I am posting this right now just to get the word out.

We here at DowningStreetMemo.com are stunned, and incredibly sad thinking about what might have been. There will be some of our more eloquent writers here soon to say in better prose what we feel, but for now just think about how the world is that much grayer with one less of those all-too-rare true public servants of which Mr. Cook was a prime example.

Requiescat in pace.

The BBC
The Guardian

It appears we have had an impact on our good Senator...
Our Awaken the U.S. Senate campaign to ask the members of the Senate Select Committee to finish the hearings on the use of intelligence in the lead up to the war in Iraq, on DowningStreetMemo.com targeted DiFi several times during its run throughout the month of July.

Bob our spokesperson also faxed a request to speak with her and/or her staff regarding our concerns about the Intel Committee hearings. He was shuffled around to various people at her office here in SF and in DC, and we weren't too sure we had gotten our message across at all.

Now I can't absolutely say we all were responsible for this statement of intention from Ms. Feinstein, but the fact that her press office sent this to us before releasing it says a little bit I think :-)

So pat yourselves on the back, all you who participated and thank you very much. Now we need to reinforce the good behavior and show them we are watching for follow-up action...

To send a Thank You and let her know we are watching and waiting for follow-up:

Senator Dianne Feinstein, California
webmail: http://feinstein.senate.gov/email.html
email address: senator@feinstein.senate.gov
331 Hart Senate Office Building?Washington, DC 20510
phone: 202-224-3841
fax: 202-228-3954
Chief of Staff: Mark Karesh
email: mark_karesh@feinstein.senate.gov

=
The Press Release:
==

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Tuesday, August 02, 2005
-- this news release will be posted later today on:
http://feinstein.senate.gov/

Senator Feinstein Urges Progress in Completion of Investigation into Pre-War Intelligence

Washington, DC - U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) is urging the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence to complete its investigation into the use of intelligence by policymakers prior to the Iraq War, with additional attention paid to the "Downing Street Memo" and the "CURVEBALL" case. Senator Feinstein is a member of the Intelligence Committee.

Following is the text of a letter Senator Feinstein sent Friday, July 29, to Senator Pat Roberts, Chairman of the Intelligence Committee:

"I am increasingly dismayed by the delay in completing the Committee's 'Phase II' investigation into intelligence prior to the Iraq War. As you know, the Committee voted unanimously on February 12, 2004 to investigate five questions on pre-war intelligence, including use of intelligence by policymakers. Nearly eighteen months later, much work remains before these questions will be satisfactorily answered.

In addition to the terms set out early last year, the Committee should address the significant issues raised by the so-called 'Downing Street Memo' - whether the 'intelligence and facts were being fixed' to support the policy of using military force against Iraq. This claim raises serious questions about the use of intelligence, and whether intelligence resources were unduly focused away from other priorities in order to provide additional - and as we have found, flawed - intelligence on Iraq.

It would also be my preference to include in Phase II any new revelations concerning the CURVEBALL case since the Committee's first Iraq report.

It is important that the Committee complete its study of these questions, both to fulfill our oversight responsibilities and because there is no other body capable of doing this work. The Committee's report assessing the intelligence on Iraq's WMD capabilities was of outstanding quality and demonstrated both our ability to inform the American public and uncover needs for intelligence reform. I urge you to take whatever steps are needed to complete the Phase II investigation and produce a report as comprehensive and thoughtful as the first phase of the Committee's investigation. I stand ready to participate in this investigation in any way possible."

###

This week, President Bush is expected to make John Bolton the US ambassador to the UN, despite Bolton's failure to be confirmed by the Senate. He will become the first person the US has sent to the UN without such a confirmation.

At first it struck me as simply another example of the administration's obstinate bullying--if the Senate won't confirm who we want, we'll install him anyway with a recess appointment.

