That’s right. You heard it here first.
No, I do not have any specific evidence… nor even any operational knowledge.
There are plenty of reputable journalists who have spoken at length about War planning as it relates to Iran and North Korea… these include the “nuclear option”.
Google “CONPLAN 8022” and you’ll see the results for yourself.
And heed these words, for they were harbingers of the inevitable in 2003… and their influence is still being felt today:
In our country, it has been customary to seek evidence that would prove guilt “beyond a reasonable doubt” in a court of law. That approach is appropriate when the objective is to protect the rights of the accused. But in the age of WMD, the objective is not to protect the “rights” of dictators… -it is to protect the lives of our citizens. And when there is that risk, and we are trying to defend against the closed societies and shadowy networks that threaten us in the 21st century, expecting to find that standard of evidence, from thousands of miles away, and to do so before such a weapon has been used, is not realistic. And, after such weapons have been used it is too late.
…
In the 20th century, when we were dealing largely with conventional weapons, we could wait for perfect evidence. If we miscalculated, we could absorb an attack, recover, take a breath, mobilize, and go out and defeat our attackers. In the 21st century, that is no longer the case, unless we are willing and comfortable accepting the loss not of thousands of lives, but potentially tens of thousands of lives – a high price indeed
That was Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, in September 2002 (6 months before the war officially started).
These people aren’t finished yet. It seems they are hell bent on setting the Middle East ablaze. Perhaps our only hope to contain the war in Iraq is for the UN to delay and delay and delay, until after the 2008 elections. We already know, however, that the Bush Administration will only play along with the UN for so long. When will Americans finally realize that they have madmen running their country!?