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The Crime and the Cover-Up
by William Rivers Pitt
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The scandal axiom in Washington states that it is not the crime that
destroys you, but the cover-up. Today in Washington you can hear terms like
'Iraqgate' and 'Weaponsgate' bandied about, but such obtuse labels do not
provide an explanation for the profound movements that are taking place.
Clearly, there is a scandal brewing over the Iraq war and the Bush
administration claims of Iraqi weapons arsenals that led to the shooting.
Clearly, there is a cover-up taking place. Yet this instance, the crimes
that have led to the cover-up are worse by orders of magnitude than the
cover-up itself.
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The simple fact is that America went to war in Iraq because George W. Bush,
Dick Cheney, Don Rumsfeld, Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice and virtually
every other public face within this administration vowed that Iraq had vast
stockpiles of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. America went to war
because these people vowed that Iraq had direct connections to al Qaeda, and
by inference to the attacks of September 11.
"Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that
the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal
weapons ever devised," said Bush on March 17, 2003.
"We know now that Saddam has resumed his efforts to acquire nuclear
weapons," said Cheney on August 26, 2002.
"There is no doubt that Saddam Hussein has chemical weapons stocks",
said Powell to FOX News on September 8, 2002.
"Evidence from intelligence sources, secret communications, and statements
by people now in custody reveal that Saddam Hussein aids and protects
terrorists, including members of Al Qaeda," said Bush in his State of the
Union address. On September 26, 2002, Don Rumsfeld laid the groundwork for
Bush's statement by claiming that America had "bulletproof" evidence of
Iraqi involvement with al Qaeda.
These public statements, augmented by hundreds more in the same vein, stoked
fears within an already shellshocked American populace that Iraqi nuclear
weapons and anthrax would come raining out of the sky at any moment, unless
something was done. This same information was delivered in dire tones to
Congress, which voted for war on Iraq based almost exclusively on the
testimony of CIA Director George Tenet.
None of it was true. Not one ounce of chemical, biological or nuclear
weaponry has been found in Iraq in the 82 days since "hostilities ceased" on
May 1, 2003. Not one ounce of chemical, biological or nuclear weaponry has
been found in Iraq in the 124 days since the shooting in Iraq officially
started on March 19, 2003. Not one ounce of chemical, biological or nuclear
weaponry has been found in Iraq in the 230 days since the UNMOVIC weapons
inspections began in Iraq in late November of 2002. No proof whatsoever of
Iraqi connections to al Qaeda has been established.
Recently, the scandal over the missing Iraq weapons and the Bush
administration claims has focused on whether or not Iraq was trying to
procure uranium "yellow cake" from Niger in order to reconstitute a nuclear
weapons program. The last two weeks have shown decisively that the Bush
administration used manufactured evidence, which had been denounced from
virtually all corners of the American intelligence community, to justify
their war. The administration's explanation for this has changed by the hour
- They weren't told by the CIA, and then they were told but Bush and Cheney
never heard about it, but it was only sixteen words in one speech, so
everybody calm down.
No one is calming down. When the President of the United States terrifies
the American people in his constitutionally-mandated State of the Union
speech with nuclear threats based upon evidence that was universally known
to be shoddily forged garbage, no one should calm down. When he uses that
terror to make war on a nation that was no threat to America, no one should
calm down. When over 200 American soldiers and thousands of innocent Iraqi
civilians die because of this, no one should calm down. When that grisly
body count rises every single day, no one should calm down.
The Niger nuclear forgery scandal is merely an accent in this criminal
symphony. It has become all too clear that a small cadre of
ultra-conservative hawks within the administration led us to where we are
today with absolutely no oversight from the rest of the government. This
group managed the run-up to war by creating demonstrably exaggerated
interpretations of intelligence reports, and used 'insider data' from people
with many good reasons to help lie America into this war.
The Office of Special Plans, or OSP, was created by Defense Secretary
Rumsfeld specifically to second-guess and reinterpret intelligence data to
justify war in Iraq. The OSP was staffed by rank amateurs, civilians whose
ideological pedigree suited Rumsfeld and his cabal of hawks. Though this
group was on no government payroll and endured no Congressional oversight,
their information and interpretations managed to prevail over the data being
provided by the State Department and CIA. This group was able to accomplish
this incredible feat due to devoted patronage from high-ranking
ultra-conservatives within the administration, including Vice-President
Cheney.
The highest levels of the OSP were staffed by heavy-hitters like
Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas J. Feith, and William Luti, a
former Navy officer who worked for Cheney before joining the Pentagon. These
two men, along with their civilian advisors, worked according to a strategy
that they hoped would recreate Iraq into an Israeli ally, destroy a
potential threat to Persian Gulf oil trade, and wrap U.S. allies around
Iran. The State Department and CIA saw this plan as being badly flawed and
based upon profoundly questionable intelligence. The OSP responded to these
criticisms by cutting State and CIA completely out of the loop. By the time
the war came, nearly all the data used to justify the action to the American
people was coming from the OSP. The American intelligence community had been
totally usurped.
