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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Excellently written, Nick.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>The Bush administration lives in a world
full of smoke and mirrors, where snake oil is a valued commodity, the lives of
those in uniform are nothing more than cannon fodder and the civilian
population of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Iraq</st1:place></st1:country-region>
are measured in terms such as “collateral damage”.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>I have, more than likely, served more time
in the chow lines of the many mess halls I have eaten in than Bush, Cheney,
Rumsfeld, Rove, etc. etc. have served in uniform combined. Bush’s
chest-thumping policy of “Stay the Course” tactics and “You’re
either with us or you are unpatriotic” policy does not harmonize well
with the eulogies of 2,000+ casualties, not to mention those service men and
women who return from Iraq scarred and broken for countless years to come. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>What was once front-page news when
casualties were reported from Bush’s War, now amount to nothing more than
space filler on page 6.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>And the beat goes on . . .<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Take care, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on">Moscow</st1:City></st1:place>.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Pro patria,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Tom Hansen<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on"><font size=2
color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;
color:navy'>Moscow</span></font></st1:City><font size=2 color=navy
face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>, <st1:State
w:st="on">Idaho</st1:State></span></font></st1:place><font size=2 color=navy
face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=navy face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:navy'>"Patriotism is not a short and
frenzied outburst of emotion but the tranquil and steady dedication of a
lifetime." <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=navy face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:navy'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=navy face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:navy'>--Adlai E. Stevenson, Jr.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Tahoma;font-weight:bold'>From:</span></font></b><font size=2
face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>
vision2020-bounces@moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-bounces@moscow.com] <b><span
style='font-weight:bold'>On Behalf Of </span></b><st1:PersonName w:st="on">Nick
Gier</st1:PersonName><br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Sent:</span></b> Wednesday, November 30, 2005
6:00 PM<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>To:</span></b> vision2020@moscow.com<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Subject:</span></b> [Vision2020] The
Deceptions of War</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><font size=1
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:7.5pt'> </span></x-tab></font>Greetings:<br>
<br>
I've sent this to my usual column venues and wanted to share it with interested
Visionaries. <st1:PersonName w:st="on">Nick Gier</st1:PersonName><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:12.0pt;text-align:center'><b><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:bold'>THE
DECEPTIONS OF WAR:<br>
THE COOKING OF INTELLIGENCE ON <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">IRAQ</st1:place></st1:country-region></span></font></b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>President Bush and Vice-President Cheney are busy defending themselves
against the charge that they deceived the American people about the reasons for
going to war in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Iraq</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
Sorting through my thick <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Iraq</st1:place></st1:country-region>
file, Ive come up with following examples of outright deception.</span></font><font
face="WP TypographicSymbols"><span style='font-family:"WP TypographicSymbols"'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:
12.0pt;margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="WP TypographicSymbols"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"WP TypographicSymbols"'>$<x-tab> </span></font></x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab>Cheney
continued to repeat the alleged 2001 meeting between 9/11 hijacker Mohammed
Atta and an Iraqi agent in <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Prague</st1:place></st1:City>,
even though American and European intelligence agencies said the report was
false.<font face="WP TypographicSymbols"><span style='font-family:"WP TypographicSymbols"'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:
12.0pt;margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="WP TypographicSymbols"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"WP TypographicSymbols"'>$<x-tab> </span></font></x-tab>
The bipartisan 9/11 Commission reported that there was no collaborative
relationship between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda, but Bush and Cheney
blithely continued to make these charges.<font face="WP TypographicSymbols"><span
style='font-family:"WP TypographicSymbols"'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:
12.0pt;margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="WP TypographicSymbols"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"WP TypographicSymbols"'>$<x-tab> </span></font></x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab>Even
though on June 17, 2004 Defense Secretary Rumsfeld stated that Jordanian Abu
Musab al-Zarqawi was not Al Qaeda, Bush and Cheney continued to state
that he was. Zarqawi now heads the main terrorist organization in <st1:country-region
w:st="on">Iraq</st1:country-region> because of the turmoil of the <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region> invasion,
not because Saddam invited him there.<font face="WP TypographicSymbols"><span
style='font-family:"WP TypographicSymbols"'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:
12.0pt;margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="WP TypographicSymbols"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"WP TypographicSymbols"'>$<x-tab> </span></font></x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab>The
day after the 9/11 report was released Cheney claimed that Zarqawi ran [a]
poisons factory in northern Iraq out of Baghdad, but he should have known
full well that this camp was not under Saddams control, and when it was
taken by U. S. troops, captured documents revealed no connection to
Baghdad. <font face="WP TypographicSymbols"><span style='font-family:
"WP TypographicSymbols"'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:
12.0pt;margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="WP TypographicSymbols"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"WP TypographicSymbols"'>$<x-tab> </span></font></x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab>With
regard to Iraqs capacity to produce nuclear weapons, Bush, at a September
2, 2002 news conference, declared that a new report from the UNs
International Atomic Energy Agency concluded that Iraq was six months
away from building a nuclear weapon. It was later discovered that no
such report existed.<font face="WP TypographicSymbols"><span style='font-family:
"WP TypographicSymbols"'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:
12.0pt;margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="WP TypographicSymbols"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"WP TypographicSymbols"'>$<x-tab> </span></font></x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab>On
December 8, 2002, former U.S. weapons inspector David Albright appeared on
60 Minutes and stated that the aluminum tubes Saddam ordered could
not be used to enrich uranium. He concluded that Bush administration was
selectively picking information to bolster a case that the Iraqi nuclear
threat was more imminent than it is, and in essence, scare people. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Bush and Cheney sometimes defend themselves by saying that they are
privy to information that others dont have. At the same time they
declare that Congress voted for the war on the basis of the same intelligence
they had. They obviously cannot have it both ways. We now find is that
most of the information not shared was contrary to the view that Saddam was a
threat to the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region><br>
<br>
In the fall of 2002 Bush kept telling us that we wanted to avoid a war in <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Iraq</st1:place></st1:country-region>, but a
July 23, 2002 memo detailing a secret meeting of British officials demonstrates
that Bush had no desire to go to the UN, or give UN inspectors another chance
to disarm Hussein. Here are the crucial passages from this memo:
Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the
conjunction of terrorism and WMDs. But the intelligence and facts were
being fixed around the policy.<br>
<br>
There should be no question that the Bush administration did in fact cook the
intelligence on <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Iraq</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
The result has been an <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Iraq</st1:place></st1:country-region>
in far worse shape than before, the recruitment of new terrorists and
insurgents where none existed before, and the unnecessary deaths of 2,100
Americans and tens of thousands of Iraqis. <br>
<br>
Some Bush supporters have a mantra that goes something like this: Its
better to fight terrorists in <st1:City w:st="on">Baghdad</st1:City> rather
than to fight them in <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Detroit</st1:place></st1:City>.
During the Cold War millions of innocent people in the <st1:place w:st="on">Third
World</st1:place> died because both sides chose to fight in some elses
country. Our country would be much more secure if the billions spent in <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Iraq</st1:place></st1:country-region> had been
used to repair our crumbling infrastructure, protect our ports, search air
cargo, and secure our nuclear and chemical plants.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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