Since so many are in the "Iraq Revisionist" mode lately, I thought I'd post this VERY informative Timeline.
Hopefully, it might put some helpful "side-bars" around all the "what we knew then" questions ...
Lie by Lie: A Timeline of How We Got Into Iraq
Mushroom clouds, duct tape, Judy Miller, Curveball. Recalling how Americans were sold a bogus case for invasion.
by Jonathan Stein and Tim Dickinson, September/October 2006 Issue
[...]1/26/98 Project for a New American Century (PNAC) -- founded by Cheney, Scooter Libby, Donald Rumsfeld, Jeb Bush, Paul Wolfowitz, and other top neocons -- demands President Clinton undertake the "removal of Saddam Hussein's regime."
[...]
Nov 2000 Future Chief Justice John Roberts flies to Florida to advise Jeb Bush during recount.
12/12/00 Supreme Court hands presidency to George W. Bush.
Early 2001 Enron CEO Ken Lay named to Bush Energy Department transition team. Jack Abramoff appointed to Interior Department transition team.
1/30/01 Saddam's removal is top item of Bush's inaugural national security meeting. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill later recalls, "It was all about finding a way to do it. The president saying, 'Go find me a way to do this.'" [Date the public knew: 1/10/04]
2/11/01 "Iraq is probably not a nuclear threat at the present time."—Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld tells Fox News' Tony Snow
2/14/01 Dick Cheney's energy task force begins secret meetings with oil company executives. [Date the public knew: 4/16/01]
2/16/01 Bush: "To send a clear signal to Saddam," US and UK bomb targets near Baghdad.
2/24/01 Saddam "has not developed any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction."—Secretary of State Colin Powell
2/26/01 Future Iraq Ambassador L. Paul Bremer III says: "The new administration seems to be paying no attention to the problem of terrorism." [Date the public knew: 4/29/04]
3/5/01 Pentagon produces document titled "Foreign Suitors for Iraqi Oilfield Contracts" for Cheney's task force. Includes a map of areas for potential exploration. [Date the public knew: 7/17/03]
4/10/01 Lone CIA analyst known only as "Joe" tells top Bush brass that aluminum tubes bought by Iraq can only be for nuclear centrifuges. [Date the public knew: 8/10/03]
[...]
8/10/01 Major air raid on Iraq.
8/17/01 Memo to CIA from Energy Department experts eviscerates "Joe's" theory that aluminum tubes purchased by Iraq are for nuclear centrifuges. Memo given to National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, who later claims tubes are clear evidence of Iraqi nuke program. [Date the public knew: 5/1/04]
9/11/01 Al Qaeda attacks. Minutes taken by a Rumsfeld aide five hours later: "Best info fast. Judge whether good enough [to] hit SH [Saddam Hussein] @ same time. Not only UBL [Usama bin Laden]." [Date the public knew: 9/4/02]
9/12/01 According to counterterror czar Richard Clarke, "[Bush] told us, 'I want you, as soon as you can, to go back over everything, everything. See if Saddam did this.'" Told evidence against Al Qaeda overwhelming, Bush asks for "any shred" Saddam was involved. [Date the public knew: 3/22/04]
[...]
Say it ain't so "Joe" ... Where is good ole "Aluminum Joe" anyways, these days?
Perhaps they put him charge of divvying up this map? ... before it "spoils"
