www.drudgereport.com/flash9.htm
From the very beginning, there was a conviction that Saddam Hussein was a bad person and that he needed to go, he tells Stahl. For me, the notion of pre-emption, that the United States has the unilateral right to do whatever we decide to do is a really huge leap, says ONeill. ONeill, fired by the White House for his disagreement on tax cuts, is the main source for an upcoming book, The Price of Loyalty, authored by Ron Suskind. There are memos, Suskind tells Stahl, One of them marked secret says Plan for Post-Saddam Iraq. A Pentagon document, says Suskind, titled Foreign Suitors For Iraqi Oilfield Contracts, outlines areas of oil exploration.
In the book, ONeill is quoted as saying he was surprised that no one in a National Security Council meeting questioned why Iraq should be invaded. The president saying Go find me a way to do this, says ONeill in the book. Suskind also writes about a White House meeting in which he says the president seems to be wavering about going forward with his second round of tax cuts. Havent we already given money to rich people, Suskind says the president uttered, according to a nearly verbatim transcript of an Economic Team meeting he says he obtained from someone at the meeting, Shouldnt we be giving money to the middle? ONeill, who was asked to resign because of his opposition to the tax cut, says he doesnt think his tell-all account in this book will be attacked by his former employers as sour grapes. I will be really disappointed if the White House reacts that way, he tells Stahl. I cant imagine that I am going to be attacked for telling the truth.
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