Over at War and Piece, Laura Rozen points to a new "bombshell" from Larry Wilkerson. Larry is the former Chief of Staff to former Secretary of State Colin Powell. He has levelled another damaging charge in a week where we have been discussing torture and the fixing of intel - lies that took us to war. Only today, as we remember and honor Veterans of previous wars and as well those in the current Iraq debacle, Bush cannot recall the several rationales he gave us for his BushCheney war.
Wilkerson, in a speech on November 7, is reported to have "told the audience of military officers and international lawyers gathered for a conference on international humanitarian law" that "a White House memo outlining the need for hundreds of thousands of troops for the Iraq invasion was kept from the president."
more after fold
Reporting on the speech
the Forward, in its online edition has this excerpt: [Wilkerson} "said that the National Security Council had prepared a pre-war memo recommending that hundreds of thousands of troops and other security personnel were needed. "I don't know if the president saw it."
[snip
"In response to a follow up question after his speech, Wilkerson said he believed that then-national security advisor Condolezza Rice or her deputy, Stephen Hadley, had blocked the memo, but he acknowledged that he had no clear evidence."
"In July 2003, USA Today reported the existence of the NSC memo, which examined the level of troops in peacekeeping operations concluded that some 500,000 troops would be needed to be deployed to Iraq. USA Today raised doubts as to whether the president saw the memo. However Wilkerson's assertion seemed to take the matter a step further, suggesting that aides kept the president in the dark."
Read the rest of the piece; what Wilkerson had to say on the memo,The USA Today NSC memo, why he felt the memo he alludes to,[it] was blocked and how Cheney and DOD "really pushed the envelope on permitting harsh interrogations and treatment of prisoners."
http://www.forward.com/...