Replies to post #25671 on Tornado Alley (PROG)

[easymoney101]

On executions, beheadings, and other propaganda operations

By Larry Chin
Online Journal Associate Editor

embedded links@

http://www.onlinejournal.com/Special_Reports/112004Chin/112004chin.html
November 20, 2004—The pattern has been consistent and obvious. Every news report or scandal that has been detrimental to the Bush/Anglo-American war agenda has been followed, within hours, with shocking executions (real and staged) that are attributed to "terrorist insurgents," despite questionable circumstances, non-verifiable evidence and unreliable sources, such as "unnamed" intelligence and military officials.

The parties responsible for these acts have not and likely will not be identified, thanks in large part to deliberate US/Pentagon blackouts of reporting from war zones, and disinformation-laden and Bush-controlled corporate media.

What is clear, regardless of the identities of the perpetrators, is that the results have exclusively benefited the US/Bush administration war machine, while completely undermining the political and public relations objectives of anti-US/anti-occupation opposition movements and groups. The methods used in the kidnapping and murder of Margaret Hassan, Nick Berg and others neatly fit the profile of classic western intelligence and counterinsurgency operations.

Margaret Hassan

Reports of the genocidal mass murder, atrocities and war crimes now being committed by US forces in Fallujah (also see dispatches by Dahr Jamail from Iraq) have been "countered" by a video of the apparent execution of Margaret Hassan, a CARE relief official who was beloved and respected by Iraqis and non-Iraqis alike. This act, blamed on insurgents, has prompted outrage among Iraqis against rebel fighters.

But was the Hassan killing part of a British intelligence operation? An account by a Jordanian journalist:

"The British have tried to insure against any potential backlash from the general public and its own Labour MP's (in the event things go badly wrong) by instructing its agents on the ground inside Iraq to kidnap Margaret Hassan, the Care International charity worker.

"The recent communiqué from the Mujaahideen has exposed the British insurance policy and has denied any JTJ involvement in the kidnapping. The kidnapping will send the message to the British public that the Iraqi resistance is comprised of monsters and serial murderers—and there can be no response other than wiping them from the face of the earth—thereby prolonging the redeployment of the British troops in the region near Baghdad."

Indeed, the kidnapping and execution of Hassan make no sense, except as an intelligence operation by US, British or US-allied operatives:

"But why would the resistance kidnap somebody who has provided humanitarian assistance to the people of Iraq for 25 years? Is it possible the Iraqi resistance wants to deny the Iraqi people humanitarian assistance? Of course not. In America, the corporate media answers the above question every day—the Iraqi resistance is fanatical, murderous, nothing more than a loose confederation of terrorists, criminals, Islamic madmen, demented sadists who blow up car bombs in crowded market squares and kill women and children, their own neighbors. However, there is another possible explanation: the kidnapping of Margaret Hassan is part of a counterinsurgency operation devised to make the resistance look bad and thus turn world opinion against it."

For over 20 years, Hassan herself was one of the most powerful voices on the humanitarian crisis in Iraq. And recently, she was a critic of the occupation. In a previous videotape, Hassan pleaded for the British to get out of Iraq. She was a public relations liability.

Toretta and Pari Kidnappings

In September 2004, two young Italian humanitarian aid workers, Simona Toretta and Simona Pari, were kidnapped under suspicious circumstances. This was blamed on insurgents and/or terrorists connected to Zarqawi.

According to an investigation by the UK Guardian, Iraqi insurgents were not behind the kidnapping of the two Italian aid workers:

"The Guardian said the kidnapping of Simona Torretta and Simona Pari has the mark of an undercover foreign operation in a bid to discredit the unabated Iraqi resistance against US occupation forces.

"The mass-circulation newspaper adds more suspicion on foreign involvement in the operation as it was carried out only few meters from the heavily patrolled Green Zone with no interference from Iraqi police or US military.

"The Guardian maintains that the weapons used in the operation were more sophisticated than those usually used by the Iraqi resistance as the kidnappers used AK-47s, shotguns and pistols with silencers and stun guns, while the Iraqi resistance fighters always use the rusty Kalashnikovs.

"Most striking, according to the British daily, the kidnappers wore Iraqi National Guard uniforms and identified themselves as working for [Iraqi Prime Minister] Iyad Allawi."

