ブラッドフォード大学大学院　体験記
(MA in Peace Studies, University of Bradford)

'Go find me a way to do this'

アメリカのイラクへの侵略は前もって計画されたものだと言われてはいたが、そのことが明らかにされた。
ブッシュは2001年に大統領の地位についてすぐに、「イラクを侵略するための口実を見つけろ！」と命令を出したという。

◆ Bush was demanding excuse to invade Iraq in January 2001, says ex-treasury secretary（Independent, 12 Jan, 2004)

The Bush administration started making detailed plans for the invasion of Iraq within days of coming to office, with the President himself anxious to find a pretext to overthrow Saddam Hussein, a high-ranking former cabinet member said yesterday.
The revelation is the latest in a string of potential embarrassments for the White House offered by the former treasury secretary Paul O'Neill, who has gone on the record for a new book looking at his bumpy two years at the centre of US power, The Price of Loyalty.
Mr O'Neill said invading Iraq was "topic A" at the very first meeting of President George Bush's National Security Council, 10 days after his inauguration on 20 January 2001, and continued to be an abiding theme in follow-up meetings.
"From the very first instance, it was about Iraq," said Mr O'Neill, who was a participant in all the meetings and provided voluminous minutes and other documents to the book's author, Ron Suskind. "It was all about finding a way to do it. That was the tone of it. The President saying 'Go find me a way to do this'."

記事によると、政権の中枢部はブッシュのこの政策に疑問すら抱かなかったようだ。

Mr O'Neill, who spoke to CBS's60 Minutes news programme yesterday, said he was surprised nobody at the NSC meetings asked questions such as "Why Saddam?" or "Why now?" "For me," he added, "the notion of pre-emption, that the US has the unilateral right to do whatever we decide to do, is really a huge leap."

911とかオサマビンラディンとかアルカイダはブッシュの政策推進を後押ししただけで、やっぱりもともとの原因ではないのだな。それにしても、潰すと決めたら絶対に潰すというアメリカのやり方は恐ろしすぎる。
アメリカが機嫌を損ねないように行動する国が一つでもあるとすれば、アメリカがその国をテロライズしていると言えるじゃないか。テロ支援国家という言葉があるが、その国家群が支援している国とはアメリカなのかも。まぁ、残念ながらせっかくアメリカを支援したにも関わらず、その国々は潰されてしまうのだろうけど。

c.f. ブッシュのチェックリスト

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