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Bush officials: After Iraq invasion, Europeans hid Iran intel because they feared a U.S. attack.

dwurmserweb.jpgToday in an email to Fox News, David Wurmser, former top aide to Vice President Cheney, cautioned the Obama administration on its hopes that Russia is willing to get tougher on Iran regarding its nuclear program. Wurmser said that between 2003 and 2006, Russia “threatened tough action, but even somewhat delivered.” But in a twist of logic, Wurmser basically says that it was the U.S. invasion of Iraq that led to less cooperation on Iran’s nuclear program from Russia and other European countries:

But the American-led invasion of Iraq complicated the Bush administration’s efforts to persuade other countries to take aggressive action to contain Iran’s nuclear threat. [...]

“Every time in this period I landed in a European capital at [U.N. Ambassador] John Bolton’s request to discuss Iran, the first thing I got was: ‘What is your end game here; are you going to use the information to pull another Iraq? Tell us where you are going with this before we tell you how much we will admit Iran is going down the path to a bomb in the U.N.’ When I failed to give them a guarantee that we will not strike Iran, they stalled on moving ahead with acknowledging or using the evidence in public which in private they accepted.”

Bolton also indicated that the Iraq war stifled progress with Iran. “Before the Iraq war, I thought we were breaking through to [the Russians],” Bolton said today. “Since 2003, they have been very resistant to the idea that Iran was a proliferation threat.”



58 Responses to “Bush officials: After Iraq invasion, Europeans hid Iran intel because they feared a U.S. attack.”

  1. Bozo The Neocootiebug says:

    yet more proof that the disasterous policies of 43 made us LESS safe as a nation


  2. Hoodathunktick says:

    Let me see if I understand this right. Our invasion of one country undermined our invasion of another country?

    Whew, saved us from becoming Invasions-R-Us.


  3. machost says:

    But, but but, they RESPECTED us and loved us and only hated us for our freedoms. We were LIBERATORS, we want the flowers at our feet. Herr Bush MUST be vindicated!!!!


  4. Hoodathunktick says:

    Thank goodness our new President doesn’t buy into the We-Be-War idea.

    Providing he gets out of the Middle East.


  5. spearNmagicHelmet says:

  6. rmwarnick says:

    After the “Curveball” fiasco, it’s a wonder our European allies are willing to share intel at all.


  7. Hoodathunktick says:

    Our allies realized we had a fruitcake in charge.

    Friends don’t let friends start wars.


  8. Barb C. says:

    Booger and Lavar LaTrelle have yet to be heard from on this matter.


  9. Mike71654 says:

    Well Duh! Isn’t that what the Progressives have been saying for the past six years. Invading Iraq only made matters worse and further undermined the safety and security of the US.


  10. Jackie says:

    David Wurmser didn’t get the memo. Cheney has been working with Iran since 2000 as Halliburton is doing business with Iran. We also now know Iran held some of the US detainees for the Bush Administration as we now know about the Secret Prisons. Yes Iran and Syria worked well with the Bush Administration as American were told by Bush that Iran/Syria were the Axis of Evil. We were made fools of and Cheney is still laughing at how easy it was. Yes with the help of the Media and the Press it worked very well. Now the good news is the Americans now being held in Iran for spying for the US are being treated great not like the US treated those we held in Gitmo. Wonder which country is the real Axis of Evil? Iran isn’t torturing US detainees while the US tortures/rape/murders detainees.


  11. robbez_92107 says:

    Worm-ser wasn’t able to get another “yellowcake” piece of intel from our Allies after the “mobile weapons labs” and “we don’t want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud” fiasco?

    Boy, Bolton the Walrus and little Billy Kristol must have been PISSED.


  12. Gregor Samsa says:

    Well, that is as close as reichwingers will ever get to admitting Bush’s misguided policies actually made the US less safe and not more, as they have always claimed.

    If this is not Perino’s “proof” that the Bush administration alienated people around the world (put forth by one of her fellow reichwingers, no less!), nothing is.


  13. 666cicadas says:

    Let History judge!

    *History being the time after America repels an Alien invasion using the resources that were plundered under Dick Cheney’s rule.

    wtf else could it mean?


  14. tombaker says:

    I’m glad someone did something to keep the Neocon cabal in check – Lord knows the 2 branches of Government we rely on to serve that purpose were asleep at their switches.


