Pitt blasts Iraq war as “first-degree murder”
by Becky Oberg
Truthout.org editor says Bush has lied and fear-mongered
Activist William Rivers Pitt denounced the Bush Administration in an Indianapolis speech Nov. 18, calling the Iraq campaign “a story of lies and fear-mongering.” A crowd of about 50 listened to Pitt, author and managing editor of truthout.org. Pitt’s speech was sponsored by the Indianapolis Peace and Justice Center and Veterans for Peace.
“Why are we at war?” asked William Rivers Pitt, managing editor of truthout.org. “Because a pack of right-wing extremists who should have no role in government are acting out their fantasies of imperialism on your dime.”
Pitt said more than 50 American military personnel have been killed in November alone. “Few Americans are aware of this because the Bush Administration makes it a policy to hide,” he said. For example, slain troops are sent home in what the Pentagon calls “transfer tubes.” Pitt said the CIA has been blamed unfairly for the troops’ inability to find weapons of mass destruction. The blame, Pitt said, belongs to the Office of Special Plans. The office, created by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, was created to justify a war in Iraq. Pitt said OSP staff were told to not cooperate with anyone in the intelligence community, and that Newt Gingrich and Dick Cheney pressured the CIA to find intelligence justifying the Iraq invasion. Pitt said the OSP ignored the fact that the allegations Iraq was trying to buy uranium from Niger were based on “profoundly questionable intelligence.” The CIA knew the intelligence was not credible and got a similar reference to the alleged Niger/Iraq uranium connection cut from one of Bush’s speeches in October — three months before the State of the Union address. “This administration has been caught red-handed in lies,” Pitt said. “We have of late heard a lot of new reasons for going to war. … It’s worthwhile to remember those old reasons.” On Feb. 24, 2001, Colin Powell said Saddam Hussein was contained. “The story … by all rights, should have stopped the world,” Pitt said. Pitt accused Bush of using the victims of Sept. 11 “as cover for his lies.” “They use Sept. 11 against you,” he told the crowd. “They use the bones of our dead to beat you over the head, to make you afraid.” Pitt said Bush claimed on May 1 that the Iraq war had “removed an ally of al Qaeda.” He said Bush and the administration should have known Iraq was not an ally of al Qaeda. Hussein ruthlessly persecuted Muslim fundamentalists, especially followers of the Wahabbi sect, which is practiced by Osama bin Laden. “Saddam Hussein and bin Laden have been blood enemies for years,” Pitt said. “Bin Laden has called for Hussein’s death.” Pitt said the war in Iraq is “nothing more than first-degree murder and grand theft” on the part of the administration. Pitt accused the administration of undermining national security by leaking the name of an undercover CIA operative. The woman whose name was revealed was the leader of a network dedicated to tracking regimes that would supply weapons of mass destruction to terrorists. The leak blew her cover, as well as the cover of anyone associated with her, placing them all in danger and destroying a valuable intelligence tool. “Her network is destroyed,” Pitt said. He accused the administration of retaliating against Joe Wilson, the husband of the agent, who investigated and debunked the Niger uranium story. Pitt spoke about the deep involvement of Project for the New American Century, a right-wing think tank, in Bush foreign policy. “You cannot talk about the Bush Administration without talking about PNAC,” Pitt said. PNAC wrote a report in 2000 entitled “Rebuilding America’s Defenses.” The report suggests the United States seek to play a “more permanent role in Gulf regional security.” The report reads, “While the unresolved conflict with Iraq provides the immediate justification, the need for a substantial American force presence in the Gulf transcends the issue of the regime of Saddam Hussein.” PNAC wrote on Sept. 20, 2001, “Even if evidence does not link Iraq directly to the attack, any strategy aiming at the eradication of terrorism and its sponsors must include a determined effort to remove Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq. … American military force should be used to provide a ‘safe zone’ in Iraq from which the opposition can operate. And American forces must be prepared to back up our commitment to the Iraqi opposition by all necessary means.” The September 2000 report also speaks about the “internal reformation and modernization of Islam.” Many members of PNAC are now members of the Bush Administration, including Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage and Defense Science Board Chair Richard Perle. “Why are we at war?” Pitt asked. “Because a pack of right-wing extremists who should have no role in government are acting out their fantasies of imperialism on your dime.” Pitt accused Cheney of profiting directly from the war. Halliburton, which has received many lucrative government contracts, pays Cheney $1 million a year. Pitt urged audience members to speak out. “Now is a time for patriots,” he said. “Now is the time to scoff at fear. “If we can defeat fear, we can turn the tables on these brigands, because that’s all they’ve got going for them,” Pitt said, encouraging the audience to “make this cause your heart’s beat.” “You will not stand alone,” he said. “The majority never does anything in this country. It is always an active and dynamic minority.” Pitt received a standing ovation.
