Clinton aide's idea: Let Iraq shoot down U.S. plane

[Brooklyn Red Leg]

A new book says a cabinet member proposed letting Saddam kill an American airman as a pretext for war

General Hugh Shelton, who was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during parts of the Clinton and George W. Bush administrations, has a new memoir out that contains this significant-seeming story: Back in the late 1990s, Shelton says a member of Clinton's cabinet asked him to allow Saddam Hussein to shoot down an American plane over Iraq as a pretext for starting a war. The way Shelton tells the story, this was a serious request.

Remember, the context here is the Clinton Administration's years of trying to overthrow Saddam -- including in a little-remembered 1996 CIA coup attempt. In December 1998 (most likely after the request was made to Shelton), Clinton bombed Iraq for four days in Operation Desert Fox, which Clinton said was a response to Saddam's lack of cooperation with U.N. weapons inspectors.

Clinton aide's idea: Let Iraq shoot down U.S. plane

And many of these same a$$clowns still serve in our government today.

[blubberismanly]

So is this actual news, or another rehashed article paraphrased to smear the Dems?

[mountaindew]

Originally Posted by blubberismanly

So is this actual news, or another rehashed article paraphrased to smear the Dems?

Is Left vs. Right all you can gather from this thread? There is a little bit more to it than that.

[blubberismanly]

I do understand it on the broader concept. I'm just very skeptical about threads about very old news that comes as absolutely no surprise. Corporations, psychos and megalomaniacs run this country with impunity. This may sound cynical, but I'm tired of hearing (and reading) the same news. Yes, our politicians suck and they make a lot of bad decisions against the will of the taxpayers and use wars to justify them (even when the wars themselves are unjust). How is it news?

[Brooklyn Red Leg]

Originally Posted by blubberismanly

So is this actual news, or another rehashed article paraphrased to smear the Dems?

Colour me unsurprised at the hypocrisy of the War Party apologists.

[Christov]

Government is far too quick to resort to violence and manipulation to meet their own ends. Sometimes they just represent all the bad bits of society, which is ironic consider they control the law and therefore what is acceptable. Hypocrisy is a bad, bad thing.

[DELIMAN092262]

This story again demonstrates the “permanent” government. Liberal Democrat and conservative Republican presidents may come an go, but there are senior civil servants just below the political appointees that influence the “permanent” policies of the US government.

For example, containment was the policy for decades against the USSR. The idea was to contain them from further expansion. Failing that, it would make the cost prohibitive to the USSR to pursue an expansionist foreign policy. That policy remained until the USSR collapsed.

Saddam was a thorn in the side of US foreign policy for over a decade. The US could not contain him nor his ambitious and expansionist foreign policy. He therefore had to be removed. The goal was a stable Persian Gulf and the flow of oil to the world. His removal would help achieve that goal.

For the record: It was not just George Bush and his people that wanted Saddam gone. It was also Clinton and his people. Clinton did sign an executive order that called for Saddam to be removed from office.

[blubberismanly]

Originally Posted by DELIMAN092262

The goal was a stable Persian Gulf and the flow of oil to the world.

*cues the proverbial "Mission Accomplished" banner*

[DELIMAN092262]

The last US combat troops just left Iraq. The future of Iraq is up to her people. Does that sound more like mission accomlished or mission failure?

Barack Obama thinks Iraq was a success.

[swedishiron]

The Bush administration ALLOWED 9/11 to occur after being made aware by FBI field agents of the suspicious behavior of individuals who later became 9/11 terrorist. Request by FBI field agents were DENIED under W. Bush to do further investigations into the terrorists (I wonder why )who later participated in the 9/11 attacks. W. Bush sat calmly and continued to read a children's book to a group of school children after being notified of the attack (because he knew it would occur). Don't believe me about the FBI agents requests being denied ? Research It Yourself.

Future W. Bush Cabinet members wrote a letter URGING Clinton to invade Iraq but lamented in that same letter (widely available online - Research it yourself) they DOUBTED Clinton would take such action unless an attack similar to Pearl Harbor happened. After W. Bush gets elected and staffs his Cabinet with authors of the letter something similar to Pearl Harbor happens to justifies invading Iraq.

After 9/11 occurs and national air traffic is shutdown W.Bush made SPECIAL exceptions to fly is Islamic friends/OIL business partners OUT of the U.S.A. DESPITE the FBI wishes to hold some of them here for questioning.

[DELIMAN092262]

People used to make the same claim about Roosevelt. That he knew the Japanese were planning to attack Pearl Harbor. That he allowed the attack to draw the country into war.

It was nonsense then and it is nonsense now.

As for doing the research??? Why??? This is your theory. It is YOUR job to prove it.

[Adrian]

As CIA Counter Terrorism Chief Richard Tenet told all during the Congressional hearings on 09-11, Tenet apologized to all the families of the victims at the hearings and told them and Congress that their Government failed them on almost every level during this episode.
All nineteen terrorist were on the State Department's no entry into the USA list, sixteen of the terrorist were on the no fly list yet, without any opposition all made it aboard the airliners.
We all know of the four flights hijacked that day, what is less known or not written of much is that there were several more aircraft to possibly be hijacked. As many as "four" other airliners were possibly hijacking targets later that day. Indications are the hijackers planned other airliner hijacking in following days. The terrorist did not plan on the air traffic system being shut down, designated as "ATC-Zero." Mohammed Atta also had purchased a ticket to fly from L.A. back towards Boston 09-12-01 if, for some reason he was not able to hijack the plane on 09-11! No known target for a flight from LA to NYC.
Later on 09-11 at around 5PM, four men and a woman were detained from getting on UAL-23 at JFK bound for L.A. Around 7:30PM to 8:15PM five men were detained from getting on American Airlines Flt. #133 from La Guardia to Los Angeles. All ten people were Arabic, had false IDs, box cutter type knives and, two people had pilot's licenses! After being detained they were all deported, most were wanted by other countries for serious legal problems which could be substantiated in a court of law and would involve more prison time when found guilty.
Another group of four men of whom had previous contact with Mohammed Atta, had taken a train from NYC to LA, were detained on 09/15/01 in Denver and later deported. They had purchased many airline tickets before 09-11 among them was for a flight from LA to NYC several days later.

Some of the heroes that day not involved in any crash sights, were the air traffic controllers, who without any plan landed 5,300 plus airliners in the first seven hours of ATC-Zero! Other air controllers in Canada and Mexico did a fantastic job that day.