40th in continuing blog series on the administration campaign to invade Iraq. Summer, 2002, plans continue behind the scenes, with the public mostly not included. The planning intensifies, leading into August.

Late July, 2002:

July 20, 2002 – ABCNews.com reports that as much as 90 percent of Iraq’s actual oil exports are going to U.S. Gulf Coast refiners:

“Oil industry sources tell ABC News that the U.S. companies most heavily involved at present are Chevron, Exxon-Mobil, Bayoil and Koch Petroleum, which use it in their refineries in Louisiana and Texas.

          The U.S. refiners largely obtain their crude oil from Russian firms, or middlemen working through Russian firms.”

July 22, 2002 – The Department of Energy produces an intelligence report on Iraq WMD, a Daily Intelligence Highlight titled Nuclear Reconstitution Efforts Underway? Like almost all prior intelligence reports on the Niger uranium story, it includes serious caveats, including the statement that there is “no information indicating that any of the uranium shipments arrived in Iraq.”

(Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Report, 48)

July 22, 2002 – The ‘Project for the New American Century’ issues a “Memorandum to: Opinion Leaders,” highlighting two articles then appearing. One is “the lead story in the current issue of the Weekly Standard [neoconservative magazine edited by William Kristol],” titled “The Coming War with Saddam.”

This memorandum and the accompanying articles launch in earnest the wider public campaign by the rightwing ‘noise machine’ to get a war going with Iraq. Conservative commentators including George Will and Charles Krauthammer, in print and on television, leap on the bandwagon immediately, as do radio personalities including Rush Limbaugh and Bill O’Reilly, see later.

July 23, 2002 – A meeting at Downing Street in London is held among top officials of Britain’s government including Prime Minister Tony Blair, to discuss Iraq. The meeting produces the famous “Downing Street memo,” minutes of the meeting revealed publicly in May 2005. The Chair of Britain’s Joint Intelligence Committee, Sir Richard Dearlove, reports on his recent trip to Washington. The notes read:

 
“C reported on his recent talks in Washington. There was a perceptible shift in attitude. Military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy. The NSC had no patience with the UN route, and no enthusiasm for publishing material on the Iraqi regime’s record. There was little discussion in Washington of the aftermath after military action.”

 
In other words, whatever the emphasis on ‘disarming’ or on ‘the diplomatic route’ being produced for public consumption in Washington, emphasis behind the scenes is focused where it has been all along – on war with Iraq.

July 25, 2002 – A memo from the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy (Douglas Feith), headed “Iraq and al-Qaida: Making the Case,” states, “the following information clearly makes the case for an Intelligence Finding -- that Iraq has been complicit in supporting al-Qaida terrorist activities.”

By the time of this memo, both the CIA and the DIA have already debunked the theory of a mature, productive operating relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda. However, they have to keep debunking it, while other offices in the administration press on with the claim anyway.

July 30, 2002 – Bush issues another letter to Congress, a “Presidential Letter on Iraq,” again of course in the absence of a crisis:

 
“Text of a Letter from the President to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President of the Senate

 
July 30, 2002

Dear Mr. Speaker: (Mr. President:)

Section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1622(d)) provides for the automatic termination of a national emergency unless, prior to the anniversary date of its declaration, the President publishes in the Federal Register and transmits to the Congress a notice stating that the emergency is to continue in effect beyond the anniversary date. In accordance with this provision, I have sent the enclosed notice, stating that the Iraq emergency is to continue in effect beyond August 2, 2002, to the Federal Register for publication. The most recent notice continuing this emergency was published in the Federal Register on August 1, 2001, (66 Fed Reg. 40105).

       The crisis between the United States and Iraq that led to the declaration of a national emergency on August 2, 1990, has not been resolved. The Government of Iraq continues to engage in activities inimical to stability in the Middle East and hostile to U.S. interests. Such Iraqi actions pose a continuing unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States. For these reasons, I have determined that it is necessary to continue the national emergency declared with respect to Iraq and to maintain in force the broad authorities necessary to apply economic pressure on the Government of Iraq.

Sincerely,      GEORGE W. BUSH”

Increasingly, there are news reports in some daily papers including the New York Times and the Washington Post about war plans.

Same day – Bush authorizes the transfer of $700 million from the Afghanistan war to Iraq war preparations.

July 31, 2002 – At a Cabinet meeting, Bush says,

 
“The stated mission is regime change. But all this talk from level four people . . . [they] are talking about things they know nothing about. Our intent is serious. There are no war plans on my desk. I believe there is casus belli and that the doctrine of preemption applies. Will not do anything militarily unless confident we can succeed. Success is removal of Saddam.”

(Woodward, Plan of Attack, 137)