Pentagon Whistleblower on the Coming War with Iran

Karen Kwiatkowski, a veteran of the Pentagon with firsthand experience of the administration’s cherry picking of intelligence, reveals why Bush thinks he can win a war with Iran, why few politicians are serious about withdrawal and why “when they call Iraq a success, they mean it.”

Excerpt:

Joshua Scheer: Now, you’re talking about these political appointees and pushing us into war, why haven’t people like Paul Wolfowitz—I mean these seem to feather their own nests…

Karen Kwiatkowski: [laughs] That’s an understatement.

Joshua Scheer: Yeah, but they lead us into war—Marc Zell, Doug Feith’s partner was in bed with Chalabi and it falls apart, and it seems that these guys disappear into the woodwork. What happens?

Karen Kwiatkowski: Well, a big part of what happens is these guys have top cover. The names of the top cover are Dick Cheney and George W. Bush. These guys like what Wolfowitz has done, and here’s the other thing: while we as American citizens do not like being lied to, particularly being lied into a stupid quagmire that makes no sense, we don’t like being lied to—Congress doesn’t like being lied to. However, many in Congress, and certainly in this administration, agree—and this is Democrats and Republicans—like the idea that we have gone into Iraq.

We have built four megabases, they are complete. Most of the money we gave to Halliburton was for construction and completion of these bases. We have, probably, of the hundred and 50 or 60 thousand troops, we have in Iraq—probably 110,000 of those folks are associated with one of those four megabases, safely ensconced behind acres and acres of concrete, to operate there indefinitely, no matter what happens in Baghdad, no matter who takes over, no matter if the country splits into three pieces or stays one—no matter what happens, we have those megabases.

And there’s many in Congress, and certainly in this administration, Republican and Democrat alike, that really like that. Part of the reason I think that we went into Iraq was to reestablish a stronger foothold than we had in Saudi Arabia, but also a more economical, a more flexible—in terms of who we want to hit—If you want to hit Syria, well can you do it from Iraq? Of course you can, and now you can do it from bases that will support any type of airplane you want, any number of troops in barracks, I mean we can do things from Iraq, and this is what they wanted. Yeah, we don’t like being lied to, but quite frankly, many people in the Congress, and certainly this administration, when they call Iraq a success, they mean it and this is why.

We’re in Iraq to stay, and can we strike Iran from Iraq? Well, I don’t know if we’ll do that next week, but we can.

Isn't always what they, the Bush Administration, is NOT saying that is what is really what they are up to.