In the four years since the inspectors left intelligence reports show that Saddam Hussein has worked to rebuild his chemical and biological weapons stock, his missile delivery capability and his nuclear program. He has also given aid, comfort and sanctuary to terrorists including al Qaeda members. Hillary Clinton, 10th October 2002
In March 2003 American and British forces invaded Iraq. Iraq had some of the biggest oil fields in the world. With global oil reserves diminishing, many believe this war was an attempt to gain control over it. Crude Britannia: The Story of North Sea Oil 3/3, BBC 2009
It’s hard to conceive that it would take more forces to provide stability in post-Saddam Iraq than it would take to conduct the war itself. Paul Wolfowitz, 27th February 2003
I think all foreigners should stop interfering in the internal affairs of Iraq. Those who want to come and help are welcome. Those who come to interfere and destroy are not. Paul Wolfowitz
The notion that it will take several hundred thousand troops to provide stability in post-Saddam Iraq are widely off the mark. Paul Wolfowitz
The mistakes of the Iraq war are not only tactical and strategic, but historical. It is essentially a war of colonialism, attempted in the post-colonial age. Zbigniew Brzezinski, interview The NewsHour 11th January 2007
Scramble to carve up Iraqi’s oil reserves lies behind US diplomacy ... The Bush administration, intimately entwined with the global oil industry, is keen to pounce on Iraq’s massive oil reserves, the second biggest in the world after Saudi Arabia. The Observer
At the core of this new Iraq is the development of a democratic, accountable, and self-governing civil society respectful of human rights and freedom of expression. Coalition Provisional Authority report
I understand that they want the American public to believe that the invasion of Iraq was the response to September 11th. I think it is a lie. I believe that it is part of a Neo-Conservative agenda to assert that American hegemony is untouchable. And September 11th gave them the opportunity to put in play plans they had been considering since the first Bush administration. Jody Williams, Nobel Peace Prize winner 1997
In my opinion, treason! The cabal of Neo-Conservatives at PNAC who planned this war – Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Libby, Perle ... This cabal knew the American people would not stand for a war against Iraq unless there was, as they put it in their own documents, a New Pearl Harbor. 9/11 supplied that. Dr Robert Bowman, former Democratic contender
9/11 is related to just about everything else, particularly the war against Iraq. These two things have one aspect very much in common: they are both in my opinion Treason. Dr Robert Bowman, Institute for Space and Security Studies president
Iraq was the target because Neo-Conservatives wanted to remake the governments of the Middle East, to secure long-term US access to oil, to open the economies to American investment and to protect Israel through installation of governments friendly to the United States. David Moberg
The US secretly informed Saddam that they had nothing against him taking over the oilfields of Kuwait ... Saddam took the bait. PSTV.tv – The New American Century
The need for foreign oil has been rising dramatically for the United States over the past thirty years. ibid.
In 2003 it was the Iraqis who showed the world the remnants of their immense artistic heritage which had been stolen or destroyed by the Americans. ibid.
The most precious and rare artefacts dating back to the Sumerian civilisation were either destroyed or stolen. Entire libraries from all branches of knowledge were emptied in a matter of days. And whatever was not stolen was burnt and turned to ashes by special chemical components. It was as if someone wanted to prevent a future rebirth of the nation, by depriving the new generations from the country’s immense cultural heritage. ibid.
The Bush administration convinced Congress to approve the extraordinary printing of $20 billion in cash for the reconstruction of Iraq. Three hundred and sixty tons of $100 were physically transported to Iraq. ibid.
The only companies allowed to participate in the no-bid contracts were Halliburton and its subsidiaries which ended up getting the entire share of the pie. ibid.
All the money literally disappeared in the couple of months without a single school, hospital or bridge ever being built. ibid.