Nick Berg Execution

In the spring of 2004, Nick Berg was "executed" by US or US-allied intelligence operatives to divert attention from the torture scandals at Abu Ghraib.

There is also ample evidence that the videotaped execution of Nicholas Berg in the spring of 2004 was a complete fabrication, based on a detailed analysis by La Voz de Aztlan. Despite this, and other debunkings, the Berg beheading remains a lurid image that prompts "anti-terrorist" hatred.

Daniel Pearl

The killing of journalist Daniel Pearl was similarly twisted to benefit the "war on terrorism" propaganda, and to ignite fury against alleged al-Qaeda terrorists involved in the 9/11 attacks.

Just as Margaret Hassan was a public relations problem that needed to be nipped in the bud, Pearl was a nuisance. He had been pursuing links between terrorism, terrorist groups and intelligence agencies, and was going after Pakistan's ISI (a virtual CIA branch), shortly before he was murdered.

The Mushrooming Post-9/11 Nightmare

It is clear that most, if not all, of the conveniently-timed kidnappings and executions, false terror alerts, Osama Bin Laden videos, "al-Qaeda" arrests, constant Zarqawi drumbeat (also see here)—have been staged and exploited for Anglo-American war propaganda, timed in order to 1) distract from the truth of unilateral Anglo-American aggression, 2) turn world opinion against those resisting US-led war and occupation, and3) maintain the fear, shock and hate-based myth of "terrorism" and "the fanatical outside enemy."

At the same time, what cannot be ignored is that violent outrage on the part of the victims of US-led aggression will spiral out of control—if it has not already. As US-led aggression has continued to escalate, it has driven its victims to increasingly desperate acts of resistance and self-preservation. By design.

As Mike Ruppert writes in Crossing the Rubicon: "Even if there weren't [terrorists] before 9/11 (and there were), the US has gone out of its way to create animosity against this country that is in full flower all over the globe." From the "war on terrorism" to the bombing, invasion and occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq. From the massacre at Mazar-I-Sharif to the torture cells of Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib. Today in Iraq, American soldiers are killing with fanatical bloodlust—-grotesquely demonstrated by the daily slaughter in Fallujah, the mosque murders, and the earlier incidents such as the "mercy killing" of innocent Iraqis unloading a garbage truck.

In this nightmarish world of endless and expanding war, and continuous cycles of provocation and response, it becomes difficult, if not impossible, to distinguish the brutality of criminal aggressors from acts of resistance to this aggression. Just as Israel and Palestine have been locked into unending cycles of unpredictable and uncontrollable violence for decades, the entire world, lit by the 9/11 "war on terrorism" powder keg, is set for the same.

This war, and the propaganda that fuels it, must be stopped.

Larry Chin is a freelance journalist and an Online Journal Associate Editor.





The views expressed herein are the writers' own and do not necessarily reflect those of Online Journal.
Email [e-mail]
Copyright © 1998-2004 Online Journal™. All rights reserved.

You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content.

[easymoney101]

The deep politics of regime removal in Iraq: Overt conquest, covert operations
Part Three: The US war lobby and the disciples of NSC-68
By Larry Chin
Online Journal Contributing Editor

EMBEDDED LINKS@
http://www.onlinejournal.com/Special_Reports/Chin111402/chin111402.html
November 7, 2002—The roots of the George W. Bush administration's policy for Iraq "regime change" can be traced to strategies formulated since the early 1990s by a small network of inveterate Cold Warriors linked by philosophical lineage and war-intelligence policy collaborations.

This tightly-knit cabal stretches across the current and previous White Houses, the State Department, the CIA, the National Security Council, the boards of neo-conservative think tanks and the boards of transnational corporations (including Washington-linked energy and war-technology companies). Virtually all of the players are members of elite planning bodies, such as the Council on Foreign Relations. Many of them are indicted criminals—five individuals were direct participants in the Iran-Contra operation.

All have, over the course of their intertwined careers, advocated imperialist policies involving 1) pre-emptive wars, 2) the conquest of Iraq and Iran, and the breakup of Saudi Arabia, 3) hard-line support of Israel, Ariel Sharon and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), and 5) the encirclement and containment of Russia and China.

