Military, Politics, Society

Panetta: Iraq Really Was A Response To 9-11

For years, the Bush Administration was denounced for the false statements and intelligence that led to the Iraq invasion. Even after it was shown that there were no weapons of mass destruction, many Americans continued to believe that Iraq was being invaded as a response to the 9-11 attacks. Now, in the latest morphing of the Bush and Obama Administration, our new Defense Secretary Leon Panetta wasted no time in re-casting Iraq in the same flawed image. In a public appearance, Panetta told troops that they were in Iraq because of the attack on 9-11.

At Camp Victory, Panetta told troops that “[t]he reason you guys are here is because of 9/11. The US got attacked and 3,000 human beings got killed because of Al-Qaeda. We’ve been fighting as a result of that.” As his boss transformed into Donald Rumsfeld before his eyes, Doug Wilson, Panetta’s spokesman, ran forward to tell reporters that “I don’t think he’s getting into the argument of 2002-2003.” Instead, he insisted that statement was just one more example of “a plain-spoken secretary.” The last time I heard “plain-speaking” as an excuse for chronic misstatements was a guy named Donald Rumsfeld, the “plain-speaking” Defense Secretary under George Bush. Of course, Rumsfeld was an award-winning plain speaker.

Panetta also later said that we were close to the final destruction of Al Qaeda. Presumably he meant in Afghanistan. However, his aides had to retract a statement by Panetta that the U.S. would keep 70,000 troops in Afghanistan until 2014 — in contradiction to statements by the President.

One could actually hope that our Secretary of Defense would be at least up to speed on the reason for one of our current wars as well as the previously announced plans for the withdrawal of thousands of troops from another war under his administration. Of course, there are so many of them, it may be difficult to keep track.

Source: Yahoo

58 thoughts on “Panetta: Iraq Really Was A Response To 9-11”

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  3. Why don’t we ask Panetta to fully, and with detail, explain how Iraq is due to 9/11. We are still an un-informed country, and statements like this just perpetuate the propaganda and lies about the Iraq war. AND we should remember in this discussion of the ‘big lie’ told by the Bush administration about Iraq, remember how many of our young men and women gave their life, their limbs, their sight and their emotional well-bing for that LIE.

  4. i don’t view Obama a a ” maniacal religious cult leader”, but I do view Bachmann that way.

  6. S.M.,

    I don’t know if Panetta or Obama belong to these secret groups. I’m not certain how you know if they do or don’t. It doesn’t matter, only their actions matter. Obama said he wished to bring the kingdom of God on earth. That is a classic maniacal religious cult leader statement, that if a right winger said it, you would know it was dangerous.

  7. S.M.,

    We should ask ourselves why politicians who care nothing for other human beings or the earth and its other creatures have any credence at all with the population. We are being propagandized constantly, right and left, with each group spoken to in lies which are most likely to draw us in.

    We also see that people are very desperate. We got Obama because people were very desperate after 8 years of Bush. People weren’t looking at him closely because everyone wanted things to get better. I know you won’t agree with me, but I believe people elected Republicans in 10 because, again people were desperate and not thinking clearly.

    To me, the answer does not lie in going back in forth from one corrupt party to another. Neither party is helping our people or the earth. It is a dangerous time first because dangerous people are running things and secondly, when we are desperate, as most of us are, we tend to not think clearly.

    Bachmann’s positions vary little from Obama’s. Yet, propaganda tries to convince both left and right that they are polar opposites. We must break free of this propaganda. The only thing that matters are actions. That is the way out, look at actions, not party—actions. In the meantime, we must oppose the cruelty that this govt. is committing. That is the most important thing any of us can do.

  9. S.M.,

    We already have CIA teams in Iran. We just heard the administration say bombing Libya is unilaterally O.K. with the president. They claim they can unilaterally go anywhere in the world in search of terrorists. They are in 6 hot wars. We have secret torture prisons in Somalia and Afghanistan. This is really scary.

    Just from a business point of view, “saber rattling” is a terrible idea in world oil markets. And mere “saber rattling” would not include teams already in country.

  10. Neither Panetta nor Obama belong to the “family” or “Opus Dei”.

  11. They will burn the world to “save” it. -Jill

    Many are fiddling, while America burns…

  14. Mike S.,

    I think we agree also. I see many elements of religious type beliefs in the elites. A while back there was a release of a conversations between some Wall Street traders. They were, in complete honesty, comparing themselves to Jesus’ persecution because people were protesting them as criminals.

    Jeff Sharlet says many of our “leaders” belong to The Family. Sy Hersh has pointed out that many in the top echelon of the military belong to Opus Dei. When I look at their actions, it has a kind of eschatological feel to it. That is scary because people who want to end the world and bring about the reign of Jesus or some other weird religious/moral purity–well, let’s just say we’ve seen what these types of people have done before. They will burn the world to “save” it.

  15. “Mike S., I think it is correct to call Panetta, his boss and the rest of the elites, idiots.”

    Jill,

    We pretty much agree. Being highly intelligent and very well-educate d doesn’t save a person from being an idiot. There is a wide gap between innate stupidity and innate ignorance. Education and/or intelligence does not necessarily bridge that gap. What makes me angriest about these people is that I believe most lack the self-awareness to understand their mistaken judgments. I believe they are so egocentric that they feel morally and ethically justified in doing what they do. They really believe themselves to be patriots and not mere tools of the Corporatist Agenda.

    It is indeed as Arendt put it “the banality of evil,” which to me is more frightening than evil itself. They are true jingoistic moralists, with no understanding of the destructiveness of their actions. As spoken so well by James Garner in the great 1970’s anti-war movie “The Americanization of Emily”: “God save us from the moralists of the world. They’re the ones that get everyone else’s back’s broken.” Panetta is a “true believing” foreign policy guy, who thinks he is moral, when the results of his actions bring only unneeded death and destruction.

  16. Swarthmore mom,

    Not any time soon, I suspect, but down the road? I certainly hope not, but who knows.

  17. Don’t think we are invading Iran. Panetta is saber rattling like they all do.

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