are as divided as the Palestinians' — can't do that in advance, they shouldn't move. When you don't know where you're going, any road will get you there — just ask the Palestinians. But when you're talking about an unprovoked war to dismantle a government half a world away, any road just won't do. You need a clearly focused end, means and rationale." 08.18.02 www.bushwatch.com

MILBANK "President Bush and his aides mention almost daily that Hussein is a menace who must go, and few observers doubt Bush's determination to use American forces to oust him. But administration officials said that because they have not formally elected military action against the Iraqi dictator, it would be premature and politically dangerous to lay out a lengthy justification for an American military strike -- particularly without a war plan in place to back up the talk. " 08.18.02 www.bushwatch.com

BRODER "Bush has been clear about his goal -- removal of Saddam Hussein -- but has left the country and the world in the dark about how he intends to accomplish it. When he first put Iraq on notice, seven months ago, he said that "time is not on our side." Time has passed, and despite the steady repetition of that goal, we are no clearer on what the president intends -- or how. The leader of a democratic country must build support for such a fateful step. A midterm election looms. But the president must heed his own words: Time is not on his side, either. " 08.18.02 www.bushwatch.com

MC KENNA Bush worries allies, Mideast with his zeal for Iraq war. 08.18.02 www.bushwatch.com

NYT Officers Say U.S. Aided Iraq in War Despite Use of Gas 08.18.02 www.bushwatch.com

AP "Iraq and Russia are close to signing a $40 billion economic cooperation plan, Iraq's ambassador said Saturday, a deal that could put Moscow at odds with the United States as it considers a military attack against Baghdad. " 08.18.02 www.bushwatch.com

GRAHAM "Defense officials are particularly worried about the possibility that terrorist groups or countries such as Iraq and Iran could use rudimentary cruise missile technology to attack U.S. installations or the American homeland. " 08.18.02 www.bushwatch.com

WP PRIMER. Iraq And The War On Terrorism 08.18.02 www.bushwatch.com

KRAUTHAMMER "Not since William Randolph Hearst famously cabled his correspondent in Cuba, "You furnish the pictures and I'll furnish the war," has a newspaper so blatantly devoted its front pages to editorializing about a coming American war as has Howell Raines's New York Times. Hearst was for the Spanish-American War. Raines (for those who have been incommunicado for the last year) opposes war with Iraq. " 08.18.02 www.bushwatch.com

NYT Bush Notes Iraq Dissent But Says The Decision Is His 08.17.02 www.bushwatch.com

RICH "The preordained hollowness of the Waco [economic forum] show is not news. This is how this administration always governs. Mr. Bush has two inviolate, one-size-fits-all policies (if obsessions can be called policies): the tax cut (for domestic affairs) and "regime change" in Iraq (foreign affairs). Everything else is a great show designed to provide the illusion of administration activity when it has no plan." 08.17.02 www.bushwatch.com

WP Russia, Iraq Plan Deal to Bolster Ties. Economic Pact May Complicate U.S. Action Against Baghdad 08.17.02 www.bushwatch.com

FISK "Be very afraid - Bush Productions is preparing to go into action. They are setting up the Arab world. We are being prepared for an epic supported by Hollywood and a plot of lies." 08.17.02 www.bushwatch.com

SMH Bush family advisers at war over Iraq. 08.17.02 www.bushwatch.com

REESE "Saddam's neighbors say publicly and directly to the president that they oppose an American attack and do not feel threatened by Saddam, and how does the president reply? In the most absurd fashion, like a dummy cut off from all outside communications, he says, "Saddam is a threat to his neighbors," while 6 feet away one of those neighbors, Jordan's King Abdullah, had come specifically to urge Bush not to attack Iraq. " 08.17.02 www.bushwatch.com

NYT Top Republicans Break With Bush on Iraq Strategy 08.16.02 www.bushwatch.com

NYT ED "Dealing with Iraq is a highly complicated matter that carries great potential to produce unintended and injurious consequences if handled rashly by President Bush. " 08.16.02 www.bushwatch.com

WP Rice Lays Out Case For War In Iraq. Bush Adviser Cites 'Moral' Reasons 08.16.02 www.bushwatch.com

DIONNE "Supporters of going to war against Iraq offer two very different rationales for American action. Before the shooting starts, we had better be clear about which war we're fighting. " 08.16.02 www.bushwatch.com

