Iraqi defectors, the Dick & the Bush and the lies that gave us Iraq

US-backed Iraqi National
Congress leader Ahmed
Chalabi speaks at a swearing
in ceremony in Baghdad for
the then newly appointed
25-person cabinet. AFP


It has become more and more important to understand the Neo-con game that got us into the disaster that is Iraq. Although the greatest responsibility lies at the top of the Bush administration, there is much blame to go around - few people are innocent. It is unfortunately a history of the virtual collapse of all of the relevant institutions designed to protect us from this kind of foreign policy debacle. Here's part of the story:

"When American voters go to the polls on Nov. 7, one of the foremost questions that should be on their minds is how did the United States get into the Iraq mess, which has claimed the lives of more than 2,800 U.S. soldiers and possibly hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. What went wrong with Washington and what can citizens do about it?

"Part of the answer to what went wrong is that the normal checks and balances – in Congress, the national news media and the U.S. intelligence community – collapsed in the face of George W. Bush’s determination to invade Iraq. Pro-war neoconservative opinion leaders also acted as intellectual shock troops to bully the few voices of dissent.

"Amid this enforced “group think,” a self-interested band of Iraqi exiles found itself with extraordinary freedom to inject pro-war disinformation into the U.S. decision-making process. Despite many reasons to challenge the truthfulness of Iraqi “defectors” handled by the Iraqi National Congress"