Tracking the Iraq Regime Change Network: The Gang's All Here

1. 1992 Pentagon Defense Planning Guidance. As noted by Joe Taglieri (From the Wilderness 10/1/02), this was one of the first official regime removal plans, prepared for then-Defense Secretary Dick Cheney by his two assistants:

Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz
Lewis Libby
2. The Open Letter of 1998. In February 1998, 40 "prominent Americans" a signed an open letter to President Clinton, which formed the basis of the Iraqi Liberation Act of 1998.

This letter calling for an insurrection, and recognition of the (CIA-backed) Iraqi National Congress as the official government of Iraq, was spearheaded by Ahmed Chalabi of the INC. Signers of the letter were:

Wolfowitz
Chair of the Defense Policy Board Richard Perle
VP Dick Cheney
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld
Former CIA Director James Woolsey
Defense Undersecretary Doug Feith
Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Frank Gaffney
Deputy Secretary of State and Iran-Contra participant Richard Armitage
Former CIA operative and Iran-Contra participant Duane "Dewey" Clarridge
NSC official, former Secretary of State and Iran-Contra participant Elliott Abrams
Former Defense Secretary and Iran-Contra participant Caspar Weinberger
Former Defense Secretary and Carlyle Group chairman Frank Carlucci
Zalmay Khalilzad, current US envoy to Afghanistan, former UNOCAL consultant and RAND Corporation official
Former National Security Adviser and Iran-Contra participant Robert McFarlane
3. Iraq Liberation Act of 1998. The act itself was promoted in Congress by Woolsey, Clarridge, and now-Deputy National Security Advisor for Counter-terrorism Wayne Downing. The act (a piece of bombastic anti-Saddam propaganda full of historical falsehoods) passed Congress and was signed by Clinton, with scant attention from the public at large. Its major sponsors:

Wolfowitz
Cheney
Rumsfeld
Feith
Woolsey
Clarridge
Downing
Carlucci
Armitage
Newt Gingrich
Senator Joseph Lieberman
Senator John McCain
Fast-forwarding to the present, we find the same network driving Bush administration policy, from within the Pentagon as well as from the outside.

4. 1998-Bush II foreign policy team selected. In the summer of 1998, in meetings arranged by former President George H.W. Bush in Kennebunkport, Maine, and headed by Condoleeza Rice, the George W. Bush foreign policy team—the "Vulcans"—is chosen. "If the brain trust reflects who the governor would put in office if elected president, his administration would be to the right not only of his father's but also of Ronald Reagan's," reported Robert Novak to the Washington Post. Among group's leading members we find:

Perle
Wolfowitz
5. Defense Policy Board. This "civilian" advisory board makes Pentagon policy "recommendations" to the Defense Department (Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz and Feith).

Perle (chair)
Woolsey
Gaffney
Eliot Cohen, chairman of the PNAC
Henry Kissinger
Former CIA Director James Schlesinger
Gingrich
6. Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). This Johns Hopkins University think tank is well known for churning out policies based on US aggression. Associated with SAIS are:

Perle
Wolfowitz
Woolsey
Zbigniew Brezezinksi
Gaffney
Cohen
Thomas Donnelly
7. The Project for a New American Century (PNAC). This think tank published a plan for toppling Iraq in 2000 based on the Wolfowitz-Cheney-Libby 1992 Defense Planning Guidance.

Wolfowitz
Cohen (chair)
Cheney
Rumsfeld
Gaffney
Donnelly
Abrams
Jeb Bush
8. Center for Security Policy (CSP).
Gaffney (chair)
Perle
Woolsey
Feith (former chair)
9. Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). On the board of this think tank is a cross-section of the most hawkish members of the Iraq war lobby, along with more "diplomacy-oriented" former officials:

Former National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft (chair)
Cheney
Woolsey
Kissinger
Schlesinger
Ray Lee Hunt (Hunt Oil, Texas)
10. Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board.
Scowcroft (chair)
Former CIA Director John Deutch
Hunt
11. US-Azerbaijan Chamber of Commerce. As documented by Professor Michel Chossudovsky in War and Globalisation, the GUUAM (Georgia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Moldava) alliance formed by NATO in 1999 sits at the hub of Caspian oil and gas wealth. Central to the GUUAM is the US client-state of Azerbaijan. Its Chamber of Commerce reads like a 9/11/Iraq War who's who:

Wolfowitz
Perle
Cheney
Armitage
Brezezinski
Kissinger
Schlesinger
Scowcroft
Former Secretary of State James Baker
Where It All Began: Nitze and NSC-68

Most if not all leaders of the Iraq war lobby are disciples, protégés and students of proto-hawk Paul H. Nitze and the Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). Nitze, a former Dillon, Read investment banker (whose company floated loans for the Third Reich) and member of the Council on Foreign Relations, founded the SAIS in 1944. Nitze advised five US presidents and held high-level cabinet positions in every presidential administration (except Jimmy Carter's) until his retirement in 1989.