GUARDIAN "While more Democrats than Republicans oppose a war, some of the most outspoken comments have come from the former Republican secretary of state Larry Eagleburger, who served in George Bush Sr's cabinet. 'I am vastly ambivalent about what my country ought to do now," he said on the BBC's World this Weekend. "I must say to you I am not one of those, like [the Pentagon adviser] Mr Perle and [deputy defence secretary] Mr Wolfowitz, who are in my view hairy-chested tub-thumpers. I am not among those who would go to war tomorrow morning and invade Iraq.' " 08.16.02 www.bushwatch.com

GUARDIAN Blair Refuses To Debate Iraq. "With backbench Labour critics becoming more restless, veteran ex-minister Gerald Kaufman today warns of "substantial resistance" at Westminster if Mr Blair follows "the most intellectually backward American president of my lifetime" into the looming conflict. " 08.16.02 www.bushwatch.com

WIDNER "Responses [to his attack on Bush foreign policy] suggest that Mr. Kerry is on to something. First there is the curious Republican notion that it is somehow "divisive" to seek a better-defined foreign policy. Then there is the strange Democratic reluctance to engage in a serious discussion about one of the most important issues now facing the country.Thus both parties are ignoring the constitutional responsibility of the Senate." 08.15.02 www.bushwatch.com

AP Provocation Lacking: "The most likely way in which Saddam would use weapons of mass destruction (against Americans) is if we attack [him]." 08.15.02 www.bushwatch.com

NYT Anti-Baghdad Talks Shunned by Top Kurd Because Bush Didn't Keep Promises Made Last April 08.15.02 www.bushwatch.com

DEEN A U.S. Attack on Iraq Unlawful, Warn Mideast Experts 08.15.02 www.bushwatch.com

BUZZANCO America Can Still Avoid Another Vietnam in Iraq 08.15.02 www.bushwatch.com

WELLS Summer in Iraq Yields Lessons About War 08.15.02 www.bushwatch.com

VOSSOUGHI The War on Iraq and US T-minus 85 days 08.15.02 www.bushwatch.com

OLIPHANT "In their private meetings with top administration officials, key members of Congress, and journalists, the Iraqi rebels insisted a [minimal American war] campaign would be enough to activate opponents of the regime inside the country who would make short work of Saddam Hussein. No need for the United States to occupy the country, they said; this can all happen fast....The argument, however, has flaws. The most egregious is personified by Washington's guests. The federation implied by the name Iraqi National Congress has been more fiction than fact in recent years. Many of the leaders know their way around London better than Baghdad, some have misappropriated US money, and their claims of ties inside Iraq are specious." 07.14.02 www.bushwatch.com

SHAFER "The New York Times pretends ignorance over who is leaking the Iraq war plans." 07.14.02 www.bushwatch.com

NOVAK "The climate is not propitious for a major U.S. military initiative. Official opposition from Germany, Saudi Arabia and Jordan underlined the isolation of American power. A deteriorating situation in Afghanistan builds the one-war-at-a-time argument. The steadfast Republican voices of Jack Kemp and Brent Scowcroft urge restraint. So do members of Congress from both parties, with House Majority Leader Dick Armey last Thursday warning against an unprovoked attack on Iraq. None of this erases George W. Bush's commitment to change the regime in Baghdad. Nor does it dilute the immense influence of Vice President Dick Cheney, who broke his silence last week to warn against permitting Saddam to develop weapons of mass destruction. Nevertheless, there was a palpable muffling of American war drums." 07.14.02 www.bushwatch.com

HOFFMAN "It is time to put aside fantasies of marketing American-made Arab-language news programs that will win over the hearts and minds of Islamic societies. Better to demand an end to state-sponsored hate propaganda from our Arab allies, give aid to independent moderate voices in the Muslim world and begin a dialogue in which both sides learn to listen as well as talk. " 07.14.02 www.bushwatch.com

WP "The Iraqi information minister said today that the mission of U.N. weapons inspectors in Iraq is "finished," the strongest official suggestion to date that President Saddam Hussein has no intention of allowing the inspectors to return. " 08.13.02 www.bushwatch.com

GUARDIAN ED "Taking the inspectors back is...a very risky course for Iraq, which makes it likely that Baghdad will try to gain time by playing around with the issue, making further half offers, and stopping just short of saying yes to an unalloyed UN inspection regime. " 08.13.02 www.bushwatch.com

WP ED "Saddam Hussein is in a class of his own, and not only because he has hideously used chemical weapons against his own people and others. The world already has considered his case and formed a judgment. If nations prove incapable of enforcing that judgment, the harm will spread far beyond the Middle East. " 08.13.02 www.bushwatch.com