However, another news story appeared this weekend that made me think about the Bolton appointment in a different light. Michael Smith provides an update in the Sunday Times (story at bottom of page) on the prewar bombing that began in May 2002 under the guise of no-fly zone patrols. Turns out that in the seven months prior to May, there were 32 "provocations" recorded by allied pilots. The seven months before that: 370.

Obviously the change in tactics to include offensive strikes was not the result of increased Iraqi activity. This should cement in place the fact that the US and UK were engaged in an air war beginning in 2002, prior to obtaining UN resolution 1441, prior to obtaining Congressional approval for the use of force, and without any factual support for their rationale.

It seems almost like Bush is hurrying to ram through his latest agenda item (i.e., Bolton) because his past is rapidly catching up to him. Every time it looks like he might be able to turn people's attention to other things, Iraq rears its head again. Often it's the current news--car bombings, assasinations, sectarian violence--but occasionally something like this wafts in from the past. And the smell is familiar.

The reasons behind how we got into Iraq are directly related to the ongoing difficulty we are having there. The same hubris and plain stupidity that drove the invasion are now preventing the administration from seeing the obvious errors of its ways. Meanwhile, the world looks on. The US has no credibility left with which to win over hearts and minds--whether in Iraq among the people we're supposedly trying to help, or in Europe among the people who usually lend a hand with this nation building business.

I don't expect the president or his acolytes will ever acknowledge their failures with regard to Iraq and the War on Terror (oh, excuse me--make that the Global Struggle Against Violent Extremism). But people are beginning to connect the dots. Bush wanted this war from the beginning, and he made it happen despite numerous obstacles, like how to conduct an air campaign without anyone really knowing its full scope. He figured that one out--wrap the offensive strikes in with the no-fly zone patrols.

Each time one of the administration's dirty tricks comes into view, it's another "dot" that connects to others already exposed. How many more dots can the administration expect the public to absorb without naming the image they see emerging?

Cognitive Dissonance: psychological conflict resulting from incongruous beliefs and attitudes held simultaneously (courtesy of Merriam-Webster online)

A new USA Today poll shows 51% of Americans believe the administration deliberately misled us into war, but that fully 53% believe it was "not a mistake" to send US troops to Iraq. Indeed, according to the survey, this represents "strongest support for the war since just after the Iraqi elections in January."

What's wrong with this picture?

One thing's for certain--this kind of imbalance will not last. Sooner or later people will have to reconcile their beliefs, and you simply cannot support a decision to go to war that was based on the very information you also believe was used to mislead you.

Think of it as a contract. The Bush administration made a contract with the American people that said, in essence, give us your support (and in a million or so cases, your sons and daughters) for this war and we will give you security. That was the deal. We had to invade because of WMD and the possibility of Saddam making them available to terrorists.

Now I'm not a lawyer, but I'm pretty sure that one of the basic requirements for a contract to be binding is the informed consent of each party. If the administration misled us about the reasons for going to war, how could we make an informed decision?

The good news here--if you can call it that--is that those of us who believed at the time that the invasion of Iraq was warranted can find some cover in the knowledge that we did not have all the facts at the time.

We do have the facts now, however. We know, for example, that there were no ties between Saddam and Al Qaida. We know that there were no WMDs found in Iraq. And we know, that these facts were subverted by the Bush administration in its public statements--at the time, and since.

I realize it may take some time for people to overcome the human tendancy against admitting you've been had, but the sooner we deal with how we got into this mess, the sooner we will regain the unity needed to deal with how to get out.

"The coalition against Saddam has fallen apart or it's unraveling, let's put it that way. The sanctions are being violated. We don't know whether he's developing weapons of mass destruction. He better not be or there's going to be a consequence should I be the president"
George W Bush 10-11-00, 2nd Presidential debate

With those words, future President George Bush had set one of the main agendas for his administrations the next four years. The specter of WMD was raised and the threat of regime change made. Within days of taking office, steps were beginning to be taken that put the nation on a course that would forever change its role in foreign affairs. Not since the days of Gilded Age Imperialism had an administration so pro-actively sought to take the nation to war. By May of 2001, the Bush administration was well on its way on that path to war with Iraq.

