The Biggest Conspiracy Theory Yet

[BeFree]

Well, maybe the second biggest, anyway...

It is now well known that Iraq possessed NO WMD.

But the White house has been saying for years that Iraq did.

WTF? How could they have been so mistaken, so wrong, so stupid?

Maybe, just maybe, the whole thing was a (gasp) Conspiracy?

The B*sh administration cooked up the whole 'Iraq has WMD' deal just to make invading Iraq more palatable to the American people?

Well, it sure looks that way. Looks like the White house conspired to lead America all the while lying through their teeth.

Don't try to tell me B*sh is incapable of doing 9/11, he's done worse to tens of thousands of innocents in Iraq.

[truthbetold]

1. Hrm.

I could get into that. I've heard far more crazy ideas than that.
Jeez, if you really think about all the f'ed up things that this administration could be doing, it can make you insane.

[beyurslf]

2. I am not into conspiracies really.... BUT I thought that was the truth :)

[Ezlivin]

3. Biggest Conspiracy? Not aliens at Area 51, not a gunman on the knoll...

...but the fact that we are dangerously low on oil and are running out of sources.

The sad thing about this conspiracy theory is how well it explains Bush & Co.'s actions in Iraq.

[w4rma]

6. I think its more that the OIL COMPANIES are running low on oil

rather than America. Notice how these nutcases haven't done a single thing to help conserve oil. No, I think the folks who own the oil companies are afraid they will lose their power as oil reserves dry up. It will come to a point where they can't push the prices up any further, otherwise the government will politically *have* to go in and break them up for price gouging. And as the price of oil barrels rise, while the price of oil at the pump stays at about $2/gallon, this will, later on, cut into their profits more and more until they can no longer just sit at the pool while their money rolls in.

[BeFree]

10. Indeed, it is sad.

They simply HAD to find a way to invade.

I wonder what they would have cooked up if we all knew then what we know now.

[GreenArrow]

4. well, if you really want to make it a conspiracy

you'll have to include both major parties in a classic good cop/bad cop bait and switch scenario.

[Orangepeel]

5. didn't the UN (in general) think there were WMD b/f * was in office?

I'm not sure of the time line, but I think that many world leaders (including President Clinton) believed intelligence that Iraq still had WMD. Isn't that why weapons inspectors were in the country?

If that's correct, it speaks against the theory you are wondering about.

[BeFree]

9. I had considered that

If you remember, just before the invasion, inspectors were in Iraq, and they pleaded for just a few more weeks to finish up.

At the time, they had, obviously, not found any new evidence of WMD. So what do you think B*sh did? He went ahead and invaded before they could finish.

Yes, there were cases of WMD production found by the previous inspectors and everything was destroyed. That's why the sanctions were in place.

All the evidence pointed to the fact, as we now well know, that Iraq had no WMD.

Imagine if the inspectors had been allowed just a few more weeks, the invasion would have been resisted by far more people, eh? It may have never been allowed -- the IWR resolution may have never been voted on.

Imagine.

[Orangepeel]

12. That's certainly possible. But it's a different theory

the supposition that bush figured the weapons inspectors wouldn't find anything left so he invaded quickly isn't the same thing as the supposition in your original post, that bush cooked up the whole WMD thing in the first place.

[BeFree]

13. Same theory, just a sub-plot

In order to keep the conspiracy alive -- that Iraq had WMD, therefore had to be invaded -- B*sh had to keep the inspectors from destroying his plan, which would have been destroyed had the inspectors been given just a little more time.

If ya don't like the idea of conspiracy, think of the whole situation as "False Advertising".

We see it all the time. A product is placed before the American people with only a few facts, and the producer goes on TV exclaiming the virtues of said product.

In matters of life and death, the rules for advertising such products are very strict, ie, drugs, and what not. Penalties are severe when those rules are broken.

At the very least, it is a conspiracy to falsely advertise.

[Orangepeel]

19. IMO, the sub-plot is plausible. The main theory is not.

Many people besides and before bush believed that, at least at one time, Iraq possessed WMD. Maybe bush knew that he didn't and invaded anyway (which is bad enough), but the bush administration did not cook up the idea (which is what your original post implies, the way I read it).

[BeFree]

20. Cooking

When I say cook, I mean cook.

To cook you must first have something to which you add other things and apply heat, in this case rhetoric.

They started with the historic weaponry that Reagan sold Iraq, added the lies and obfuscation to that fact, and cooked up the idea that Iraq was an imminent threat and had to be invaded.

[Orangepeel]

22. uh, okay.

So what you meant was that the bush administration exaggerated the idea that Iraq was an imminent threat in order to rush to war?

I must have misunderstood your original post. Calling it "the biggest conspiracy theory yet" led me to believe that you were going somewhere more "X-files" than that. But, I guess what they did was a conspiracy in the same sense that, say, racketeering is a conspiracy.

[anarchy1999]

7. Oh god, where's my tinfoil, I need more. What in heavens name are

you suggesting. Honey, please go to the store, we need more tin foil and duct tape. It's getting to hot in Dallas.

[lightbulb]

8. Crossing the Rubicon:

The Decline of the American Empire at the End of the Age of Oil

This is a new book by From The Wilderness's Michael Ruppert. This could be THE book that brings the "conspiracy theory" out from the realm of tinfoil hat jokes and into serious public debate. Truth is, the motive was there, the means was there, the evidence for complicity is there. And the soundness of Ruppert's research and fact-checking is impeccable. Dark forces are at work in high places, my friends, and you don't need to be a nut to believe it.

This book was just released and is now available on Amazon.

[leftofthedial]

11. Gee, ya think?

I suppose it *might* be possible . . .

[kayell]

14. That was my thought too.

What, we're just now figuring out that the BFEE could have *gasp* lied???? Tell me it isn't so!

[BeFree]

16. We've all known they lie

But it seems some people just can't accept that there was a Conspiracy behind the lies.

Why is that? Why can't some people accept the idea that pukes conspire?

[leftofthedial]

17. EVERY decision involving more than one person is a conspiracy

2000 was a coup.

Of course it's a conspiracy.

[Javaman]

15. Conspiracy theory? They lied to start a war? That's not new...

That's been done for centuries...

[info being]

18. No shit. I thought that was common knowledge.

When I watched Powell lie to the UN (anyone listening to any independent media knew at the time that he lied)...that is, by definition, a Conspiracy Theory. These Neocons conspired to sell us a war based on lies. The mainstream media went right along with it.

[hansolsen]

21. Rumsfeld discourged reporters from getting excited about possible WMD

finds in Iraq during the early weeks of the invasion. It happened more than once, where a possible WMD find was being bandied about, and some reporter would bring it up at one of those Rummy press conferences -- he always went way out of his way to pour cold water on the story.

My ears pricked up at the time, because I was convinced from early on that there were no WMDs in Iraq (you just had to read the stories that appeared on p13). Rummy and the boys are past masters at managing expectations, and I believe they knew no WMD would be found -- thus their very early efforts to set the expectations low.