Primary Documents

A short list of the most important primary documents relating to the origins of the Iraq War shows that the idea of intervention in Iraq and plans for the invasion were formulated before the present administration took power, and years before the events of 9/11/01.

In 1992, Paul Wolfowitz, then-under secretary of defense for policy, supervised the drafting of a paper entitled "Defense Policy Guidance" A classified document, it was intended for circulation only among military brass. Wolfowitz objected to what he considered the premature ending of the 1991 Iraq War, and outlined plans for military intervention in Iraq as an action necessary to assure "access to vital raw material, primarily Persian Gulf oil" and to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and threats from terrorism.

The contents of the paper were leaked to the New York Times and Washington Post, and caused so much controversy that the official version had to be re-written by then-Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney.

You can read the synopsis of this paper provided by the PBS documentary program "Frontline" at their site.

In 1996 Richard Perle led a group which drafted a study prescribing the U.S.'s future course of action not just in Iraq, but throughout the middle east. It offered the opinion that Iraq could be conquered and converted into a democracy, and that Israel could achieve peace through unconditional victory over the Palestinians. It's eight pages on pdf, but worth reading in its entirety (you'll need Adobe Reader). http://www.why-war.com/files/read.php?id=120

Possibly the most important of the Iraq-related prewar documents is the report entitled "Rebuilding America's Defenses," issued by the influential neocon think tank, Project for the New American Century, chaired by William Kristol. Participating in the drafting of this statement were many now involved in the present administration -- Elliot Abrams, Rumsfeld, Bolton, Perle, and Wolfowitz among them.

A crucial portion of this paper reads: "The U.S. has for decades sought to play a more permanent role in the Gulf regional security. 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."

"Rebuilding America's Defenses" calls for a permanent Gulf military presence even "should Saddam pass from the scene" as "Iran may well prove as large a threat."

This document runs to 90 pages in pdf format, but an excellent synopsis and analysis is available at the website "Information Clearing House.

Finally, there is the famous Downing Street Memo, which is short, entertaining, and well worth reading in its entirety. It's also available atInformation Clearing House.

Taken all together, these documents reveal a comprehensive pattern of deception and duplicity in the run up to the war. The real reasons for the Iraq invasion were carefully concealed from the public, although knowledge of them is easily available to anyone willing to do a little digging. At the same time, a litany of fake justifications for the war was deliberately cooked up and fed to a gullible electorate, still in shock from the events of 9/11.

The result of this misbegotten set of policies is now the subject of our daily headlines.