Having spent the first few months in office planning, and integrating the various factions within the administration, by May vital steps had been taken towards regime change in Iraq. Between the findings of VP Dick Cheney's energy task force, the various policy papers and recommendations of Neocon think tanks like PNAC, and James Baker's "Strategic Energy Policy Challenges for the 21st Century" report, the case for military action in Iraq had effectively been made to all within the administration.

The military, by this time had been brought on board to make the necessary preparations for war. An active air campaign to soften up Iraqi defenses was underway and the movement of pre-positioned forces and equipment was in progress. Increased funding and training of Iraqi opposition forces was authorized and a campaign to make the case for war to the American people was starting to be formulated. Over the next four months more steps would be taken on the path to war.

THE FOUR MONTH PERIOD LEADING UP TO 9/11
The period from the beginning of May up to the events of September 11th was marked by an increase in activity by the military in preparation for a large scale operation in the Persian Gulf. In order to get around the problem presented by Saudi Arabia's reluctance to allow further missions to be flown out a Saudi air bases to attack Iraq, the military planners began to look at how to redraw the military map of the region. Top DoD officials and military brass criss-crossed the globe trying to set up basing agreements and mutual co-operation agreements. This use of the Defense Department as a mechanism of diplomacy increased over the next two years as Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz and later Feith, gained powers that had traditionally been reserved for the Department of State.
An increase in intelligence and reconnaissance flights began over Iraq in advance of a future massive air campaign. Predator and U-2 flights increased in order to gain the intelligence to effectively target Iraqi radar, Command and Control facilities and communication hubs. The training and funding of Iraqi insurgent groups (through the umbrella group: the Iraqi National Congress -INC) also increased during these months in preparation for what was hoped to be a coup that could topple the Iraqi dictator and install a regime more acceptable to US security interests. This new regime could also be expected to be friendlier to US businesses interested in the region. Although the period might appear to be a lull before the storm of September 11th, at closer inspection it becomes apparent that war preparations were proceeding at a methodical pace.

May 2, 2001
The final draft of Dick Cheney's energy task force report is released.

May 5, 2001
Sec. of Defense Rumsfeld meets with Amir Shaikh Hamad Bin Isa Al Khalifa of Bahrian to discuss the current state of US naval bases in that country. Bahrain had long been the headquarters of U.S. naval activity in the Gulf. Currently Manama Naval Base in Bahrain is the headquarters of the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet which regularly includes a battle carrier group and other naval assets.

May 9-11, 2001
Deputy Sec. Of Defense Paul Wolfowitz and Deputy Natioal Security Advisor Stephen Hadley meet with European leaders. The tour includes Paris, Berlin, Warsaw and Moscow.

May 16-18, 2001
Commander in Chief, US Army Central Command Tommy Franks makes a five-country tour of Central Asia. .Franks meets with officials in Kazakhstan. Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. The main theme of his visit is the solidification of military ties in the region. Discussions involve the sharing of intelligence, the procurement of US equipment, and plans to strengthen military cooperation between the US and the nations of the region.

May 31, 2001
The US and UK attempt extend UN sanctions on Iraq with modifications. The two countries lobby for new "smart sanctions" that would ease the flow of oil while increasing control of Iraqi imports. The initiative fails and the UN temporarily extends sanctions for one month until a decision can be made.

June 1-9, 2001
Rumsfeld goes on a nine day trip to meet with leaders of what he will later call "New Europe". Starting in Turkey, he went to Incirlik Air Base which was the home base for Operation Northern Watch, then on to the Ukraine, Macedonia, and Kosovo. Next he was off to Greece to meet with the nine member countries of the Southeast European Defense Ministerial (SEDM). He followed that with a NATO meeting in Brussels and finished up in Finland for a meeting with the Baltic States. Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland were the other countries in attendance. This focus on "New Europe" would become crucial when it was time to go to the UN tg make the case against Iraq and form the "Coalition of the willing."

