Bush's War (PBS) Analasys - Essay Example

Cheney advocated the use of controversial interrogation techniques to obtain information that would link Saddam Hussein to the 9/11 attacks. In the documentary, Cheney and Rumsfeld supported a pentagon (military) led alternative that led to the decision to invade Iraq. Cheney was also involved in securing controversial secret legal opinions from the Justice Department that would grant President Bush unrestricted broad authority to wage 'war' without the consent of the U.S congress. Cheney also supported the use of 'enhanced combat and interrogation techniques' against captured combatants.

President Bush's fixation on invading Iraq was borne out of his distrust of Saddam Hussein. Bush stated in the documentary that Saddam was "an evil man who gassed his own people" In reference to Saddam Hussein, Bush declared after the 9/11 attacks, that his administration would hunt down the Islamic fundamentalists and "those who harbour them." Bush believed that Saddam Hussein was providing support for Al-Qaeda. The intelligence information that was used as a predicate to the invasion was manipulated in order to justify the war.

This invasion 'policy' was hatched and promoted chiefly by Cheney and Rumsfeld although there was a lack of substantial evidence that linked Saddam to Al-Qaeda. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director, George Tenet did not initially support the Iraq invasion on account of the lack of credible intelligence evidence available. Instead of relying and heeding to CIA intelligence reports, Cheney and Rumsfeld formed a parallel and secretive intelligence unit in the Pentagon to analyse evidence that would hitherto link Saddam Hussein to Al Qaeda (Chapter 12).

Cheney also pressured CIA analysts who were preparing a National Intelligence Estimate, to include language that would support the invasion policy. The CIA analysts have since reported that Cheney and his staff wanted the report to indicate that Saddam had or was seeking to acquire Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD). This attempts led the administration to use "highly dubious" and un-corroborated evidence that stated that Saddam Hussein had attempted to purchase 'yellow cake' Uranium (a key component for producing a nuclear weapon) from Niger (Chapter 12).

Why was the press unable to bring this story to light earlier Although some sections of the press were critical of the plans, President Bush had a 90% popularity rate. The national press were therefore weary and feared a public backlash if they did not seem to be supporting the President in war time. How would you assess Rumsfeld's role in this issue Donald Rumsfeld was the one of the Architects of the invasion of Iraq. Rumsfeld first succeeded in taking the lead role in the 'war on terror' from the CIA in Afghanistan and subsequently in the Iraq invasion plans.

He wanted to be the solely in charge, "100% responsible" and determined to go to war with Saddam at all cost. He continued to claim that Saddam Hussein had WMD (Chapter 13). Rumsfeld also withheld critical information form the White House and undermined both the State Department and the CIA all in a bid to ensure that the invasion took