TIMES "HENRY KISSINGER, the former US Secretary of State, urged President Bush to use extreme care in drafting war plans against Iraq or risk isolating America in the eyes of the world. " 08.13.02 www.bushwatch.com

CAMPBELL "Leading politicians from both parties in the US foreign policy debate yesterday called for proof that the Iraqi leader, President Saddam Hussein, represents an immediate threat to the US, ending weeks of bipartisan support for a military attack on Iraq. " 08.13.02 www.bushwatch.com

IND ED "With less than three months until the mid-term elections, the first significant cracks have also started to appear in US Congressional support for military action. Until last week, only the most doveish of left-wing Democrats had voiced their misgivings about war. Now, the Republican Congressman Dick Armey and the Democratic Senator Carl Levin have come out publicly against military action. These are not two isolated or insignificant individuals." 08.13.02 www.bushwatch.com

WHITE There is no sign the Pentagon has yet worked out how to [attack Iraq] at an acceptable level of risk. But even more fundamentally, Washington still has not decided exactly what an invasion of Iraq is meant to achieve. " 08.13.02 www.bushwatch.com

DUNN EIGHT REASONS WHY THE U.S. WILL ATTACK SADDAM THIS YEAR 08.13.02 www.bushwatch.com

WP "Survey suggests that Americans want Bush to explain in far more detail what he plans to do in Iraq. The public also wants the president to win the support of Congress and U.S. allies for whatever action he chooses to take -- agreement that may prove difficult to obtain." 08.13.02 www.bushwatch.com

FALK IRAQ ATTACK: "We must ask why the open American system is so closed in this instance. How can we explain this unsavory rush to judgment, when so many lives are at stake? What is now wrong with our system, with the vigilance of our citizenry, that such a course of action can be embarked upon without even evoking criticism in high places, much less mass opposition in the streets? " 08.13.02 www.bushwatch.com

BURUMA "The US wants to crush Iraq - and also implement a democratic revolution. The first part will be short and bloody, the second like running a colony. Both are foolish " 08.13.02 www.bushwatch.com

STRATFOR "Opposition to a U.S. attack on Iraq is increasingly being voiced internationally and within Washington. Despite the divisions it is causing, the Bush administration is not abandoning its strategy because it sees a successful campaign against Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein as a prime way to shatter the psychological advantage within the Islamist movement and demonstrate U.S. power. " 08.13.02 www.bushwatch.com

KELLY "The New York Times is against war with Iraq, and is unwilling to limit its opposition to President Bush's desire for "regime change" to its editorial page and opinion columns. " 08.13.02 www.bushwatch.com

GUARDIAN "The Iraqi president, Saddam Hussein, has personally signalled for the first time through a Labour MP that he is ready to bow to international pressure by allowing UN weapons inspectors back into the country. Letting the inspectors return with freedom to search for weapons of mass destruction would make it extremely awkward for the US to carry out its threatened military action." 08.12.02 www.bushwatcch.com

GALLOWAY "These diplomatic moves by Iraq would, in a sane world, be followed up and put to the test. They represent all that the British government, at least, has been asking for. After all, if their sincerity was found wanting, what would the US government have to lose?...That Bush shows every sign of trampling on the olive branch gives the lie to any claim that the only interest is in Iraqi disarmament. " 08.12.02 www.bushwatcch.com

SAMPSON "West's greed for oil fuels Saddam fever." 08.12.02 www.bushwatcch.com

WP GOP Senators Defend Case for Strikes Against Iraq. 08.12.02 www.bushwatcch.com

AP "Members of Congress said Sunday that President Bush has not yet made his case for an invasion of Iraq, although they would support him if there is evidence Saddam Hussein may use weapons of mass destruction. " 08.12.02 www.bushwatcch.com

GREELEY War Hawks Lose Sight of Real Enemy 08.12.02 www.bushwatcch.com

LEONARD "Caricatures of the left as pacifist are false. But President Bush is making the wrong case for war if he wants to win over his critics" 08.12.02 www.bushwatcch.com

MC QUAIG "Why Canada Must Reject War on Iraq " 08.12.02 www.bushwatcch.com

REEVES "LEAKING IS NECESSARY TO COUNTERACT GOVERNMENT SECRECY" 08.12.02 www.bushwatcch.com

NYT Reagan Pentagon Hawk Perle Chairs Group That Sponsored Saudis As Enemy Talk 08.12.02 www.bushwatcch.com

NYT ED Congress, Not The President, Declares War, And Bush Would Be "Politically Irresponsible" If He Were To Ignore The Constitution. 08.11.02 www.bushwatch.com

