The Unknown Known Page #2

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who attack the United States.

The United States government

should envision

a goal along these lines.

New regimes in Afghanistan

and another key state or two

that supports terrorism.

Syria out of Lebanon.

Dismantlement or destruction

of weapons of mass destruction

capabilities.

If the war does not

significantly change

the world's political map,

the U.S. will not

achieve its aim."

On my orders,

the United States military

has begun strikes

against Al-Qaeda

terrorist training camps

and military installations

of the Taliban regime

in Afghanistan.

In relatively short order,

a matter of weeks,

Kabul was occupied,

the Taliban was defeated

and run out of the country

in large measure,

and a lot of Al-Qaeda

were killed.

Osama Bin Laden escaped

into Pakistan eventually.

The target of the

largest manhunt in history

still eludes capture.

Cave by cave, for any sign

of Osama Bin Laden,

dead or alive.

The high probability that

Osama Bin Laden is still alive.

With Afghanistan's

porous borders,

it's possible Bin Laden

has already slipped

out of the country.

Osama gets away,

and a confusion sets in.

People began to think

that Saddam was connected

with Al-Qaeda and with 9/11.

Oh, I don't think so.

It was very clear that

the direct planning for 9/11

was done by

Osama Bin Laden's people,

Al-Qaeda,

and in Afghanistan.

I don't think

the American people

were confused about that.

In 2003,

in a Washington Post poll,

69% said they believe

it is likely

the Iraqi leader

was personally involved

in the attacks

carried out by Al-Qaeda.

I don't remember anyone

in the bush administration

saying anything like that,

nor do I recall

anyone believing that.

Mr. secretary, today

in a broadcast interview was...

Saddam Hussein said,

"there is only one truth.

Iraq has no weapons

of mass destruction whatsoever."

And he went on to say,

"I would like to tell you

directly

we have no relationship

with Al-Qaeda."

And Abraham Lincoln was short.

Would you care

to respond directly

to what Saddam Hussein

has said today?

I...

how does one respond to that?

It's just a continuous pattern.

This is a case of the local liar

coming up again

and people repeating

what he said

and forgetting to say

that he never...

almost never...

rarely tells the truth.

There are two sides to the coin.

One is,

"belief in the inevitability

of conflict

can become one

of its main causes."

That is a truth.

The other side of the coin,

which is also true, is,

"if you wish for peace,

prepare for war."

But if both were true,

well, you can use that

to justify anything.

There's a similar thing

in Rumsfelds rules

where I say,

"all generalizations are false,

including this one."

There it is.

The president did

harden his stand towards...

the United States

is on the road to war.

Administration

officials say the effort

to pressure Iraq has moved

into a final phase.

All the military pieces

should be in place

to go to war with Iraq.

On January 11, 2003,

the vice president's office

called

and requested that I come over

to meet with him

and the Saudi ambassador,

prince Bandar.

It was unusual.

I mean, I...

I wasn't often

in the vice president's office.

We sat down.

Dick proceeded to tell Bandar

that the president

was going to invade Iraq

and change the regime in Iraq.

That was the first time

that I'd heard anything

that sounded truly definitive.

What was the Saudi

ambassador's reaction to this?

He wanted reassurance

that when it was all over,

Saddam Hussein would be gone.

They needed to know

that the president was serious.

That is why, I'm sure,

the vice president said it

the way he said it.

Is it at all strange

that you would hear about it

in this way?

No.

No, I don't think so.

If the purpose of the war

is to get rid of Saddam Hussein,

why can't they just

assassinate him?

Why do you have

to invade his country?

Who's "they?"

Us.

You said, "they."

You didn't say, "we."

Well, "we."

I will rephrase it.

Why do we have to do that?

We don't assassinate

leaders of other countries.

Well, Dora Farms,

we were doing our best.

That was an act of war.

The beginning of the war,

even before it started,

George tenet came to see me

in my office at the Pentagon.

He said, "we think we know

where Saddam Hussein is."

I said, "terrific,"

and I called the White House

and said to the president,

"we're coming over."

We met in his office.

George tenet would go

from the oval office

in to a side office

and talk to the people

in the central

intelligence agency

who were talking to the agents

on the ground in Iraq.

The word came back

that somebody had identified

Saddam Hussein

as being at Dora Farms.

George tenet was convinced

that his people on the ground

were giving him

the straight dope.

They were certain he was there.

We'd put on alert aircraft.

The aircraft took off

and went to that location.

The president

went around the room asking,

"should we do this

or not?"

Everyone in the room,

as I recall,

agreed it was

sufficiently solid intelligence,

sufficient to do it.

We just were so hopeful

that by killing Saddam Hussein,

we could end the need for a war,

that in fact, by that act,

you would change the regime.

The planes went in,

and they struck the farm...

...killed some people.

They came out

with a stretcher with a body.

People there

on the ground asserted

that it was Saddam Hussein.

They think they killed him.

And it turned out, it was not.

What a wonderful

thing it would have been

if he could have been killed.

The war would have been avoided.

It's possible.

May not have been,

but it's possible.

You wonder why

they didn't respond

to all the efforts

that were made

to avoid that war.

How could they be that mixed up

in what the inevitable

next steps would be?

Why they wouldn't sit down

and have

an agonizing reappraisal,

and it come to some

logical conclusion?

I was elected to congress.

I was 30 years old.

It was during the Vietnam war

and the civil rights era.

There were big issues before us.

I would come back sometimes

knowing I didn't know

if I voted right,

that there are arguments here

and there were arguments there.

"Ugh, I hope I voted

the right way.

Why did I do what I did?"

And I'd sit down

and dictate that.

After almost every vote,

every amendment,

I would go back

with my little dictaphone.

I would dictate a note and say,

"here was the vote.

The ayes were this.

The nays were that.

Here were the amendments,

and here's what I did

and why I did it."

And then when I went

in the executive branch,

I would want to clarify

my own thinking,

so I would try to put it down

on paper and edit it,

and I'd go through

three, four, five drafts,

getting it the way

I really wanted it.

I would do it

for communications to my staff.

I wanted them to know

what I was thinking.

Did you imagine

that they would produce

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