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From Denny: Jon Stewart discusses the marketing of the fairy tale ex-Bush administration officials consistently try to sell about the lead up to the Iraq War since they left office. Condi Rice is no exception.
In a carefully crafted narrative she declared the necessity of going to war in Iraq. She cited how Saddam Hussein was "a bad man" and had 16 United Nations Security Council resolutions passed against his regime just for starters.
Rice quoted President Clinton as sending a few friendly cruise missiles Saddam's way to discourage his nuclear interests back in 1998. Of course, at the time, Republicans - and later Bush - ridiculed this "small bore" effort of containing Saddam Hussein but now they praise it.
She also failed to mention how the outgoing Clinton administration gave her loads of intelligence, warning against the 9/11 attack. At the time she foolishly blew that off as a fairy tale and did not act on the intelligence. That true story was conspicuously missing from her interview and book.
Then she quoted the Bible of 9/11, according to Republicans, of how the world would fall apart if they did not break it and attack Iraq. Some of their logic leaves a lot to be desired. Since it's fear-based programming, a lot of it does not properly connect the dots to make their case.
What was most telling in this interview is how Jon pressed her on the issue of whether there really were weapons of mass destruction or not. Did they know at the time? While she danced around it, she basically told him they knew there were not any nukes in Saddam's possession. They were fully aware of it at the time.
What drove them, she claimed, to attack Iraq, is that Saddam might reconstitute his weapons of mass destruction, if left to his own devices, within a year or so, maybe a decade, according to the intelligence community. Why wait until he did it?
The only intelligence all the agencies agree upon at the time was on the biological and chemical weapons in his possession. After all, he purchased copious amounts of chlorine. No one possesses that many swimming pools. Chlorine is used as an ingredient in nerve agents.
Jon pressed her on how it looked at the time that all the high caliber administration officials - Rice, Cheney and Powell - were busy visiting the Sunday talk shows to sell the Iraq War to the American public. Rice objected to the word "sell" but admitted in a lesser manner it was true.
What she claimed is that the Bush administration was not really try to sell the American public but rather was pressing hard to convince the international community to come on board to do something about Saddam Hussein. So, it turns out, they were selling door to door.
Anyone watching that drama at the time remembers they were selling hard to everyone to justify what the oil businessmen wanted: the oil fields. Remember how the Bush Crowd also floated the idea that the war would not come out of the American taxpayers' wallets but that Iraq would pay for it with their oil.? That never materialized.
The same crowd even tried that line back during the Vietnam War and again for the Afghanistan War. Anyone see a pattern of corruption here?
When Rice was asked about the state of the Middle East - because of the Iraq War and Saddam Hussein was removed - she replied she was glad he was gone. It is her belief that the world today would have seen an arms race between Iraq and Iran had America not intervened. She gave no facts to bolster that argument. Where do these Republican think tanks come up with these idiotic scenarios?
Rice crowed how the Bush administration had offered a lot of money to entice Saddam to leave on his own before we attacked. She acted like $1 billion was a lot of money. Yeah, to you, me and her. Not to Saddam Hussein who was fleecing his own country of billions of dollars of oil money. The man thought his billions made him invincible.
This is an interesting discussion, revealing just how inept was the Bush administration when it came to marketing their narrative, lying to the America people and the inability to properly "read" a Middle Eastern dictator.
Jon also queried her about Gaddafi's weird fascination with the White House Black Flower (her) and how he composed a song for her and collected an entire photo album of her photos. Yeah, that Libyan dictator was one weird duck, even by Condi's standards.
Jon did not ask her about her rumored affair with President Bush. Perhaps it was such common knowledge at the time in Washington, where even the cartoonists talked about it repeatedly, that he thought it didn't rise to this interview. Hey, while you are talking about dictators and their romances...
Jon got the last word where he touted her new book, "No Highest Honor." He had her nodding in complete agreement until the end of his statement.
"Thanks for coming on the show. At least now, after reading the book, I have a better sense as to why we made that huge mistake." It was here she was shocked, surprised - and nervously laughed: busted.
Be sure to check out the extended interview clips as she remained to talk at length on the show.
In a carefully crafted narrative she declared the necessity of going to war in Iraq. She cited how Saddam Hussein was "a bad man" and had 16 United Nations Security Council resolutions passed against his regime just for starters.
Rice quoted President Clinton as sending a few friendly cruise missiles Saddam's way to discourage his nuclear interests back in 1998. Of course, at the time, Republicans - and later Bush - ridiculed this "small bore" effort of containing Saddam Hussein but now they praise it.