While the unresolved conflict with Iraq provides the immediate justification, the need for a substantial American presence in the Gulf transcends the issue of the regime of Saddam Hussein. Project for a New American Century report, Rebuilding America’s Defences, Strategy, Forces and Resources for a New Century
The money to be spent in a transparent manner benefiting the people of Iraq. UN Security Council Resolution 1483 (2003)
The Saudis let the US troops use their kingdom as a staging area from which to drive Saddam from Kuwait. For bin Laden the US troops massing in the desert are living proof that the United States is the great infidel, and all US allies in the Middle East are enemies of Allah. Inside 9/11: They Were Among Us
Obviously they didn’t go into Iraq for weapons of mass destruction for the simple reason that the United States provided Saddam Hussein with all his weapons of mass destruction or the precursors. So the US knew exactly what was in there. They had to pull the wool over the public’s eyes. Alan Simpson, energy consultant
I think the decision by Saddam Hussein to go for a petro-Euro was the last straw. They had to move because the economy was threatened. Alan Simpson
Was there a media conspiracy? Absolutely. Alan Simpson
There is going to be collateral damage. And if you really want to be brutal about it, better we get it done now. Rupert Murdoch
Well, Americans like most people are mostly concerned about their own country. I don’t know how many Iraqi civilians were killed. But I can assure you, the number is the absolute minimal that is possible in modern warfare. One of the stunning things about the ... coalition victory is how little damage was done to Iraqi infrastructure, and how low Iraqi civilians were. John Bolton, Under Secretary of State
The United States should conduct an immediate policy review toward Iraq ... including military. Strategic Energy Policy: Task Force Report
And where, for God’s sake, does that wretched, utterly dishonest phrase ‘coalition forces’ come from? There is no ‘coalition’ in this Iraq war. There are the Americans and the British and a few Australians. That’s it. Robert Fisk, Anglo-American Lies Exposed, 24th March 2003
Two missiles from an American jet killed them all – by my estimate, more than 20 Iraqi civilians, torn to pieces before they could be ‘liberated’ by the nation that destroyed their lives. Who dares, I ask myself, to call this ‘collateral damage’? It was an outrage, an obscenity. Robert Fisk, 27 March 2003
Sitting in Baghdad, listening to the God-awful propaganda rhetoric of the Iraqis but watching the often promiscuous American and British air attacks, I have a suspicion that what’s gone wrong has nothing to do with plans. Indeed, I suspect there is no real overall plan. Because I rather think that this war’s foundations were based not on military planning but on ideology. Robert Fisk, article 1st April 2003 ‘The Monster of Baghdad is Now the Hero of Arabia’
Yet there is one achievement we should note. The ghastly Saddam, the most revolting dictator in the Arab world, who does indeed use heinous torture and has indeed used gas, is now leading a country that is fighting the world’s only superpower and that has done so for almost two weeks without surrendering. Yes, General Tommy Franks has accomplished one ‘truly remarkable achievement’. He has turned the monster of Baghdad into the hero of the Arab world and allowed Iraqis to teach every opponent of America how to fight their enemy. ibid.
At the time, I was working for The Times. My story ran in full. Then an official of the Foreign Office lunched my editor and told him my report was ‘not helpful’. Because, of course, we supported President Saddam at the time and wanted revolutionary Iran to suffer and destroy itself. President Saddam was the good guy then. I wasn’t supposed to report his human rights abuses. And now I’m not supposed to report the slaughter of the innocent by American or RAF pilots because the British Government has changed sides. Robert Fisk, article 4th April 2003, ‘The Ministry of Mendacity Strikes Again’
It is the death of history: 2,000 year-old Sumerian cities torn apart and plundered by robbers. The very walls of the mighty Ur of the Chaldees cracking under the strain of the massive troop movements, the privatisation of looting as landlords buy up the remaining sites of ancient Mesopotamia to strip them of their artefacts and wealth. The near total destruction of Iraq’s historic past – the very cradle of human civilisation – has emerged as one of the most shameful symbols of our disastrous occupation. Robert Fisk, Independent article 2007, ‘It is the Death of History’