The 1950 NSC Memorandum 68, written by Nitze (for then-Secretary of State Dean Acheson) was the policy basis of the Cold War. Every successive US administration has implemented hard-line policies that can be directly traced to NSC-68, which calls for the destruction of the Soviet Union and unrivaled US military power. According to former CIA agent Philip Agee, NSC-68 was the remilitarization plan that led to the establishment of a permanent war economy and an eternal "national security" apparatus.

The memo also asserted for the first time, in the name of national security, pre-emptive US claims on scarce economic and social resources anywhere in the world.

NSC-68 specifically stated that "Soviet domination of the potential power of Eurasia, whether achieved by armed aggression or by political and subversive means, would be strategically and politically unacceptable to the United States."

The 9/11 War itself is the realization of the "Eurasian" imperative of NSC-68. Zbigniew Brzezinski, a Nitze protégé and SAIS board member, has long been obsessed with "Eurasia." His "Clash of Civilizations" geostrategy is spelled out in the book "The Grand Chessboard"—a virtual map of the current conflict.

The Perle-Wolfowitz Cabal

Two other Nitze disciples, Paul Wolfowitz and Richard Perle, are arguably the key drivers of the Bush war policy. The two fanatical hawks have collaborated for more than two decades.

As revealed in an article in the New York Times (10/12/01), members of the Perle/Wolfowitz faction met for more than 19 hours on September 19–20, 2001 to "make the case" for a war against Iraq, the removal of Saddam Hussein, and the seizure of Iraqi oil, immediately after the conclusion of the war in Afghanistan. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld attended these meetings. Part of the discussion focused on manufacturing evidence connecting Saddam Hussein to the 9/11 attacks.

Before becoming Deputy Defense Secretary, Wolfowitz was the chairman and dean of the SAIS. He has been a "strategist" since 1973, and has held a number of high level defense posts and was undersecretary of defense during George H.W. Bush's administration. Since 9/11/01, Wolfowitz has pushed aggressively for unilateral US military action in Iraq, and anywhere in the world. Immediately following 9/11, Wolfowitz submitted a plan (referred by Pentagon insiders as "Operation Infinite War") that called for the bombing of Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon.

Perle earned the nickname "The Prince of Darkness" for his fanatical views, which include the use of nuclear weapons. Perle, a militant supporter of Israel, seeks to "bring the Muslim world to its knees." Perle was an assistant secretary of defense for international security during the Reagan administration, and is a fellow of the American Enterprise Institute. Perle currently sits as chairman of the powerful Defense Policy Board and advises (and many believe controls) the Bush defense team. He is privy to classified information (despite being a "civilian") and has reportedly manipulated information in order to further the policy goals of his faction.

In a (semi-friendly) interview with David Corn of The Nation (5/10/02) regarding plans for an Iraqi coup, the ruthless Perle declared that "The Army guys don't know anything," and that it would only take 40,000 troops to "take control of the north and the south, cut off Saddam's oil, make him a pauper."

James Woolsey: Iraqi Opposition Agent

Former CIA Director Woolsey is another important Nitze disciple, member of the Defense Policy Board, SAIS board member and Perle-Wolfowitz colleague. Nitze hired Woolsey for the SALT I negotiating team during the Carter years. Woolsey served Perle as general counsel of the Senate Armed Services Committee. During the Reagan-Bush era, Woolsey worked with Brent Scowcroft's strategic forces commission and on other defense assignments.

Woolsey also sits on the board of such spy-military industrial companies as DynCorp, Martin Marietta, British Aerospace Inc, Fairchild Industries. Along with a number of US elites, he is deeply involved in Central Asian oil politics and sits on the US-Azerbaijan Chamber of Commerce.

Immediately after the September 11, 2001, attacks, Woolsey went to the media to blame the operation on Saddam Hussein. Woolsey flew to London in October 2001 with officials of the Defense and State Departments to gather evidence linking Hussein to 9/11.