When the OSP wanted to change or exaggerate evidence of Iraqi weapons
capabilities, they sent Vice President Cheney to CIA headquarters on
unprecedented visits where he demanded "forward-leaning" interpretations of
the evidence. When Cheney was unable to go to the CIA, his chief of staff,
Lewis "Scooter" Libby, went in his place.
On three occasions, former congressman Newt Gingrich visited CIA in his
capacity as a "consultant" for ultra-conservative hawk Richard Perle and his
Defense Policy Board. According to the accounts of these visits, Gingrich
browbeat the analysts to toughen up their assessments of the dangers posed
by Hussein. He was allowed access to the CIA and the analysts because he was
a known emissary of the OSP.
The main OSP source of data on Iraqi weapons, and on the manner in which the
Iraqi people would greet their 'liberators,' was Ahmad Chalabi. Chalabi was
the head of the Iraqi National Congress, an exile group seeking since 1997
the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. Chalabi had been hand-picked by Don
Rumsfeld to be the leader of Iraq after the removal of Saddam Hussein,
despite the fact that he had been convicted in 1992 of 32 counts of bank
fraud by a Jordanian court and sentenced in absentia to 22 years in prison.
It apparently never occurred to Rumsfeld and the OSP that Chalabi had a lot
of reasons to lie. It seems they were too enamored of the data he was
providing, because that data fully justified the course of action they had
been set upon since September 11, 2001.
Chalabi was the main source behind claims that Iraq had connections to al
Qaeda. Chalabi was the main source behind claims that Iraq was stockpiling
weapons of mass destruction. Chalabi was the main source behind claims that
the Iraqi people would rise up and embrace their American invaders.
Chalabi's claims on this last matter are the main reason post-war Iraq is in
complete chaos, because Rumsfeld assumed the logistics for repairing Iraq
would be simple - The joyful Iraqis would do it for him.
According to a story entitled "Planners Faulted in Iraq Chaos" by
Knight-Ridder reporters Jonathan Landay and Warren Strobel, published on
July 13, Chalabi proved to be a dangerous wild card. Chalabi's association
with and influence over the OSP, however, continued unabated:
"The Chalabi scheme was dealt another major blow in February, a month before
the war started, when U.S. intelligence agencies monitored him conferring
with hard-line Islamic leaders in Tehran, Iran, a State Department official
said. About that time, an Iraqi Shiite militia that was based in Iran and
known as the Badr Brigade began moving into northern Iraq, setting off alarm
bells in Washington. Cheney, once a strong Chalabi backer, ordered the
Pentagon to curb its support for the exiles, the official said. Yet Chalabi
continued to receive Pentagon assistance, including backing for a 700-man
paramilitary unit. The U.S. military flew Chalabi and his men at the height
of the war from the safety of northern Iraq to an air base outside the
southern city of Nasiriyah in expectation he would soon take power."
Chalabi never took power. Instead, Paul Bremer was installed as the American
proconsul in Iraq, ostensibly with orders to bring stability and liberty to
the country. This last aspect is the final lie, the most repugnant crime,
perpetrated against the civilians of that ravaged nation.
I spoke last week with a woman named Jodie Evans, long-time peace activist
and organizer of a group called the International Occupation Watch Center,
or IOWC. The purpose of the IOWC is to stand as watchdogs in Iraq over the
corporate contracts being doled out, and to view in person what is happening
to the Iraqi people. "I think that if you were against the war, then you
need to be there," said Evans, "because there is no one in Iraq who is for
the Iraqi people, and the people know it. They know it."
Evans had just returned from Baghdad. Upon her arrival to the city, she saw
the demonstrable chaos caused by the war, and by the abject failure to
repair the country in the aftermath. "It was 120 degrees, it was dusty, the
air had a haze that makes everything gray," said Evans. "The buildings you
see on the road are bombed out. In some, you can see the fire coming up. In
some, you only see the scaffolding of contorted metal. We got across our
bridge and turned right onto the street we know so well, the one we've
stayed on, and every building was either boarded up or bombed out, including
the United Nations DP. It was all bombed in, the windows were black from the
fire.
"Immediately after we arrived," said Evans, "we hear that it is not only
worse than before the war. It is worse than during the war. People are
upset, people are angry. There were lots of stories about how the Americans
are doing this on purpose. A month after the '91 war, which was much worse
than this one, everything was back and working. Now, the people live in this
chaos they can't even imagine. People can't go outside. Women haven't left
their homes. Lots of people haven't come back from Syria or Kuwait or
wherever they fled to get away from the bombing, because life in Iraq is
unlivable. There is 65% unemployment, and even the doctors and nurses and
teachers who are going to work don't get paid, so there's no money."
