"The reason you guys are here is because of 9/11," Panetta told approximately 150 soldiers at the Camp Victory base in Baghdad. "The U.S. got attacked and 3,000 human beings got killed because of Al Qaeda.""We've been fighting as a result of that," he explained.
The Pentagon chief's line of reasoning echoes that of the former Bush administration, which initially justified the 2003 invastion of Iraq by linking the former Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussien, to the 9/11 attacks.
Those justifications have since been dismissed by President Obama, the 9/11 commission and several Democrats.
Panetta's spokesman, Doug Wilson, immediately corrected the mistake, adding that the defense secretary is "a plain-spoken secretary."
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The chatter of bases in Iraq for all eternity is back in vogue.
ReplyDeleteThe P/P team of Patreus and Panetta will take all of this to a new level just before the 2012 elections.
But, wait, wait.
We are suppose to be out of Iraq by the end of THIS year.
They will have to find higher justification.
A A/Q/ Iran connection could do it.
Higher chaos [mini-civil-war] could do it.
Beware of false flags.
I recall in the days of GWB that they were building the biggest base for US military personnel anywhere in the world. I don't know if they finished it or if it was just a scam for 'contractors' but it would square with a permanent presence.
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