At a July 24, 2002, Washington symposium hosted by the Institute of World Politics, Woolsey told the audience, "We are in a world war, we are in World War Four." He also declared that it had begun on 9/11, and he called for a pre-emptive strike against Iraq—even without a "smoking gun." In his speech, Woolsey declared that Saddam's "general support of terrorism" was enough justification.

Woolsey's anti-Saddam stance is no surprise, considering that he is a partner in the law firm of Shea & Gardner. Shea & Gardner is registered as a "foreign agent" for the Iraqi National Congress.

In 1998, Woolsey defended six INC-affiliated Iraqi resistance fighters whom the Clinton administration was trying to deport back to Iraq. Woolsey eventually negotiated a deal that domiciled five of the Iraqi agents in Nebraska. Woolsey was so incensed with the Clinton administration, and the intelligence community that had "spurned" him, that he bitterly called America "a fascist country."

Woolsey's intemperate "get Iraq" views continue to be featured prominently throughout the media. Salon.com published a typical offering, in which Woolsey connected 9/11 to the 1993 World Trade Center bombings and suggested that Ramsey Youssef was an Iraqi agent (not a member of Al Qaeda).

Rumsfeld "Goes Massive"

On 9/11/01, barely five hours after American Airlines Flight 77 plowed into the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld was telling his aides to come up with plans for striking Iraq—even though there was no evidence linking Saddam Hussein to the attacks.

On 9/11, according to CBS correspondent David Martin (9/5/02), "Rumsfeld ordered the military to begin working on strike plans (against Iraq). And at 2:40 p.m., the notes quote Rumsfeld as saying he wanted 'best info fast. Judge whether good enough hit S.H.'—meaning Saddam Hussein—'at same time. Not only UBL'—the initials used to identify Osama bin Laden.

"'Go massive,' the notes quote him as saying. 'Sweep it all up. Things related and not.' Now, nearly one year later, there is still no evidence Iraq was involved in the Sept. 11 attacks. But if these notes are accurate, that didn't matter to Rumsfeld."

In an August 11, 2002, New York Times article, the sinister Rumsfeld stated with callousness, "Wouldn't it be a wonderful thing if Iraq were similar to Afghanistan, if a bad regime was thrown out, people were liberated, food could come in, borders could be opened, repression could stop, prisons could be opened? I mean, wouldn't it be fabulous?"

Rumsfeld, a long-time supporter of the Iraqi National Congress, as Middle East envoy during the Reagan presidency was also directly responsible for the arming of Saddam Hussein. Journalist Jeremy Scahill reported that "in 1984, Donald Rumsfeld was in a position to draw the world's attention to Saddam's chemical threat. He was in Baghdad as the UN concluded that chemical weapons had been used against Iran. He was armed with a fresh communication from the State Department that it had available evidence Iraq was using chemical weapons. But Rumsfeld said nothing."

Notes On Other Players

In addition to being a long-time ally of the INC and other Iraqi opposition groups, Dick Cheney exploited post-Gulf War Iraq as the CEO of Halliburton. According to the Washington Post (2/20/00), Dresser-Rand and Ingersoll-Dresser Pump, subsidiaries of Halliburton Corporation, played a dominant role in the reconstruction of Iraq's oil industry. While the United States and Britain waged almost daily air strikes against military installations in northern and southern Iraq, Halliburton was doing business with Saddam Hussein's government and helping to rebuild its battered oil industry. Halliburton is believed to have earned $1 billion by illegally exporting oil through black market channels.

Like Cheney, John Deutch has had it both ways in Iraq. As CIA Director, he oversaw some of the agency's mid to late 1990s coup and assassination attempts. But Deutch profited in post-Gulf War Iraq as a board member of Schlumberger, the second largest US oil services company (he remains on the board today). The company won at least three contracts for well-logging equipment and geological software to Iraq via a French subsidiary, Services Petroliers Schlumberger, and through Schlumberger Gulf Services of Bahrain. Deutch is well-situated. In addition to being an Institute Professor at MIT, a director of Citigroup, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Trilateral Commission and a Bilderberger, Deutch sits on the board of Raytheon. In 1999, the CIA suspended Deutch's security clearance after concluding that he had mishandled national secrets on his home computer.