Evans met a number of Americans in Iraq who are part of the 'rebuilding
process.' One such person was in the Compound, a guarded palace that is now
home to Bremer's office and staff along with a number of other groups. The
overall organization is called the Iraqi Assistance Center, or IAC. The man
Evans met was a professor of religion and political theory at a religious
college in America. He explained that his job was to collect intelligence
for Bremer.
"That professor I spoke to, the one doing intelligence for Bremer, I told
him that I had spoken to countless Iraqis and all of them felt this chaos
was happening on purpose," said Evans. "He basically said this was true,
that chaos was good, and out of chaos comes order. So what the Iraqis were
saying - that this madness was all on purpose - this intelligence guy didn't
discredit. He said, 'If you keep them hungry, they'll do anything for us.'
"I met the man who was hired to create a new civil government in Baghdad, to
bring Baghdad back to order," said Evans. "His name was Gerald Lawson. I
asked him what his background was that allowed him to get this job. He said
he was in the Atlanta Police for 30 years. I asked how this gave him the
ability to create a stable, civil government. He said he was a manager. I
asked him what he knew about Iraqis. He knew nothing, and didn't care to
know anything. He didn't know their history, their government, didn't speak
a word of Arabic and didn't care to learn. This guy doesn't work for the
American government, doesn't work for the State Department, and doesn't work
for the CPA. He works for a corporation created by ex-Generals. Their job is
to create the new Iraqi government structure.
"We met the man whose job is to make sure the hospitals have what they
need," said Evans. "He is a veterinarian. We met a British guy who showed up
at the Compound gates one day and said he was a volunteer who wanted to
help. The next day he was named the head of rubbish control in Baghdad,
which is a huge problem there because there is garbage all over the street.
I asked him what he had been doing with his time. He said he'd been hanging
out at Odai's palace playing with the lions and the cheetahs. I met the guy
in charge of designing the airport, where major jumbo jets are supposed to
land. He had never designed an airport before.
"Another man I spoke to associated with this process is named Don Munson,"
said Evans. "His job is civilian affairs policy. He said to me, 'We are
replacing one dictatorship with another.' He's there for two years, and he
works in the palace on the first floor.
"Remember," said Evans, "that the first thing America did was to fire 80,000
police officers. These guys weren't associated with the Hussein regime.
That's like connecting a cop in LA to the Bush administration. All the
people I've talked to over there, the ambassadors and others, said they
warned Bremer not to do that. The cops knew who the criminals were, and
80,000 cops are gone. So now there are these little mafias that run
neighborhoods. With no other work and no way to survive, people are going to
become criminals. The borders are wide open - we didn't even get stopped
when we came in - so everything is just flowing into Iraq.
"A friend of mine's husband is an ambassador," said Evans. "I asked him if
this was normal operating procedure. He said that, basically, no one will
work on this Iraq project who has any respect for their work or career,
because it is so clearly a farce. He said that later we will go in after
these guys have blown it, but right now with Bremer there it is a farce.
Even the press is over there are just shaking their heads and asking, can
anyone fail so badly? Can anybody make so many mistakes? You can't imagine
they can be so dumb.
"One Iraqi woman I spoke to," said Evans, "said she feels like Iraq is a
wounded animal, and everyone is coming in to take their piece of flesh."
The cover-up is one thing, the crime is another. The Bush administration,
mainly in the form of Rumsfeld's Office of Special Plans, disregarded any
and all intelligence which said Iraq was no threat. They supplanted reliable
data with a slew of lies and exaggerations that were fed daily to the
American people and Congress, and got their war. In the aftermath, nothing
is being done for the millions of Iraqi civilians who suffer daily under
their newfound 'liberty.'
American soldiers continue to die. Two more, men from the 101st Airborne,
were killed early Sunday when their convoy was attacked with
rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire. "You have these young
American soldiers sitting in turrets," said Jodie Evans, "just sitting ducks
for the rage and frustration and vengeance that is coming out."
This is a crime without peer in the annals of American history. The cover-up
currently underway must not be allowed to succeed.
When the American government gets hijacked by extremists like the men
staffing the Office of Special Plans, when intelligence data stating flatly
that Iraq presents no threat to America is disregarded or exaggerated
because the truth does not fit ideological desires, when Congress is lied
to, when the American people are lied to, when innocent civilians at the
sharp end of these lies are left to rot in the dust and the bomb craters on
purpose, when American soldiers are shot down in the street because of these
lies, no kind of cover-up can be allowed to succeed.
The time has indeed come for a reckoning. Let it begin, and let it begin
soon.
- – William Rivers Pitt
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