What Really Matters

The National Security Archive is in the news because they forced the issue of the U.S. sheltering of Nazi war criminals into the open, eventually leading someone to leak the full unredacted report to the New York Times. But that story doesn’t actually have much new information. We’ve known for a long time that our leadership made a decision to exploit German brainpower for the Cold War.

What people should be focused on, considering George W. Bush’s current white-washing book tour, is the National Security Archive’s work on the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq. They are doing masterful work of getting American documents declassified and using British sources to reconstruct what happened in 2002 and early 2003.

THE IRAQ WAR — PART I: The U.S. Prepares for Conflict, 2001, Documents Outline Policy Makers’ Aims for the Conflict and Postwar Rule of Iraq.
THE IRAQ WAR — PART II: Was There Even a Decision?, U.S. and British Documents Give No Indication Alternatives Were Seriously Considered.
THE IRAQ WAR — PART III: Shaping the Debate, U.S. and British Documents Show Transatlantic Propaganda Cooperation.

Matt Lauer should have read this stuff before he agreed to interview Bush in church.

Author: BooMan

Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.