HEADLINE: O'Neill: Plan to Hit
Iraq Began Pre-9/11
A senior administration official said O'Neill's "suggestion that the administration was planning an invasion of Iraq days after taking office is laughable. Nobody listened to him when he was in office. Why should anybody now?"
The Washington Post January 11, 2004
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HEADLINE: Divided loyalties
Two INR officials, recent retiree Greg Thielmann and his former subordinate Christian Westermann, have been among the few intelligence officials publicly to attack the integrity of the Bush administration's case for war with Iraq. The former reportedly fared poorly when given an opportunity to support his charges recently before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence; Senate staffers have described Mr. Westermann's charges of politicization of intelligence to be "laughable."
The Washington Times August 12, 2003
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HEADLINE: Iraq AGREES TO U-2S; BUSH REJECTS STANCE
Iraq's concession on U-2 overflights to help UN inspection teams followed a two-day mission to Baghdad over the weekend by Blix and ElBaradei. Iraq also pledged to pass legislation next week outlawing the use of weapons of mass destruction. Bush administration officials have called such a move laughable.
The Boston Globe, February 11, 2003
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HEADLINE: US DISMISSES 'OLD EUROPE' TROOPS PLAN
WASHINGTON was last night embroiled in an increasingly bitter row with Germany over an 11th-hour proposal for United Nations troops to back inspection teams. . . .
Aides to the US defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, who has led the Bush administration's charge in dismissing the anti-war efforts by what he calls "Old Europe", said he thought the idea "laughable".
The Scotsman, February 10, 2003
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HEADLINE: Bush Administration Continues Get-Tough Policy
Now, today, an Iraqi official said that Iraqi scientists simply don't want to leave the country. They're not interested in being interviewed. And the White House today called that laughable, and said that it is unacceptable.
CNN January 24, 2003
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HEADLINE: YANKS LAUGH OFF IRAQI BEEFS; NO 'BLACKMAIL OPERATION' IN COPYING OF REPORT ON WEAPONS
The Iraqi Foreign Ministry accused the U.S. of wresting control over distribution of the nearly 12,000-page document from the UN in "an unprecedented blackmail operation" aimed at finding a pretext for war.
"That is a laughable statement and follows a disturbing pattern, where Iraq looks at the combined actions of the world as spoken and expressed and approved by the United Nations and condemns them," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said.
The Ottawa Sun December 11, 2002