June 4, 2001
Iraq cuts off most of its UN-approved oil exports in protest against US and British moves to introduce so-called "smart sanctions". Iraq stopped pumping to oil terminals in Turkey and the Gulf.

June 5, 2001
Defense Sec Donald H Rumsfeld says US and British pilots who fly patrols over Iraq are under increasingly dangerous fire because of improved Iraqi defenses; blames China and other countries he says are supplying Iraqis with advanced antiaircraft technology. His remarks come as Pentagon reviews policy of reinforcing zones over Iraq.

June 11, 2001
DoD announces that they are short of anthrax vaccine and stops vaccinating certain military personnel.

June 16, 2001
The State Department tells Congress it plans to give $6 million over the next three months to the INC.

June 18, 2001
Rumsfeld consolidates DoD command structure to reflect a more "business-like" model. "The Senior Executive Committee will function as a business board of directors for the Department. It will be made up of Secretary Rumsfeld, Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Edward C. "Pete" Aldridge, and the Service secretaries. Secretary of the Army Thomas E. White, Secretary of the Navy Gordon R. England, and Secretary of the Air Force James G. Roche will use their unique qualifications as experienced business leaders to recommend changes to the Defense Department's business practices."

Sometime in June, 2001
"communications capability completed" at "secret " Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.

(For the complete story of the building of Al-Udeid Air Base see: "Secret" Air Base for Iraq War started prior 9-11. )

July 20, 2001
Leading Neocons and founding members of PNAC join the DoD. Douglas J. Feith, Peter W. Rodman and Peter T.R. Brookes assume senior policy positions in the Department of Defense.

August 29, 2001
INC starts beaming satellite television propaganda programs into Iraq using funds provided by the U.S. Congress. The station is headquartered in Washington DC, with a "large production bureau" in London. The INC produces these programs with the help of a contract from Lockheed Martin Corp.

Sept.4, 2001
DOD announces plan to produce new strain of anthrax.


THE "SPY-PLANE WAR": 7/25 TO 9/11, 2001
By the middle of the Summer of 2001 a game of cat and mouse was being played in the skies above Iraq. The US, wishing to gain more intelligence about Iraqi air defense systems increased the U2 and predator surveillance missions over Iraqi installations. The Iraqis, having upgraded their systems over the last few years, now had the capability to down the slow moving spy planes. With each mission the stakes were raised as the Iraqis tried to prevent the US from finding, then destroying their new defense systems.

July 25, 2001
Iraq launches a ground-to-air missile at a US spy plane.

July 26, 2001
Pentagon sources tell CNN "The United States plans a military response to the attempted shoot down of a U-2 spy plane over Iraq's southern no-fly zone. Although the United States bombs Iraqi air defenses on a regular basis,the sources said targets this time will likely include early warning radars Iraq uses to track the high-flying, slow-moving U-2s.The radar sites, last hit by U.S. and British warplanes in February,have since been rebuilt, along with a fiber optic network linking them, installed with Chinese assistance."

August 7, 2001
US warplanes attacked a multiple-rocket launcher near Mosul in northern Iraq.

August 10, 2001
Air strikes stepped up, in the largest strike since Feb. US and British warplanes launched a major strike against three air-defense sites in southern Iraq in response to recent attacks on coalition aircraft patrolling the no-fly zone, Pentagon officials said. About 50 aircraft -- including tankers and other support aircraft -- participated in the raid. A Pentagon official said the targets included a communications node, a surface-to-air missile site and a radar site.

August 14, 2001
U.S. Air Force F-16 fighter jets bombed a surface-to-air missile site in southern Iraq near the town of An Nasiriyah, some 170 miles south east of Baghdad.

August 17, 2001
"Iraqi forces threatened Operation Northern Watch coalition aircraft by firing anti-aircraft artillery from sites north of Mosul. Coalition aircraft were also targeted by Iraqi radar while conducting routine enforcement of the Northern No-Fly Zone. Coalition aircraft responded to the Iraqi attacks by delivering ordnance on elements of the Iraqi integrated air defense system."

