Fake Photos Helped Lead U.S. to Invade Iraq

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budeone
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Fake Photos Helped Lead U.S. to Invade Iraq

Post by budeone » 09-03-2007 07:23 PM

Add faked photos to the list of lies told by the Bush–Cheney Administration before its invasion of Iraq.


In a town hall meeting in Bloomsburg, Pa., this week, Rep. Paul Kanjorski, a 12-term congressman, said that shortly before Congress was scheduled to vote on authorizing military force against Iraq, top officials of the CIA showed select members of Congress three photographs it alleged were Iraqi Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), better known as drones. Kanjorski said he was told that the drones were capable of carrying nuclear, biological, or chemical agents, and could strike 1,000 miles inland of east coast or west coast cities.



Kanjorski said he and four or five other congressmen in the room were told there may be drones on freighters headed to the U.S. Both secretary of state Condoleezza Rice and President Bush wandered into and out of the briefing room, Kanjorski said.


Kanjorski said it was the second time he was called to the White House for a briefing. He had opposed giving the President the powers to go to war, and said that he hadn’t changed his mind after a first meeting. Until he saw the pictures, Kanjorski said, “I hadn’t thought that Iraq was a threat.” That second meeting changed everything. After he left that meeting, said Kanjorski, he was willing to give the President the authorization he wanted since the drones “represented an imminent danger.”


Kanjorski said he went to see Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), a retired Marine colonel. Murtha, said Kanjorski, “turned white” when told about the drones; Murtha, a former intelligence officer, believed that such information was classified.


Several years later, Kanjorski said he learned that the pictures were “a god-damned lie,” apparently taken by CIA photographers in the desert in the southwest of the U.S. The drone story itself had already been disproved, although not many major media carried that story.

In October 2002, President Bush said in Cincinnati that “Iraq has a growing fleet of manned and unmanned aerial vehicles that could be used to disperse chemical or biological; weapons across broad areas.” He said that he was concerned “that Iraq is exploring ways of using these UAVs for missions targeting the United States.” In that same speech, he claimed, “Iraq possesses ballistic missiles with a likely range of hundreds of miles—far enough to strike Saudi Arabia, Israel, Turkey, and other nations—in a region where more than 135,000 American civilians and service members live and work.” Bush further claimed, “Surveillance photos reveal that the regime is rebuilding facilities that it had used to produce chemical and biological weapons.” Those claims were later proven false.

Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) said that at the time the President made his speech, intelligence analysts had already discounted that threat. Nelson had told Florida Today in December 2003 that no analysts had “found anything that resembles an UAV that has that capability.” Any drones that Iraq did have, John Pike, director of Global Security, a major military and intelligence “think tank,” told Florida Today, had limited range, and would not be able to target Tel Aviv, let alone the U.S.


Nelson, on the floor of the Senate in January 2004, said that the information presented by the Administration was crucial in getting him and others to authorize a pre-emptive strike.

[Assisting on this story were Bill Frost, and John and Sandie Walker. In a four-day period after that meeting in northeast Pennsylvania, Rep. Kanjorski did not return phone calls to follow up on his statements. The Department of Defense and the CIA did not comment. Certain representatives who could confirm the meeting were unavailable. Dr. Brasch, an award-winning journalist and journalism professor, is author of America’s Unpatriotic Acts: The Federal Government’s Violation of Constitutional and Civil Rights and ‘Unaccepted’: The Federal Response to Hurricane Katrina. Forthcoming is Sinking the Ship of State: The Presidency of George W. Bush]

http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera ... lped_l.htm
"BUSH" The Worst President in History...

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whskyfan
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Post by whskyfan » 09-03-2007 09:06 PM

Armed with information like this why haven't Rep. Paul Kanjorski and the other "select members of Congress" been vigorously pursuing the impeachment of bush/cheney? Why are they bothering to tell this story now? To cover their political a$$es is probably why, there is an election coming up.

Throw everyone of these conniving bastards, both Democrat and Republican, out of office, reform our election process and start over from scratch! Our entire political system is broken.
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majda
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Post by majda » 09-03-2007 10:30 PM

whskyfan wrote: Our entire political system is broken.


Yup! Been saying that for many years! None of the rats currently running will make any difference. The best and most honest politician in the world can't function in the current corrupt, broken system. The shadows behind the curtain are running the show anyway. Not being a doomsayer, just being realistic! As long as the lazy, uninformed masses of people leave the running of the country, economy, etc. to 'politicians', things will only get worse.
"The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government -- lest it come to dominate our lives and interests." ~ Patrick Henry

Linnea
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Post by Linnea » 09-04-2007 12:18 AM

The political system is not broken - unless the people fail to debate and to act.

Posting here is an act of faith in the system.

And, thank you for participating.

:cool:

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whskyfan
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Post by whskyfan » 09-04-2007 07:46 AM

Linnea wrote: The political system is not broken - unless the people fail to debate and to act.

Posting here is an act of faith in the system.

And, thank you for participating.

:cool:


You may be right Linnea, but it does need some reform. The country is being run by professional politicians and it seems the party line is more important than what is right for the country. This needs to stop. The ideology of the party should reflect the views of the people within that party, but when the party puts it's own welfare ahead of the people's, the system is not working.

I have heard people say on numerous occasions that "their vote/thoughts don't matter, they (Congress) are going to do what they want". Voter apathy, a big problem. How many times have you gotten a form letter response from your Congress person? I have received a few, I quit writing.

What needs to be done? I'm not sure. But we do need reform.
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Linnea
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Post by Linnea » 09-04-2007 10:12 AM

'30 second sound bites', consolidated media dominance, marketing strategies, lobbyists - are the new constituency.

Conservatives perfected it, and the out party (democrats, mostly) are playing catch up with it.

The question is: how do we the people become the constituency again?

The internet is one medium which is struggling to even up the system, but it lags far behind and is accessed by a minority of the people - at least as a media which influences news and politics.

We should have a 'consolidated media blackout day' here on the Fantastic Forum - and post only news and information which is derived from personal observation/interaction, local news and non-syndicated local radio.

That would be interesting.

And informative...

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Here is a bit of synchronicity...

Post by Linnea » 09-04-2007 10:18 AM

This is today's post in the Religion/Metaphysics thread:

In this world, in order to enable society to develop, all its members have to assume responsibilities and make their contribution. If we do not make collective contributions then there will be no development.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama

:cool:

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Post by Dude111 » 12-11-2012 05:04 AM

An EXCELLENT article!!!!!!

YES they fooled the masses in this country QUITE WELL,this whole thing was just to get everyone to agree to there war on Iraq!! (Everyone is so brainwashed by them now its NOT HARD TO DO!)

Im totally disgusted by the way people are now!

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