"I don't have the time to dig up more specifics right now."
Frankly, I didn't see where you did at all.
The Bush family has ties to the Saudi royal family. Let me see... Both George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush were in the oil business. Saudi Arabia is one of the largest oil producers in the world, and the country is ruled by the Saudi royal family. The chances of either Bush knowing members of the Saudi family are pretty darn good. I've been an advertising photographer for 26 years, and know a lot of people in the ad business. Coincidence?
Rising oil prices and oil company profits. Hmmm. We had Middle Eastern terrorists hit the US in September, 2001. Not long prior to that, we had record low oil prices. With things heating up in the Middle East, do ya think that oil prices might go up? They did in 1991 during the Gulf War and, given that there's more going on in the Middle East right now, it kinda makes sense that oil prices would be higher. Profits are a percentage of price.
"Despite all assurances to the contrary one of the major contributing factors to the slow economy right now involves rising oil prices." We certainly do have record oil prices. But we also have one of the best recoveries from a recession in history. Imagine how much faster the recovery will be once we see some stabilization in the Middle East and oil prices begin to fall.
"We know, without argument from anyone, that the Iraq war had been planned and decided upon before 9/11." Really? You have proof? Call the networks, because you've got a story nobody else has run, because the 9/11 commission determined that the subject of invading Iraq came up after 9/11.
"...Iraq is a natural base of operations for US..." That little snippet, admittedly taken out of your context, is what this is all about: giving the US a base (now that the Saudis are no longer hosting our bases), and establishing a pro-US government whose presence can pressure other Middle Eastern governments to stop harboring terrorists.
His former campaign director is benefitting from consulting on oil contracts? Are we talking Karen Hughes or someone else? Last I heard, Karen went back to Texas to be with her family. Again, please cite specifics.
Saddam harbored terrorists, he paid money to terrorists, and he had the capability to create weapons the terrorists would very much like to have. Were Saddam and bin Laden close buddies? No. But the terrorist network is much larger than bin Laden. And Bush never, ever said that Iraq was behind 9/11. He made the point that Iraq posed a threat to the US and US interests. He made his case on multiple points. The only point that's now remembered are the sixteen words in his speech in 2003 that Iraq had stockpiles of WMD's. He's been cleared on that by the 9/11 commission, by Blair, by Putin, by the CIA, and by a whole host of other countries who had the same intel.
I've not read anywhere that the Bush administration replaced a report on ANWAR. I'd very much appreciate a link to a story to back that up, if you have the time to provide it.
As for Cheney, he headed up Halliburton. Any interests he has in the company since he was elected are out of his control. But why would the administration hire the most qualified company in the world to handle the oil problems in Iraq post-war? Even the liberal press has admitted that no other company has the expertise to do what Halliburton can under extreme conditions. Should the administration have squandered time by getting quotes from Halliburton right on down to Billy's Fire-Fightin' Company & Spot-Free Car Wash?
And, as for Cheney holding a meeting with "undisclosed" participants, I'd like to know who was there as well. I suspect that the reason the administration won't release the names is that their opponents will use the names against them. After all, they were talking about "energy," not tree-hugging. If the NRA has a meeting to discuss hunting issues, do you think they'd invite PETA to attend?
Politics is a fascinating subject because we can take what we know and try to extrapolate that knowledge to say what we do not know. Joe Kennedy was a bootlegger and gangster. That surely explains the Kennedy assasination. Bill Clinton's father was a drunk who left his family. Must explain something about something, but I don't know what just yet.
