[Excerpts from Chalmers Johnson, The
Sorrows of Empire: How the Americans Lost Their Country,
Metropolitan Books, coming in late 2003.]
In the hours immediately following the September 11, 2001 attacks on
the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Secretary of Defense Donald
Rumsfeld asked for plans to be drawn up for an American assault on
Iraq. The following day, in a cabinet meeting at the White House,
Rumsfeld again insisted that Iraq should be "a principal target of
the first round in the war against terrorism." The president
allegedly replied that "public opinion has to be prepared before a
move against Iraq is possible," and instead chose Afghanistan as a
much softer target.
These statements and their timing, are noteworthy because the United
States had not even determined that the suicide bombers came from
Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network and it has never published any
evidence that al-Qaeda had any connection with Iraq. In fact, the
2001 edition of the U.S. Department of State's annual report on
Patterns of Global Terrorism does not list any acts of global
terrorism linked to the government of Iraq. . . .
Condoleezza Rice called together members of the National Security
Council and asked them "to think about 'how do you capitalize on
these opportunities' to fundamentally change American doctrine, and
the shape of the world, in the wake of September 11th." She said, "I
really think this period is analogous to 1945 to 1947," when fear
and paranoia led the United States into its Cold War with the USSR.
Still, the Bush administration could not just go to war with Iraq
without tying it in some way to the 9/11 attacks. So it first
launched an easy war against Afghanistan. There was at least a
visible connection between Osama bin Laden and the Taliban regime,
even though the United States contributed more to Osama's
development as a terrorist than Afghanistan ever did. . . .
[Mr. Johnson is president of the Japan Policy Research Institute, a
tax-exempt nonprofit educational and research organization located
in California, and the author of Blowback:
The Costs and Consequences of American Empire.]
["On Sept. 17, 2001, six days after the attacks on the World Trade
Center and the Pentagon, President Bush signed a 21/2-page document
marked "TOP SECRET" that outlined the plan for going to war in
Afghanistan as part of a global campaign against terrorism.
Almost as a footnote, the document also directed the Pentagon to
begin planning military options for an invasion of Iraq, senior
administration officials said."--Glenn Kessler, "U.S. Decision On Iraq Has Puzzling Past," Washington
Post, January 12, 2003]
For background, read:
September 11 Remains a Mystery
A Clash Between Justice and Greed
Deadly Deception, Pretexts for War
