> What's Bush's interest in protecting the Saudis? Perhaps not so much protecting the Saudis, as protecting the established pretext for the administration's re

> What's Bush's interest in protecting the Saudis? Perhaps not so much protecting the Saudis, as protecting the established pretext for the administration's response? For instance, it has been reported that within mere hours of the first plane hitting, high-level officials were specifically seeking ways to blame it on Iraq, without regard to whether that was a relevant course of action [1]. Additionally, senior officials have stated that they believe Bush intended on invading Iraq at the time he took office, or at least well ahead of 9/11 [2][3]. And it's clear that protecting the public story was important: The Bush administration outrageously persecuted those who attempted to move the public discourse in directions that contradicted the official line, for instance [4] which was nothing but retribution for pointing out that the administration lied (i.e.: already knew their claims about uranium and Niger had been specifically investigated and debunked). [1] http://www.cbsnews.com/news/plans-for-iraq-attack-began-on-9-11/ http://www.cbsnews.com/news/plans-for-iraq-attack-began-on-9... Rumsfeld was "telling his aides to start thinking about striking Iraq, even though there was no evidence linking Saddam Hussein to the attacks" five hours after an American Airlines jet slammed into the Pentagon. ... [N]otes that had been taken at the time by a Rumsfeld aide ... quote the defense chief asking for the "best info fast" to "judge whether good enough to hit SH (Saddam Hussein) at the same time, not only UBL" (Usama bin Laden). The administration should "go massive...sweep it all up, things related and not". [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_invasion_of_Iraq http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_invasion_of_Iraq Former chief counter-terrorism adviser on the National Security Council Richard A. Clarke believes Bush took office with a predetermined plan to invade Iraq. [3] http://www.cbsnews.com/news/bush-sought-way-to-invade-iraq/ http://www.cbsnews.com/news/bush-sought-way-to-invade-iraq/ And what happened at President Bush's very first National Security Council meeting is one of O'Neill's most startling revelations. "From the very beginning, there was a conviction, that Saddam Hussein was a bad person and that he needed to go," says O'Neill, who adds that going after Saddam was topic "A" 10 days after the inauguration - eight months before Sept. 11. [4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plame_affair http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plame_affair