INDYK In the ME, "a region seething with anger toward the United States, our credibility is essential to our effectiveness there. But the administration's lack of coherence, and the widening gap between its rhetoric and its actions, are casting doubt on that credibility." 08.11.02 www.bushwatch.com

MARQUIS "FOR all its reputation as a taciturn crowd, the Bush administration is downright chatty when it comes to Iraq. Officials who were tight-lipped about energy strategy and homeland security have taken to analyzing in detail a battle that the president insists he has not decided on. They have begun tallying up its costs before a single shot has been fired. Is this any way to prepare for war? " 08.11.02 www.bushwatch.com

AP Asked whether the American people are prepared for U.S. soldiers' deaths in any military campaign aimed at Saddam, Bush said, ``I think that that presumes there's some kind of imminent war plan.'' 08.11.02 www.bushwatch.com

KEANE "One of Mr Bush's most prominent advisers made it clear in a newspaper article yesterday. The US would go it alone and attack Iraq even if Britain or other allies demurred. America will do it because it can and because President Bush and the Washington "hawks" upon whom he increasingly depends for strategic guidance want to do it. So no surprise that the author of the article, Richard Perle, dismisses much of the opposition to the war as 'the feckless moralising of 'peace' lobbies or the unsolicited advice of retired generals'." 08.11.02 www.bushwatch.com

USBORNE "The first cracks began to show in American solidarity for a military campaign against Saddam Hussein yesterday after [Dick Armey] a top-ranking Republican on Capitol Hill bluntly argued that any unilateral attack would be unjustified and would lose the United States friends around the world." 08.11.02 www.bushwatch.com

ISLAN "Bush is gambling that victory over Saddam will lift the US economy out of double-dip recession - but he risks sparking another oil crisis " 08.11.02 www.bushwatch.com

GALBRAITH "Iraq's neighbors fear federalism as a prelude to the breakup of the country. In fact, it may be the only way to save Iraq. " 08.11.02 www.bushwatch.com

WP "Vice President Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld held talks with Iraqi opposition leaders yesterday as the Bush administration began to mobilize Saddam Hussein's opponents and prepare for the day when the Iraqi leader falls from power. " 08.11.02 www.bushwatch.com

NYT Kurds Hope For Saddam's Ouster. Iraq has been forcing ethnic Kurds out of many areas and into a semi-autonomous region that survives under Western air protection. 08.10.02 www.bushwatch.com

WILL "A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently wrote of "our Constitution's commitment of the conduct of war to the political branches." Note the plural. " 08.09.02 www.bushwatch.com

RUBIN "Helping Iraqis attain freedom will be costly; first America needs to listen to them." 08.09.02 www.bushwatch.com

SENGUPTA "Iraq war could engulf region, Britain warns US " 08.09.02 www.bushwatch.com

BENNETTS "Immoral and illogical. No convincing case has been made for the slaughter that would follow an attack on Iraq " 08.09.02 www.bushwatch.com

WHITAKER Saddam Hussein has told his regional officials to expect urban warfare if American forces invade, according to information received by US intelligence. 08.09.02 www.bushwatch.com

NYP Plans Advance For War Against Iraq 07.08.02 www.bushwatch.com

CAMPBELL Detailed War Plan Handed To Bush By Gen. Tommy Franks 07.08.02 www.bushwatch.com

IND Allies Move Towards Air Assault As Disquiet Over Iraq Grows. 07.08.02 www.bushwatch.com

CORN Reagan Hawk Head Of Defense Policy Board Called "Prince Of Darkness" Before Bush Hired Him 07.08.02 www.bushwatch.com

IND "Saudi Arabia announced yesterday it would veto the use of any of its territory for an attack on Iraq. The announcement is a severe blow to attempts by the United States and Britain to forge an international coalition against Saddam Hussein. " 07.08.02 www.bushwatch.com

AARONOVITCH "Wars have to be justified by the conviction that the alternative is worse. We have not met the conditions for starting a war against Saddam in which we are certain to kill civilians." 07.08.02 www.bushwatch.com

GUARDIAN "Senior British ministers are privately admitting to growing exasperation across government at the lack of a clear and coherent US policy towards Iraq. " 07.08.02 www.bushwatch.com

KETTLE "If Blair gets this wrong, he could be gone by Christmas. Secret government polling has exposed the risks of the Bush embrace. " 07.08.02 www.bushwatch.com

