This just in from Reuters at the NYTimes.com newswire (posted Jan. 10, 2004 at 1:01pm EST):
Report: Bush planned Iraq Invasion Pre-Sept. 11
Former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill charges in a new book [written by fromer Wall Street Journal reporter Ron Suskind] that President Bush entered office in January 2001 intent on invading Iraq and was in search of a way to go about it.
[...]
The former treasury secretary and other White House insiders gave Suskind documents that in the first three months of 2001 revealed the Bush administration was examining military options for removing Saddam Hussein, CBS said.
"There are memos...one...marked "secret" says "Plan for Post-Saddam Iraq". [...] Another Pentagon document entitled "Foreign Suitors for Iraqi Oil Field Contracts" talks about contractors from 40 countries and which ones have interest in Iraq, Suskind says.
O'Neill was also quoted in the book as saying the president was determined to find a reason to go to war and he was suprised nobody on the National Security Council questioned why Iraq should be invaded.
[...]
White House Spokesman Scott McClellan rejected O'Neill's remarks
[snip]
No surprise there.
Are these the first high-profile chinks in the loyal Bush machine armor? Are these sour grapes by a disgruntled former employee(s)? Or both?
Recall that O'Neill was fired in December 2004 in a reshuffling of Bush's economic team. He, known as a "no-nonsense corporate executive", got the ax because he disagreed with BushCo over tax cuts.
Whatever the reason for O'Neill's accusations, BushCo cannot be too happy that they are out and tarnishing the glossy v.2004 Republican "official" campaign rollout.
Catch more on this when O'Neill talks on CBS's 60 Minutes tomorrow night.