Ex-top soldier: Iraq war ‘fiasco’ due to Rumsfeld’s ‘lies’

[unhappycamper]

Ex-top soldier: Iraq war ‘fiasco’ due to Rumsfeld’s ‘lies’
By Daniel Tencer
Wednesday, October 13th, 2010 -- 11:26 pm

The US had no reason to invade Iraq in 2003, and only did so because of "a series of lies" told to the American people by the Bush administration, says Gen. Hugh Shelton, who served for four years as the US's top military officer.

~snip~

"President Bush and his team got us enmeshed in Iraq based on extraordinarily poor intelligence and a series of lies purporting that we had to protect Americans from Saddam's evil empire because it posed such a threat to our national security," Shelton writes in his memoir.

According to Ricks, Shelton states that, in order to get the war going, then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld "elbowed aside Gen. Richard Myers and the other members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and also intimidated and flattered Gen. Tommy R. Franks while working directly with him, and so basically went to war without getting the advice of his top military advisors."

The result, Shelton writes, was a war plan that amounted to a "fiasco."

Shelton reportedly saves his harshest criticisms for Rumsfeld himself, who he said had "the worst style of leadership I witnessed in 38 years of service."

[Ichingcarpenter]

1. He has a book out... should be interesting

Without Hesitation: The Odyssey of an American Warrior, by General Shelton with Ron Levinson and Malcolm McConnell, i General Shelton goes on the record to reveal, for the first time, the following:

High-ranking Cabinet member proposes intentionally allowing an American pilot to be killed by the Iraqis to have an excuse to retaliate and go to war.

Details of a contentious Camp David meeting among President George W. Bush and his National Security Council immediately after 9/11, where internal battle lines were drawn---and Shelton (along with Colin Powell) convinced President Bush to do the right thing.

How Rumsfeld persuaded General Tommy Franks to bypass the Joint Chiefs, leading to a badly flawed Iraq war plan that failed to anticipate the devastating after-effects of the insurgency and civil war.

Attempts to kill Usama bin Laden that were shot down by our State Department.
CIA botched high-profile terrorist snatches, leaving Shelton’s Special Operations teams to clean up their mess.


http://us.macmillan.com/BookCustomPage.aspx?isbn=9780312599058&m_type=4&m_contentid=22193#cmscontent

[thunder rising]

2. Colin Powell did the right thing? Lying to the UN and the nation.

[Ichingcarpenter]

3. I agree about Colin and his UN bullshit but

He was talking about the suggestion the Bush team wanted to kill a US airman
to provoke war. Colin and him blew the idea down.

from the book


"Hugh, I know I shouldn't even be asking you this, but what we really need in order to go in and take out Saddam is a precipitous event—something that would make us look good in the eyes of the world. Could you have one of our U-2s fly low enough — and slow enough—so as to guarantee that Saddam could shoot it down?"


The hair on the back of my neck bristled, my teeth clenched, and my fists tightened. I was so mad I was about to explode.



I looked across the table, thinking about the pilot in the U-2 and responded, "Of course we can . . ." which prompted a big smile on the official's face.

"You can?" was the excited reply.

"Why, of course we can," I countered. "Just as soon as we get your ass qualified to fly it, I will have it flown just as low and slow as you want to go."



Read more: http://u2r2h.blogspot.com/2010/10/hugh-shelton-911-false-flag-agent.html#ixzz12KBgUiM0




Anything that exposes some of the crimes and fuck ups of the Bush adm
is OK with me. He has enough rank to get on TV to promote his book hopefully
on the TV news circuit.

This guy endorsed Hillary and said he wouldn't vote for Gen Clark, his boss.


I never expect much from the Top Brass and believe the lens they use
to view reality and history is tainted.

Here's his bio

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Shelton

[jtrockville]

6. Has Shelton ever named the "High-ranking Cabinet member"?

The one who suggested we allow one of our own pilots to be KIA?

[Ichingcarpenter]

7. Well the author of that Murder Plan

Senario would be a question to ask him on his book tour.
I bet it was one of Rumsfeld's top aides.

It reaffirms the fact that the killing of US citizens or US soldiers
to achieve their goals was on the table and was not morally repugnant
to the Bush administration.

Now ... what does this say about the wars and 911?

[jtrockville]

8. Good idea to ask him during the tour. I may try.

Thanks for the insight. And yes... it does make you wonder. It seems the only moral repugnance known to the Bush administration is what they've felt from onlookers.

[Ichingcarpenter]

10. The Top aide basically said 'Can we kill Americans to get our war?"

And then get away with it.

The top aides of Rumsfeld
Paul Wolfowitz
Stephen Cambone,
Doug Feith,

All war criminals and involved with the torture memos.

[jtrockville]

11. Indeed, Den Haag is too good for this cabal.

But it would be a good start.

[Scurrilous]

4. K & R

:thumbsup:

[malaise]

5. And all the

fugging war criminals and treasonous bastards are still walking free.

[RamboLiberal]

9. Had a Screw Loose he comments on McCain

Ricks also reports that Shelton has less-than-kind words for Sen. John McCain, who Shelton writes "had a screw loose because normal people just didn't behave in that manner."

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/10/iraq-fiasco-due-bushs-lies/