WASHINGTON- April 6 - In the latest issue of Vanity Fair, former British Ambassador to the United States Christopher Meyer says President Bush “made clear at a dinner” with Prime Minister Tony Blair nine days after the Sept. 11 attacks that he wanted to confront Iraq.

Meyer’s claim substantiates similar accounts by former Bush counterterrorism chief Richard Clarke and former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill. But, the White House continues to deny the charges calling them “revisionist history” and claiming Iraq was “to the side” immediately after the attacks.

The assertion is corroborated by the Washington Post, which reported that President Bush personally signed a two-and-a-half page directive on September 17^th, 2001, ordering the Pentagon to begin drawing up Iraq invasion plans. It is also corroborated by CBS News, which reported on September 4, 2002, that five hours after the 9/11 attacks, "Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was telling his aides to come up with plans for striking Iraq.”

As a result of Bush’s preoccupation with Saddam Hussein, the Administration diverted critical resources to Iraq and away from the hunt for Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. As USA Today reported, “In 2002, troops from the 5th Special Forces Group who specialize in the Middle East were pulled out of the hunt for Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan to prepare for their next assignment: Iraq.” Similarly, Sen. Bob Graham (D-FL) reported that in February of 2002 a senior military commander told him “We are moving military and intelligence personnel and resources out of Afghanistan to get ready for a future war in Iraq.”

That has left many dangerous terrorists still at large, and the UN is now reporting that the country is “in danger of reverting to a terrorist breeding ground."

 For full citations and links to the cited documents, visit: www.misleader.org.

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