August 27, 2001
Iraq downs a US spy plane. The official Iraqi News Agency (IRA) reported that Iraqi anti-aircraft forces had shot down a U.S. spy plane in a region of the southern port city of Basra. . The Pentagon would only say that they lost contact with the Predator spy drone before dawn near Basra, and the plane either was shot down or crashed August 27th. One Iraqi was killed and three others wounded in the combined US/British air strikes in northern Iraq. The bombing in northern Iraq followed the disappearance earlier of an unmanned US surveillance plane in the region of the southern port city of Basra.

September 4, 2001
Large air strikes in both Northern and Southern Regions. The US European Command said coalition warplanes struck "elements of Iraq's integrated air defence" in northern Iraq in response to anti-aircraft artillery fire and after coalition aircraft monitoring a no-fly zone in the north were targeted by Iraqi radar.In the south US jets used precision guided munitions to attack anti-aircraft artillery and surface-to-air missile sites around As Samwah, 209 kilometers (130 miles) southeast of Baghdad, a spokesman for the US Central Command said.

September 10, 2001
Eight Iraqis killed and three others injured in air strikes. US Air Force F-16, Navy F-18 and British Tornado GR-4 aircraft struck missile sites near al-Numinayah, al-Kut and Tallil, all south-east of Baghdad.

Sept. 11, 2001
US predator shot down in Iraq. Making it the second unmanned US spy plane downed by Iraq in less than a month.

The four month period that led up to September 11th can be viewed as the time when the administration began to get their ducks in a row in their quest for regime change in Iraq. Military agreements were made, the alliances that would become the "coalition of the willing" were being fostered and the air defenses of Iraq were beginning to be methodically taken apart piece by piece. The tragedy of September 11th would allow the next, and most crucial phase of the agenda to begin: The selling of the war to the American people.

In the next installment in this series we will look at the events of Sept 11th and the month that followed. Data compiled by the IRAQFACT working group. iraqfact@yahoo.com

This is the first installment of a multi-part series courtesy of IRAQFACT working group. Their research is also going into a timeline project organized by Congressman John Conyers.

On January 29, 2001, just nine day after his inauguration, George Bush sat down in the White House with Imam Sayed Hassan al-Qazwini, the leader of the Islamic Center of America in Detroit. This would be the last of six meetings that were held between the two men prior to the first meeting of the NSC. Their mutual desire for regime change in Iraq was one of the main topics of discussion that chilly winter day. Over the following three days, Bush met with his new National Security Council twice. By the evening of Feb. 1, decisions had been made that would forever change the course of the history. A path to war had been set, and as the events of the following year unfolded, the desires of the two men would start to become a reality. By late the following December, Bush would meet at his Crawford Ranch with Tommy Franks to finalize the plans for war with Iraq. The events of September 11 would pave the way to justifying the invasion to the American people, and it would only be a matter of time before the plans that began on that brisk January day would come to fruition Over the course of the year military planners and security analysts discussed various plans and scenarios for war with Iraq, but four constant themes emerged from every plan:

1. The need to pre-position military equipment and forces in the region.
2. A desire to encourage an armed opposition force within Iraq.
3. The necessity to soften-up or destroy Iraqi defense capabilities.
4. A means to justify the need to go to war to the American people.

When viewed in the light of these themes, many of the events and decisions of 2001 clearly demonstrate a concerted effort on the part of the Administration to take the country to war and the military making preparations for that war long in advance of the American public's knowledge.

