Conspiract Theory Fact/Fiction

[jackdale]

Originally Posted by tdw

Pretty well nails it Jack. Seems obvious that the Bush admin used 9/11 as an excuse to invade Iraq, it was simply to good an opportunity to pass up, much like the Lusitania in 1915.


Good site btw. I have to figure out how to download those so I can watch over the weekend when I don't have a web connection. (meaning onboard).

btw .. and a tadge off topic I admit, but do you know of Ian Morris ? I've just ordered one of his books "Why the West Rules-for Now: the Patterns of History and What They Reveal About the Future". I saw him interviewed during the recent Melbourne writers fair. Sounds like an interesting chap.

I do not know him, but checked him out on Wikipedia. The premise that physical geography is a huge factor in development has been around for a while. I remember examining that view in my human geography course as an undergrad.

For an interesting take on US history let me recommend Ronald Wright "What is America?" The role of religion is discussed quite well.

[tdw]

Originally Posted by jackdale

I do not know him, but checked him out on Wikipedia. The premise that physical geography is a huge factor in development has been around for a while. I remember examining that view in my human geography course as an undergrad.

For an interesting take on US history let me recommend Ronald Wright "What is America?" The role of religion is discussed quite well.

Thanks, I'll check it out. What about this ?

The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers: Economic Change and Military Conflict from 1500 to 2000
Paul M Kennedy

[bljones]

Perhaps one of the best explanations for the liberation of Iraq I have read is "Curveball"
Amazon.com: Curveball: Spies, Lies, and the Con Man Who Caused a War (9781400065837): Bob Drogin: Books

"In 1999, an Iraqi refugee, soon code-named Curveball, told German intelligence agents of his work on an ongoing Iraqi program that produced biological weapons in mobile laboratories. His claims electrified the CIA, which had little good intelligence about Saddam Hussein's regime and was fixated on the threat of Iraqi WMDs, which later became a centerpiece in the Bush administration's case for invading Iraq. It was only after American occupation forces failed to find any mobile germ-warfare labs—or other WMDs—that prewar warnings about Curveball's heavy drinking and mental instability, and the nagging gaps and contradictions in his story, were taken seriously. In this engrossing account, Los Angeles Times correspondent Drogin paints an intimate and revealing portrait of the workings and dysfunctions of the intelligence community. Hobbled by internal and external turf battles and hypnotized by pet theories, the CIA—including director George Tenet, whose reputation suffers another black eye here—ignored skeptics, the author contends, and fell in love with a dubious source who told the agency and the White House what they wanted to hear. Instead of connecting the dots, Drogin argues, the CIA and its allies made up the dots. "


Yep, sometimes it really is that simple, and that mundane.

[jackdale]

Or

Further, the process of transformation,
even if it brings revolutionary change, is
likely to be a long one, absent some
catastrophic and catalyzing event – like a
new Pearl Harbor.

http://www.newamericancentury.org/Re...asDefenses.pdf

REBUILDING
AMERICA’S
DEFENSES
Strategy, Forces and Resources
For a New Century
A Report of
The Project for the New American Century
September 2000

Did they get their wish?

Our aim is to remind Americans of these lessons and to draw their consequences for today. Here are four consequences:

• we need to increase defense spending significantly if we are to carry out our global
responsibilities today and modernize our armed forces for the future;

• we need to strengthen our ties to democratic allies and to challenge regimes hostile to our interests and values;

• we need to promote the cause of political and economic freedom abroad;

• we need to accept responsibility for America's unique role in preserving and extending an international order friendly to our security, our prosperity, and our principles.

http://www.newamericancentury.org/st...principles.htm (June 3, 1997)

Check out the signatories.

[tdw]

Crikey .... you realise this could give some substance to the loony asset's claims ?

Originally Posted by bljones

Perhaps one of the best explanations for the liberation of Iraq I have read is "Curveball"
Amazon.com: Curveball: Spies, Lies, and the Con Man Who Caused a War (9781400065837): Bob Drogin: Books

"In 1999, an Iraqi refugee, soon code-named Curveball, told German intelligence agents of his work on an ongoing Iraqi program that produced biological weapons in mobile laboratories. His claims electrified the CIA, which had little good intelligence about Saddam Hussein's regime and was fixated on the threat of Iraqi WMDs, which later became a centerpiece in the Bush administration's case for invading Iraq. It was only after American occupation forces failed to find any mobile germ-warfare labs—or other WMDs—that prewar warnings about Curveball's heavy drinking and mental instability, and the nagging gaps and contradictions in his story, were taken seriously. In this engrossing account, Los Angeles Times correspondent Drogin paints an intimate and revealing portrait of the workings and dysfunctions of the intelligence community. Hobbled by internal and external turf battles and hypnotized by pet theories, the CIA—including director George Tenet, whose reputation suffers another black eye here—ignored skeptics, the author contends, and fell in love with a dubious source who told the agency and the White House what they wanted to hear. Instead of connecting the dots, Drogin argues, the CIA and its allies made up the dots. "


Yep, sometimes it really is that simple, and that mundane.