given by Al Gore in September 1992 about George HW Bush’s (aka Bush père) record and history related to the Iraq file. The site where I read about the speech, however, was one of those way-out-there, raging American political sites, so I thought it was important to confirm the existence of the speech independently. Lo and behold, Al Gore, America’s pre-eminent policy wonk, clearly delineated the Reagan/Bush and Bush/Quayle history on Iraq way back in 1992, going through their active support of Saddam point by point.

George Bush wants the American people to see him as the hero who put out a raging fire. But new evidence now shows that he is the one who set the fire. He not only struck the match, he poured gasoline on the flames. So give him credit for calling in the fire department, but understand who started the blaze.

Eve of destruction. “…this war, like Bush’s larger ‘war on terrorism,’ has no clear definition of its aims, its scope or its foes — and that such a war has no end in sight and can have no victory.” [emphasis mine] Powerful words, and wise words. That’s the intellectual and the emotional turn that I think many of us who are against this war have made. It’s not a question of whether or not we’ll win – that’s a purely military question about something that isn’t a purely military issue. Those of us against this project know that there CAN be no ‘victory’ from all of this, at least not in any meaningful sense.

UK Leader of the House’s resignation speech: “We cannot base our military strategy on the assumption that Saddam is weak and at the same time justify pre-emptive action on the claim that he is a threat.” Read the rest of the speech as well; it is simply one of the most eloquent expressions against the upcoming war that balances censure of Iraq and a protest against this particular project of war.

A Naked Bid to Redraw World Map. “Whether this war is short or long, extremely bloody or just bloody, the stark fact is that a barely elected president has made the United States the first colonizer of the 21st century, openly declaring that he plans to reorder the politics, economy and culture of the Muslim world.”