January 30-February 1, 2001
The first National Security Council meeting of new administration was held on Jan. 30, 2001. The removal of Saddam Hussein was a central topic of the meeting. According to then Treasury Sec. Paul O'Neill: "From the very beginning, there was a conviction, that Saddam Hussein was a bad person and that he needed to go, that going after Saddam was topic "A" 10 days after the inauguration." At the second NSC meeting on Feb.1 the topic of regime change again became the center of discussion. Defense Secretary Rumsfeld spoke at the second meeting about how removing Mr. Hussein would "demonstrate what U.S. policy is all about" and help transform the Middle East. Rumsfeld talked at the meeting "in general terms about post-Saddam Iraq, dealing with the Kurds in the north, the oil fields, the reconstruction of the country's economy, and the `freeing of the Iraqi people"

Feb. 3rd, 2001
One of the first policy changes coming out of the NSC meetings was the Bush administrations issuing an order permitting Iraqi opposition groups to begin limited moves inside Iraq using US government funding. The moves were limited to a program described as the "collection of informational materials", but they signaled a change in direction and crossed a line which the Clinton administration was exceptionally reluctant to pass. It marked the first time since 1996 that the US had directly funded Iraqi opposition activities inside Iraq itself. The new order allowed the Iraqi National Congress (INC) - the main umbrella opposition group in the north of the country - to draw on $4m which was authorized by the US Congress in late 2000 to compile information inside Iraq relating to Baghdad's war crimes, military operations and other internal developments.

Feb.12th, 2001
A program to train Iraqi dissidents begins in College Station, Texas as dissidents receive a first round of weapons training from federal lawmen and members of the military's Special Forces under a U.S. plan to support insurgency activities inside Iraq. The INC, under a $98,000 contract with the Guidry Group, a consulting firm comprised of ex-secret service agents, were to learn the fine art of "diplomatic security". What distinguished this training from previous courses for the INC, is that the rebels attending the five-day seminar also learned how to use pistols, Kalishnikov rifles, 12-gauge shotguns and a variety of other fire-arms. Previous U.S.-backed training for the INC had been limited to "non- lethal" activities, such as emergency medical care, public relations and war crimes investigations. While the State Department still classified this assistance to be of the non-lethal variety, the INC clearly did not. "This is important because this is the first time we are receiving lethal training with the United States government funding," said Francis Brooke the Washington adviser for the INC. Retired Gen. Wayne Downing, the commander of the joint special operations task force during the Gulf War, concurred. He told United Press International "This is significant because this is the first lethal training. It is designed to protect, so the significance is that this is the first time they are being trained to do anything on this level."

Feb. 16th, 2001
U.S. and British aircraft attacked targets near Baghdad. U.S. Defense officials said 24 American and British planes struck six Iraqi military targets five to 20 miles from Baghdad using various long-range precision-guided weapons. The attack was the first Western strike against the capital since December 1998, during Operation Desert Fox. Sirens wailed over Baghdad, loud explosions were heard and anti-aircraft systems opened fire. The Defense Department said the planes struck Iraqi radar systems at about 6:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Baghdad time. Bush said the attack was a routine mission but had required the President's personal authorization. The British Defense Ministry said British and American planes attacked six sites, comprising part of Iraq's integrated Air Defense System. The raid was the first excursion outside the no-fly zone since 1998.

Feb. 26th, 2001
Two events occur demonstrating a step up in anti-Iraq rhetoric coming out of the White House. "[The] sanctions against Iraq are like Swiss cheese - that means they are not very effective," President George Bush said after his weekend meeting with Tony Blair "We're going to work together to figure out a way to make them more effective,". At the same time, Sec. Of State Colin Powell, attending a ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of Kuwait's liberation from Iraqi occupation said "[Our] quarrel is not with the people of Iraq. It is with the regime in Baghdad.''

Late February, 2001
"Cooperative Belt" early warning network started. The network provided radar, early warning and secure communications links between the six GCC (Gulf Cooperative Council) nations. (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates) all of whom (with the exception of Saudi Arabia) would become crucial allies in the War in Iraq.