AMIN "Leaked reports from the White House, war scenarios from the Pentagon and hostile rhetoric from the state department have been orchestrated to prepare public opinion for a US military attack against Iraq, without recourse to the authority of the UN. The aim is to replace the Iraqi government with a Karzai of Baghdad. " 07.08.02 www.bushwatch.com

AP "Saddam Hussein warned Thursday that anyone who attacks Iraq will die ``in disgraceful failure,'' as thousands of armed civilians marched through Baghdad in support of the Iraqi president. " 07.08.02 www.bushwatch.com

HOAGLAND "Like war, talk of war is a blunt instrument. President Bush's repeated promise to change Iraq's regime ripples through the international system and American domestic politics with surprising midsummer velocity. The threat of military action is producing change months before action will come. " 07.08.02 www.bushwatch.com

VEST "As a rule, both the joint Chiefs of Staff and the Central Intelligence Agency's leadership prefer that Congress stay out of their affairs. Indeed, an ideal Congress for many denizens of this realm would be one that simply holds open the cash spigots while Langley and the Pentagon set their own agendas. That makes it particularly alarming to see that as the Bush administration lays its plans for Iraq, career military and intelligence officers are increasingly -- and desperately -- looking to Congress to help stave off what they fear will be a disaster. " 08.07.02 www.bushwatch.com

WHITAKER "The Guardian has learned that Baghdad is pinning its hopes on persuading the British government to withhold support from any US military action. The calculation among senior figures in the Iraqi regime is that President George Bush is prepared to risk international criticism in a war to overthrow Saddam Hussein - but only if he has Tony Blair at his side. " 08.07.02 www.bushwatch.com

HA'ARETZ "In the complex relationship between the United States and Iraq, with each side counting its friends and allies, a new formula is becoming evident. If a coalition is to be formed, it is more likely to be pro-Iraqi than pro-American " 08.07.02 www.bushwatch.com

FALK "All the evidence going back to the Iran/Iraq War and the Gulf War shows that Saddam Hussein responds to pressure and threat and is not inclined to risk self-destruction. Indeed, if America attacks and if Iraq truly possesses weapons of mass destruction, the feared risks are likely to materialize as Iraq and Saddam confront defeat and humiliation, and have little left to lose. " 08.07.02 www.bushwatch.com

TIMES THE US Congress has been warned that President Bush’s proposed attack on Iraq could escalate into a nuclear conflict. 08.07.02 www.bushwatch.com

SCHEER Is George Weighing a Just War, or Settling an Old Score? 08.07.02 www.bushwatch.com

SOLOMON "With its credibility badly damaged by the [U.S.] spying, the U.N. inspection system did not survive. Another factor in its demise was the U.S. government's declaration that sanctions against Iraq would remain in place whether or not Baghdad fully complied with the inspection regimen." 08.07.02 www.bushwatch.com

NICHOLS "Recent Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearings showed interesting divisions among policy-planners. " 08.07.02 www.bushwatch.com

BROWN "This is why the American adventure is doomed. Jordan and Saudi Arabia will not provide logistical support. Europe will not play any part, a view underlined by both Gerhard Schröder and Edmund Stoiber in the German election campaign. And the British public is queasy. " 08.07.02 www.bushwatch.com

GUARDIAN "German chancellor Gerhard Schröder and his Social Democratic party yesterday broke ranks with America's other European allies by declaring at the start of their election campaign that Germany would refuse to provide troops or money for an invasion of Iraq. " 08.06.02 www.bushwatch.com

CT ED "Supporters of the Bush administration's silly saber-rattling on Iraq trooped before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week for a performance that would have been laughable if they were not talking about risking thousands of American and Iraqi lives and spending billions of U.S. dollars on a fool's mission. " 08.06.02 www.bushwatch.com

MARGOLIS Iraq Attack Only The Latest Episode In Long History Of British And Bush Treatment 08.06.02 www.bushwatch.com

SORENSEN "I don't blame George W. Bush for being mad at Saddam Hussein. Saddam tried to kill Bush's father. That's enough to make any good son fighting mad....What I don't understand is his willingness to waste the lives of perhaps thousands of men, women and children, on both sides, in order to satisfy his anger against Saddam." 08.06.02 www.bushwatch.com

BLOOM Bush Spokeswoman Says Iraq Must Permit Unlimited UN Inspections 08.05.02 www.bushwatch.com

AP Lawmakers Want Bush to Make Iraq Case To Them 08.05.02 www.bushwatch.com

USBORNE "Chances of a diplomatic solution to the US stand-off with Iraq appeared remote yesterday when a senior Democrat, who chaired the first public hearings on possible