False Flags

I hate to venture down conspiracy theory lane, but the revelations regarding Ivins and the anthrax scare have really raised a red flag with me. To reiterate what Zach just posted:

The anthrax had nothing to do with Iraq; instead, a government agency was responsible for 1) sending the anthrax in the first place, framing Iraq, and 2) claiming that only the Iraqis could have done such a thing. This story, then, is much bigger than just that of a psychopathic renegade scientist committing suicide. We're bogged down in Iraq today because of the long campaign of government misinformation and fear-mongering in which the anthrax scare played a key role. Greenwald's post documents the pundits who encouraged the administration to invade Iraq based primarily on Saddam's ties to anthrax. This was a big piece in the puzzle, and to think that the threat was generated by none other than the US government? The implications are jaw-dropping.

The implications are jaw-dropping, but perhaps not entirely surprising. This administration has had a history of contemplating/executing false flag operations. I count three to date.

1. First, we have Bush's proposal to paint an American surveillance plane in U.N. colors in an attempt to draw fire from Iraq, thus starting a war.

2. Next, we have Cheney with a "dozen" ideas on how to start a war with Iran, including disguising some ships as Iranian PT boats, load them with armed U.S. soldiers disguised as Iranians, and starting a fire fight between those boats and our Navy in the Strait of Hormuz.

3. Finally, we have Suskind's recent revelations that Bush order the CIA to forge a letter linking Saddam Hussein to al-Qaeda.

Throw in the Niger yellowcake uranium forgeries, and you potentially have four. Ivins and anthrax make five.

Yes, you say, but these allegations are both denied by the administration and unproven. True, but look at where the information is coming from. Enterprising investigative journalists have such as Suskind and Hersh have had to do all of the work on these issues, because they are the only people (besides bloggers) who have been following these revelations. As Zach pointed out, the rest of the media has taken a pass on any form of comprehensive coverage.

Congress can and should thoroughly investigate what went wrong in the run-up to the Iraq war, and how a war was started on false intelligence. They have both the power and the duty to answer that question. The trouble is, both Congress and the media were negligent in the run-up to the Iraq war, and any behavior that implicates the administration in a way implicates themselves.

Someday we may know the full story. The fact that we have to ask how our country got duped into an aggressive war of choice shows how far our country has fallen.