Bush Wanted War With Iraq

This article is from 2006 and I've been meaning to write about it for awhile now. I don't think enough people really know about some of this stuff.

Our wonderful President was determined to go to war with Iraq, no matter what the inspectors found.

But behind closed doors, the president was certain that war was inevitable. During a private two-hour meeting in the Oval Office on Jan. 31, 2003, he made clear to Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain that he was determined to invade Iraq without the second resolution, or even if international arms inspectors failed to find unconventional weapons, said a confidential memo about the meeting written by Mr. Blair's top foreign policy adviser and reviewed by The New York Times.

Neither Bush nor Tony Blair believed that building a post-Saddam would be very difficult.

The memo indicates the two leaders envisioned a quick victory and a transition to a new Iraqi government that would be complicated, but manageable. Mr. Bush predicted that it was "unlikely there would be internecine warfare between the different religious and ethnic groups." Mr. Blair agreed with that assessment.

Bush even talked about ways to provoke Saddam into a conflict in order to start a war.

The memo also shows that the president and the prime minister acknowledged that no unconventional weapons had been found inside Iraq. Faced with the possibility of not finding any before the planned invasion, Mr. Bush talked about several ways to provoke a confrontation, including a proposal to paint a United States surveillance plane in the colors of the United Nations in hopes of drawing fire, or assassinating Mr. Hussein.

Emphasis mine. I find it appalling that our President was exploring options that included provoking another nation into starting a war. This is completely unacceptable. It is painfully obvious that Bush was going to get his war with Iraq no matter what. He did not care about WMDs. He did not care about terrorism. Bush cared about getting his war.

So, let's see. Our President is a war junkie. He openly condones torture. He wants broad, unchecked executive power including the ability to declare anyone at anytime an "enemy combatant" thereby depriving them of all rights. He wants a domestic surveillance program that includes warrentless wiretapping.

How can he still have supporters after all of this crap?