Wayne Downing is the current Director of Combating Terrorism for the Homeland Security Defense Board. As reported by journalist Seymour Hersh (New Yorker, 12/20/01), Downing ran Special Forces command during the Gulf War, and was involved in a Delta Force operation that killed or wounded an estimated 180 Iraqis, with no US losses. According to Hersh, "Downing loved it."

In 1997–1998, Downing co-wrote a plan with CIA veteran Duane "Dewey" Clarridge to overthrow Saddam Hussein using Kurdish and Shi'ite fighters. Clarridge was CIA Division Chief, and chief of CIA Contra support operations from 1982–1984. Clarridge met regularly with Manuel Noriega, Jorge Morales and other narco-traffickers. He helped Oliver North establish the Ilopango air base in El Salvador as a staging point for Contra supply/CIA cocaine operations. A major Iran-Contra player, he was indicted on seven counts of perjury by Independent Counsel Lawrence Walsh. He also supplied logistics help that sent US arms to Iran. In his notorious final act as president, George H.W. Bush pardoned Clarridge, Elliott Abrams, Caspar Weinberger and Robert McFarlane—-all of whom have played active roles in recent anti-Saddam operations.

Rifts Within the War Lobby

While there is unanimous agreement within the Bush administration about an Iraq "regime change" (and strong support from Congress, including Senators Lieberman, Biden, McCain and Daschle), there have been disagreements among the hawks about how it should be done.

The militant Perle-Wolfowitz faction has butted heads with elites favoring a more "international consensus"-oriented approach (Powell, Kissinger, Scowcroft). Even Deputy Secretary of State and career covert operative Richard Armitage, a signatory to the 1998 anti-Iraq letter and a supporter of the Iraq Liberation Act, has viewed some of the Perle-Wolfowitz-Iraqi National Congress plans with suspicion.

In the most embarrassing flap to date, at a July 10, 2002, Defense Policy Board briefing, Rand analyst and Perle protégé Laurent Murawiec identified Saudi Arabia as an enemy of the United States. Many believe that Perle planned this move, which caused worldwide turmoil and angered other members of the Bush cabinet.

It remains to be seen which war faction wins out, and what manner of rampage will be unleashed.


Next: The Bush Family's Unfinished Business

Larry Chin is a freelance journalist and an Online Journal Contributing Editor.




The views expressed herein are the writers' own and do not necessarily reflect those of Online Journal.
Email [e-mail]
Copyright © 1998-2004 Online Journal™. All rights reserved.

You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content.

[easymoney101]

Ex-CIA analyst criticizes Iraq war

By Sam Kusic
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, January 26, 2005

Declaring war against Iraq was a poor idea, a former CIA political analyst told a crowd of college students and local residents Monday evening.

Stephen Pelletiere addressed an audience at the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg, telling them that the United States likely will be stuck fighting a poorly conceived war that it! can't afford long term.

Pelletiere, who holds a doctorate from the University of California at Berkeley, is the author of "America's Oil Wars." He served as the CIA's senior policy analyst on Iraq throughout the Iran-Iraq war and, in 1988, became a senior research professor at the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle. He headed a 1991 Army investigation into how the Iraqis would fight a war against the United States.

Pelletiere studied Arabic for a year in Cairo and is the author of four books on Iraq.

He said the Bush administration is corrupt in that it has put its self-aggrandizement ahead of the needs of the country. The administration also has refused to admit to its ineptitude, he said.

"Bush is tarred with both," he said.

He said there was no need to go to war with Iraq. But that the country is waging a war there owes much to the "security apparatus" created to fight the Cold War.

Once it ended, he said, the apparatus needed a new enemy to justify its existence.

"They wanted to keep the cash flowing to the military-industrial complex," he said.

Pelletiere said bureaucrats, not military leaders, are making the war decisions. As such, the war planners in the beginning decided to fight through air power. That was a mistake, he said.

"Popular guerrilla wars cannot be suppressed with air power."

The war is not about protecting national security or bringing democracy to the Iraqis, he said. It is about oil.

"The administration was lured into going to war by the prospect of appropriating Iraq's oil."

He said Bush can't be blamed solely. The press is at fault, too, as are Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton.

"These currents were moving before the Twin Towers ever happened," he said

The solution, he said, is political opposition and a stronger Democratic Party.

"We've got to get back the two-party system," he said.

Sam Kusic can be reached at [e-mail] or 724-836-6077.

http://pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/trib/westmoreland/s_296975.html