1st wk. of March, 2001
VP Dick Cheney meets with major energy and oil interests to formulate US energy policy. Cheney's Energy Task Force authors a variety of documents relating to the oil industries of Iraq, United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia. "Foreign Suitors for Iraqi Oilfield contracts"—This document, dated March 5, 2001, includes a table listing 30 countries which have interests in Iraq's oil industry. The document also includes the names of companies that have interests, the oil fields with which those interests are associated, as well as the statuses of those interests. "Map of Iraq's oil fields"—The map includes markings for "supergiant" oil fields of 5 billion barrels or more, other oilfields, fields "earmarked for production sharing," oil pipelines, operational refineries, and tanker terminals.

Late Feb. or Early March, 2001
Pentagon begins planning to move assets out of Saudi Arabia. Tension between the US and the Saudis had become a more acute in February, after the allies mounted a large air raid from Prince Sultan Air Base against air defense targets around Baghdad, apparently without providing prior notice to the Saudi government. Following this episode, the Saudis imposed operational restrictions on allied warplanes operating out of PSAB, forbidding them to conduct further offensive operations against Iraq. U.S. military formulates a contingency plan for reducing its presence in Saudi Arabia The movement to gain greater basing flexibility—and reduce Washington's dependence on Riyadh—started by Gen. Anthony Zinni.

March 5th, 2001
State Department announced that a sum of five million dollars was allocated to the Iraqi National Congress, noting that talks continue with this organization to provide it with extra aid estimated at 29 million.

March 17th, 2001
Rumsfeld tells Congress of plan to use Qatar as base of future operations. In particular he discusses plans to use Al Udeid air field as a US base of operations. The unused air field in the desert of Qatar which sat idle since 1996, would become in little more than a year the largest US Air Base in the Gulf and the headquarters for all USAF operations in the region. The tiny nation of Qatar, which had no more than 50 US service personnel stationed in it as of October of 2000, would be transformed by the fall of 2002. It not only became the major base of operations for the USAF, it obtained two major Army bases; Camp Snoopy and Camp As Sayliyah, along with numerous smaller supply and pre-positioning centers and became, with Kuwait, our major ally in "The War on Terror."

For the complete story of Al-Udeid airbase see: "Secret" Air Base for Iraq War started prior 9-11.

Mid March, 2001
Ahmad Chalabi visits Iran to establish a base for sending roughly 100 INC operatives into northern Iraq to gather intelligence and distribute "humanitarian aid". The Iraqi National Congress secured necessary licenses from the Office of Foreign Asset Control in early 2001 to spend U.S. government grant funds inside Iran as a specific activity within their overall grant. In April the government of President Mohammad Khatami agrees to permit INC forces and their military equipment to cross the Iranian border into southern Iraq. The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control gives special approval to open a liaison office in Tehran. According to an INC official, "We did it with U.S. government money."

March 24th
Iraqi opposition group holds conference in London, attended by delegations from US State Dept. and British Foreign Office. The two-day gathering is organized by the INC to emphasize the importance of toppling the Iraqi regime and bringing a democratic and accountable government in Baghdad Both the U.S. and the British reiterate their support for the INC and the removal of Saddam Hussein. Tom Warrick, a State Department Official, told the INC in a brief address, the Bush administration was seeking the removal of Saddam Hussein and the creation of a democratic pluralistic regime in Baghdad. Martin Hetherington, of the British Foreign Office, added that the British government appreciates the role played by the INC in providing an alternative for the Iraqi people and working towards the establishment of a democratic system in the country.

April 10th
A report commissioned by former US Secretary of State James Baker and the Council on Foreign Relations titled; "Strategic Energy Policy Challenges For The 21st Century" is submitted to Vice President Cheney. It warns that the US is running out of oil, with a painful end to cheap fuel already in sight. It argues that "the United States remains a prisoner of its energy dilemma," and that one of the "consequences" of this is a "need for military intervention" to secure its oil supply. It argues that Iraq needs to be overthrown so the US can control its oil.

