Yeah Tom, a report says it alll and of course, there is no slanting of events to suit agendas.

Looking behind the report, It should not go unnoticed that the same material was handled by the president's (then) press secretary, Scott McClellan. The charges in his book may sharply contrast with the report cited. And yet, attacks of the President and his staff on Scott McClellan have been largely restricted to laments about his lack of loyalty rather than challenging the truth of his charges that Bush and company had planned the invasion of Iraq long before 9-11. And the report you so kindly furnished doesn't consider that a point for examination?

The reason the administration hasn't attacked the allegations McClellan made is quite simple, McClellan's charges are correct, right on the money. Long before the attack on the twin towers, Bush and company had been working on what they called "regime change" in Iraq, forming an organization called "The Project for the New American Century" (PNAC) in 1997. Among the organizers were Dick Cheney, Lewis Libby, Donald Rumsfeld,Paul Wolfowitz, John Bolton and Richard Perle, all were given high offices with the election of George W. Bush in 2000. They produced an interesting document, a manifesto outlining their plan for neocon world dominance called "Rebuilding America's Defenses" an 80 page document which was available on a web site on the internet (until canceled when Mc Clellan's book was released.) I will bet with Tom's high degree of proficiency at things internet, he could recapture that tome.

PNAC called for imposing an American Suzerainty over the entire middle east to be imposed by American military prominence, power, and technological superiority and would serve to extend American global interests. The visionary portion of the plan characterized potential military incursions as "constabulary missions". And thus a "Pax Americana" would be developed to establish world security and clear the channel for the ship of American global business according to the plan.

Ending Saddam's regime was seen as a necessary first step. The document was a must read. Nothing short of a plan for world dominance, it was morphed into Bush's National Security Strategy of 2002 and was declarative of the administration's new definition of "preemptive engagement"- a cutsie way of explaining raw naked aggression to expand our sigular version of democracy.

Other supporters of PNAC included Republican party leader, Bruce Jackson, William Kristol of the Weekly Standardand and Jeb Bush, former Governor of Florida.

Even before the identity of the 9-11 attackers was known, Cheney and Wolfowitz were calling for naming Iraq as the culprit while Bush grounded all U.S. civilian aircraft except for a special charter to allow his Saudi friends to avoid what might have been a potential harms way for them.

From that point the drumbeat intensified, and resulted in the "the Joint Resolution to Authorize the use of United States Armed Forces against Iraq" drafted in the White House and released through the office of the press secretary on October 2, 2002.

Doesn't it somewhat amuse you when you see the weakness of the challenges to the truth of McClellan's charges? All the hooplaw seems to limit the administration's criticism to McClellan "ratting out the gang."

Curious that the ethic of the White House is likened to a street gang isn't it?

Publius