She also failed to mention how the outgoing Clinton administration gave her loads of intelligence, warning against the 9/11 attack. At the time she foolishly blew that off as a fairy tale and did not act on the intelligence. That true story was conspicuously missing from her interview and book.
Then she quoted the Bible of 9/11, according to Republicans, of how the world would fall apart if they did not break it and attack Iraq. Some of their logic leaves a lot to be desired. Since it's fear-based programming, a lot of it does not properly connect the dots to make their case.
What was most telling in this interview is how Jon pressed her on the issue of whether there really were weapons of mass destruction or not. Did they know at the time? While she danced around it, she basically told him they knew there were not any nukes in Saddam's possession. They were fully aware of it at the time.
What drove them, she claimed, to attack Iraq, is that Saddam might reconstitute his weapons of mass destruction, if left to his own devices, within a year or so, maybe a decade, according to the intelligence community. Why wait until he did it?
The only intelligence all the agencies agree upon at the time was on the biological and chemical weapons in his possession. After all, he purchased copious amounts of chlorine. No one possesses that many swimming pools. Chlorine is used as an ingredient in nerve agents.
Jon pressed her on how it looked at the time that all the high caliber administration officials - Rice, Cheney and Powell - were busy visiting the Sunday talk shows to sell the Iraq War to the American public. Rice objected to the word "sell" but admitted in a lesser manner it was true.
What she claimed is that the Bush administration was not really try to sell the American public but rather was pressing hard to convince the international community to come on board to do something about Saddam Hussein. So, it turns out, they were selling door to door.
Anyone watching that drama at the time remembers they were selling hard to everyone to justify what the oil businessmen wanted: the oil fields. Remember how the Bush Crowd also floated the idea that the war would not come out of the American taxpayers' wallets but that Iraq would pay for it with their oil.? That never materialized.
The same crowd even tried that line back during the Vietnam War and again for the Afghanistan War. Anyone see a pattern of corruption here?
When Rice was asked about the state of the Middle East - because of the Iraq War and Saddam Hussein was removed - she replied she was glad he was gone. It is her belief that the world today would have seen an arms race between Iraq and Iran had America not intervened. She gave no facts to bolster that argument. Where do these Republican think tanks come up with these idiotic scenarios?
Rice crowed how the Bush administration had offered a lot of money to entice Saddam to leave on his own before we attacked. She acted like $1 billion was a lot of money. Yeah, to you, me and her. Not to Saddam Hussein who was fleecing his own country of billions of dollars of oil money. The man thought his billions made him invincible.
This is an interesting discussion, revealing just how inept was the Bush administration when it came to marketing their narrative, lying to the America people and the inability to properly "read" a Middle Eastern dictator.
Jon also queried her about Gaddafi's weird fascination with the White House Black Flower (her) and how he composed a song for her and collected an entire photo album of her photos. Yeah, that Libyan dictator was one weird duck, even by Condi's standards.
Jon did not ask her about her rumored affair with President Bush. Perhaps it was such common knowledge at the time in Washington, where even the cartoonists talked about it repeatedly, that he thought it didn't rise to this interview. Hey, while you are talking about dictators and their romances...
Jon got the last word where he touted her new book, "No Highest Honor." He had her nodding in complete agreement until the end of his statement.
"Thanks for coming on the show. At least now, after reading the book, I have a better sense as to why we made that huge mistake." It was here she was shocked, surprised - and nervously laughed: busted.
Be sure to check out the extended interview clips as she remained to talk at length on the show.
Condoleezza Rice Pt. 1
Condoleezza Rice compares U.S. intervention in Libya with its actions in Iraq and believes that the Bush administration's freedom agenda was largely successful.
Condoleezza Rice Pt. 2
Condoleezza Rice talks about the long-term threat posed by Saddam Hussein prior to and during the Bush administration.
Exclusive - Condoleezza Rice Extended Interview Pt. 1
In this unedited, extended interview, Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice discusses meeting Muammar al-Gaddafi.
Exclusive - Condoleezza Rice Extended Interview Pt. 2
Condoleezza Rice discusses intelligence leading to the invasion of Iraq and the threat posed by Saddam Hussein in this unedited, extended interview.
Exclusive - Condoleezza Rice Extended Interview Pt. 3
In this unedited, extended interview, Condoleezza Rice regrets the incorrect intelligence that led to the Iraq war, but believes the war was beneficial for the Middle East.
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