# And we went to War because...?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-we-went-to-war-because/223969
**Category:** Great Debates
**Created:** [January 11, 2004, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-we-went-to-war-because/223969 "2004-01-11T09:06:56Z")
**Posts on this page:** 2
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2004, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-we-went-to-war-because/223969/41 "2004-01-14T15:42:19Z")
> [@emacknight](#):
>
> Looks like once again the Anti-Bush crowd jumped the gun. According to [CNN](http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/01/13/oneill.bush/index.html) Paul O’Neill denies everying put forth in this debate:
> Is this not exactly what we said all along?
Nope, O’Neill hasn’t denied “everything put forth in this debate”
He’s sticking by the bit about Bush using the meeting to **direct the pentagon to make plans for a ground invasion of Iraq**.
Perhaps a few Americans read more into O’neill’s words than was intended, just as some immediately dismissed them as “Bush-Bashing.” There’s still a great deal of meat in O’neill’s claims, and, for the good of the country, they deserve a thorough examination.
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### Author:  [@pervert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pervert)
#### Post date: [January 14, 2004, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-we-went-to-war-because/223969/42 "2004-01-14T16:25:06Z")
> [@Squink](#):
>
> He’s sticking by the bit about Bush using the meeting to **direct the pentagon to make plans for a ground invasion of Iraq**.
Can you provide a cite for this? I don’t mean to be petty, but I did not find evidence of this in the CNN article **emacknight** linked to.
I agree that this matter needs to be looked into. But we need far more than meetings about Iraq in the early Bush administration. We need some sort of drastic _and nefarious_ change before 9/11 to prove bad intentions. To my mind it would have been criminally negligent NOT to discuss Iraq alot early on in his administration. Remember, we had troops there being shot at. We also had discussed various foriegn interventions during the campaign. I don’t think it would have been out of line for Bush to investigate alternatives in Iraq.
Did anyone find any evidence that Bush or anyone else had motives other than the national ones? That is, did anyone discover a memo to the effect, “Haliburton is not profitable enough this quarter. Let’s see if we can find them some more resources.”?
Has anyone read O’Neill’s book? Does he claim more than a few early meetings as evidence for disengenuous intentions in Iraq?
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