It’s been estimated that the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have cost the American taxpayer between 4 to 6 trillion dollars and resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of people. The invasion of Iraq was one of the worst foreign policy decisions in American history. Politicians, analysts and military historians run from attempting to come up with explanations for the war. In the past in this column we have focused on the lies and deception practiced by the Bush administration, and the motives and causes manufactured by Cheney and company.
The overwhelming evidence is Iraq posed no threat to the U.S., and those who helped manufacture the rationales for the war knew it.
Now comes something even worse. As you may be aware the Bush administration suppressed a 28 page portion of the 2002 Congressional Report attempting to explain the terrorist attacks of September 11th. I waded through the report when it first came out sans the missing 28 pages. It is an 838 page report, chaired by former United States Senator Bob Graham of Florida. Graham now is the leading voice in wanting you and I to know what is in the 28 page portion and why it is classified.
On my morning show on 710 KNUS radio I have now been able to talk with former Senator Graham, as well as Republican Congressman Walter Jones of North Carolina, and Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky and I’m going to quote you what Thomas Massie said to me about the suppressed pages. He was shocked when he read them, “I had to stop every couple of pages, and just sort of absorb and try to rearrange my understanding of history for the past 13 years and the years, leading up to that.” It challenges you to rethink everything.
Walter Jones is the congressman who investigative reporter James Bovard said, “is best known for coining the phrase ‘Freedom Fries’.” He did so in 2003 when France opposed George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq. Bovard says Jones has become one of the most outspoken opponents of intervention in Iraq after reading the suppressed pages. Jones introduced a Resolution to the House for the public to be able to read the missing 28 pages. His quote: “The American people deserve the truth, releasing these pages will enhance our national security, not harm it.”
In my second interview with former Senator Graham he indicated that the Saudis are the guilty party, but disclosing Saudi links to 9/11 would have undermined the Bush administration attempt to tie Saddam Hussein to the 9/11 attacks.
So as James Bovard asks, “Do you have the right to learn whether a foreign government helped finance the 9/11 attacks?”
One of the saddest moments in reading about these suppressed pages is the Bush administration held back the release of the entire 838 pages until the middle of 2003, after the invasion of Iraq had already begun. Now most recently in a courtroom in New York, on September 28 of this year, the Saudis were dismissed as defendants in the lawsuits brought by the victims of the 9/11 attacks.
The judge, U.S. District Court Judge Daniels, said that the lawyers for the plaintiffs failed to show sufficient evidence to overcome the Saudis’ sovereign immunity.
There is evidence locked away and suppressed. If you’re a member of the House or Senate, my understanding is you can read those by going into a secure room on Capitol Hill if you can get permission from the intelligence community. I’ve read that only 18 Congressmen have done so.
This is like a handgun, fingerprints and tests, are in a police evidenced locker and the judge dismisses a murder case by telling the families of the victim there’s not sufficient evidence, while the gun, the prints and the tests lie behind lock and key. You’ve read my columns many times about my views on President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, and the way they manufactured the rationale for the war. As hard as it is for me to say — it’s worse than I imagined. Don’t take my word for this, do your own investigation and come to your own conclusions. Then contact your congressmen and senators, and finally demand the truth of what these people did.
George W. Bush invading Iraq because of 9/11 makes about as much sense as if Franklin Roosevelt had invaded Mexico because of the attack on Pearl Harbor. What would be in those 28 pages if we could read them? The truth, and it’s time to hold that entire corrupt administration responsible for what they did to this country.
More to come, Happy Thanksgiving.
— Peter