  15. MapleStreet says:

    Translation: When Bluto hits up on Olive Oyl, Popeye doesn’t become more cooperative.


  16. dbadass says:

    O/T:
    The sun rose again this day in VT. Folks went to work under clear blue skies and a light breeze. No one was truck down by any bolts of lightening or anything. A bunch of heterosexual people got divorced and totally f ucked up their children’s mental health. Gay folks were not involved in anyway however…



  17. Pennsylvanianne says:

    Yet another confirmation that members of the Bush administration weren’t just shortsighted in not thinking of the ramifications of their actions, they were BLIND and arrogant. They felt superior to our traditional allies, such as France and Germany, and instead of listening to their cautionary messages, demonized them. Remember Freedom Fries?


  18. indi1216 says:

    it is sad that the previous administration totally bankrupt our credibility in the world platform. Lies about the WMD and BUSH’s quick action on Iraq without even verifying the validity of the truth to this matter. Further fueling that sentiment, was obviously the greed presented by Wall Street that not only suck a lot of people’s pension here in the United States, but also many around the world.


  19. dbadass says:

    Now let’s bold and underline it….


  20. Hoodathunktick says:

    Foxnewsboycott, we heard you the first 137 times.


  21. dbadass says:

    try italicizing it. Maybe the Borgens and the privacy center should be contacted…


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    new website just went up, and im sure you’ll all appreciate here at thinkprogress:

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  23. tombaker says:

    (someone thinks there are some real pigeons here, like at those righty sites, snicker, tee-hee)


  24. Max Anax junius -1 says:

    .

    Dear FOXNEWSBOYCOTT,
    Got spam?

    I saw your post yesterday, I’m sure others did too.

    You can link your website to your user name…
    … But to spam your site continually is poor taste.

    .


  25. dbadass says:

    27
    But what about the Bass-A-Matic?


  26. dbadass says:

    FOXNEWSBOYCOTT:
    I am super intersted. Wanna chat about it?


  27. Hoodathunktick says:

    From the National Enquirer…dit dit dit dah…whats the difference between a spammer and a cam girl? Or a troll?

    Your credit card!


  28. Hoodathunktick says:

    Sorry, but due to the success of the Bassomatic, we have to charge extra shipping and handling. Mostly because handling bass is icky.


  29. dbadass says:

    Hi FOXNEWSBOYCOTT
    Let’s talk more about this. You seem to be just saying the same thing. I need more specifics so I can really help make you the premier bullshit nonsensical crap imaginary site…


  30. tombaker says:

    FNB – I can’t contribute, but I can offer members of your group DEEP DISCOUNTS on my complete line of medicine and airplanes.

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  31. Whenwillthisnightmareend says:

    Let me get this straight. Do they mean to say if not for the Iraq screw up, they would have gotten Iran policy correct, that is before Europe and the rest of the world wouldn’t trust them? woulda, coulda, shoulda!


  32. Max Anax junius -1 says:

    .

    Dear FOXNEWSBOYCOTT,
    Great, you learned how to link your site to your name…
    … Now adjust the spamage of your site to advertising space on T.P.

    Maybe? Because at some point, no matter how you like your site and think it is great, it crosses into spam and will attract FLAGS, which I’m sure is not your objective.

    .


  33. Hoodathunktick says:

    Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, what’s a little shift in geography to a real warmonger?


  34. wags camponotus saundersi says:

    what is bullshit about it??????

    Spamming this site with annoying and repetative posts maybe.


  35. Max Anax junius -1 says:

    .

    Where’d the B-O-L-D-I-N-G go? :(

    .


  36. dbadass says:

    I don’t do that shit as I don’t even have tv. So this whole we thing is already bullshit. Plus you lack the crative writing skills needed to tey and look anything more than silly with this whole charade. Maybe you might start by telling me about that first day when you realized that you hated Fox News. Where you like just walking down the street when it hit you. I assume it was monumental for you ala 911/Kennedy/Challenger type shit…


  37. dbadass says:

    FOXNEWSBOYCOTT:
    You know I will make you look like a tool unless you engage in something a little more intelligent…


  38. Max Anax junius -1 says:

    .

    FOXNEWSBOYCOTT,
    I went to your site yesterday. It looks great! You’re off to a good start. Keep up the good work. But P-L-E-A-S-E adjust the spam here at T.P.