April, 2001
During a National Security Council deputy principals meeting, Paul Wolfowitz first floats the idea of tying Iraq to terrorism. He asserts that Iraq must be involved in terrorism, since Bin Laden couldn't possibly have attacked the World Trade Center in '93 alone. "One little terrorist group like that couldn't possibly have staged that operation. It must have been Iraq."

As the first four months of the Bush Administration came to a close, plans that were first dreamed up in Washington think tanks and only whispered in the corridors of power, began to become US foreign policy. A concerted effort to embark on regime change in Iraq was well underway. Changes in US policy towards the Iraqi opposition had been made that would hopefully allow an armed insurgency to take hold in Iraq. It was believed that at the very least, such an insurgency would aid in the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. Some even believed it possible that the opposition might initiate and execute an overthrow on their own with only limited air support coming from the US. (As would become the model in Afghanistan). The military began to eliminate the uncertainty of Saudi cooperation in a major offensive against Iraq by making a shift in basing and pre-positioning to its more friendly and acquiescent Gulf neighbors. This shifting of forces would become a key feature of the pre-war period. By the time the war had officially begun, the military map of the region had been almost entirely re-written. The air operations of Southern and Northern watch began to shift tactics to a more preemptive posture, targeting radar, communication and command and control facilities. The raids outside the No-Fly zone would only increase throughout the period, culminating in the massive pre-war air campaign of Operation Southern Focus in the summer of 2002. The propaganda campaign to sell the war had also started. After years of being a mute issue for most of the American public and media, Iraq, sanctions, weapons inspectors and Saddam Hussein were once again being raised in public discourse. As the faint beating of war drums along the Potomac began, the American people were being prepped for a new chapter in the story of American intervention in Iraq.

In the second installment in this series we will look at the following four-month period as the nation marched forward to war. Data compiled by the IRAQFACT working group. iraqfact@yahoo.com

This is a diary by Strandedlad cross-posted with permission from DailyKos. The nexus of the Plame case, John Bolton's "madman" behavior, and the observations in the Downing Street Memos is the heart of what's wrong with this administration--flagrant abuse of power for purely self-serving ends, at the expense of the American people.

"The facts were being fixed around the policy."

That's what the Downing Street Memo said, and now we have the hard data to show how this was done. Don't let the administration off the hook by viewing Rove/Plame, Bolton and the DSM as separate. They are all of a piece, all parts of the same story.

Republican talking points are that Rove's treasonous behavior was actually insignificant, that Bolton is just a hard-charger. But look at the pattern.

The DSM says that facts were being fixed around the policy.

The objection to Bolton isn't that he is rude or aggressive. It is that, when presented with intelligence contrary to his already established opinion (e.g., on Cuba or Syria), that he attempted to have analysts who disagreed with him removed from their posts. Failing that, he sought to use classified intelligence to spy on people who disagreed with him, presumably to discredit them in some fashion.

This is clearly a case of a man who decided on a policy and then was willing to do whatever he could to make sure that the intelligence reinforced what he already believed.

Rove's behavior was even more egregious, but all part of the same narrative. Having been caught in a lie about intelligence -- by the very person who collected the intelligence -- Rove attempted to use classified information to discredit the whistleblower. In doing so, he blew the cover of not only a covert operative, but also the CIA front company for which she worked.

Again, we have the policy, then we have the use of classified information to intimidate those who collected information contrary to that policy.

I'm not reading anything about the DSM or about Bolton anymore, either in the news or on the front page or recommended diaries here. This is totally understandable, as the revelations about Rove are fairly dramatic and, let's face it, red meat for those of us who despise him.

But do not forget that this is all about one thing: the undeniable fact that this administration made every effort to twist and fabricate intelligence in order to lead us into a war of choice in Iraq, one that has cost us so much in so many ways, which has strengthened our enemies and made us more vulnerable. In doing so, the administration betrayed our intelligence community to punish those that did not go along with the party line.

Rove is only the latest example of this. It is one story, one narrative: this administration chose to go to war in Iraq and was willing to do anything to accomplish that goal.