    WE GOT THE MESSAGE!!!

    You do know that you can advertise on T.P.? You might want to look into that idea instead of offending threads with continual bombardment of your site with obnoxious E-M-B-O-L-D-E-D O.T. blog-whoring…
    … That’s all.

    .


  39. pastcaring ceratopogonidae says:

    So…in a backhand kinda way it’s a good thing they screwed up in Iraq? At least they were prevented from making Iran a shambles as well…even though they did sneak across the border and conduct their clandestine ops.

    Whatever…none of it is acceptable.


  40. 5th Estate says:

    When I failed to give them a guarantee that we will not strike Iran, they stalled on moving ahead with acknowledging or using the evidence in public which in private they accepted.”

    Accepted what? What evidence? US intelligence had determined Iran had halted nuclear weapon development in 2003–but that finding was suppressed by the Bush administration.
    Wurmser was and is a proponent of preemptive war.

    But it was in 1996 that Mr Wurmser first shot to notoriety when he was one of the authors of a document entitled “Clean Break” produced for Benjamin Netanyahu, then Israel’s prime minister.

    Its authors, who also included Richard Perle, a leading light in neoconservatism, Mr Feith, and Mr Wurmser’s wife Meyrav, advocated pre-emptive strikes against Iran and Syria and the abandonment of traditional “land for peace” negotiations with Palestinians.

    Daily Telegraph Oct 5, 2007

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1565236/US-hawk-David-Wurmser-plotted-Iran-war.html

    Of course the Europeans weren’t going to give Wurmser and his boss, Joh Bolton, any intelligence on Iran–they’re past intelligence had already been characterized by Bush to justify the Iraq invasion, soso why should they trust the US on Iran intellgience? If they thought Iran was a threat they’d have been only to happy to hand over the info and let the US do the dirty work.

    But clearly they agreed (without knowing it of course) with the suppressed US intelligence estimate that Iran had no functioning nuclear weapons program. Wurmser was just looking for outside sources that he could exaggerate and thus pretend, again that the ‘evidence’ was verified and ‘independent’.


  41. dbadass says:

    FOXNEWSBOYCOTT
    Is afraid of me…


  42. dbadass says:

    FOXNEWSBOYCOTT
    Hey looking there, your lame ass has already been eradicated from upstairs…


  43. dbadass says:

    “lookie” not “looking”


  44. mary lacewing says:

    Phew, that guy was giving me a headache.


  45. mary lacewing says:

    It sounds to me as though Wurmser is trying to plant the seed that the Europeans agreed with Bolton and the other neocons, but, that they just didn’t want to play along.


  46. wiley says:

    Wasn’t the evidence that there was a nuclear program based on a smoking laptop?


  47. dbadass says:

    FOX_NEWS_BOYCOTT
    Yes I will end up owning you here too. Swing by around midnight and I will f uck with you some more…


  48. pastcaring ceratopogonidae says:

    wiley Says:

    Wasn’t the evidence that there was a nuclear program based on a smoking laptop?

    Another maneuver that turned out to be a blunder.


  49. Hoodathunktick says:

    wiley Says:
    Wasn’t the evidence that there was a nuclear program based on a smoking laptop?

    Could be, depends on what it was smoking.


  50. Ken Carman says:

    WAH! We didn’t get to invade more countries. WAH!!!!!!!!! We didn’t get to invade more countries. WAH!!!!!!!! We…


  51. dan_allnews says:

    Just a bit of advice for Wormser: if you’re going abroad, and hoping to get cooperation on something or other — never, never, never mention the name John Bolton.


  52. dbearton says:

    RepubliCons = Liars.


  53. Keith says:

    Golly, I cannot imagine why the Russians would not want the US to control Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. I guess it just proves how evil Russia is! [snark]


  54. SJU90 says:

    It certainly appears that “moving ahead” on Iran involved military action in the eyes of Wurmser and Bolton. These guys were surprised at Europe’s desire to know our full intentions, i.e. Invasion v. Bombing, etc. In Iran? I guess they felt that their sterling track record w/pre-emptive military action in Iraq gave them the benefit of the doubt in these matters.

    Interestingly, Dana Perino was just on C-Span stating that she thinks the belief that Europe mistrusted and harbored resentment for the U.S. is overblown and not grounded in fact. Again more inconsistency from this Administration. It is a job in and of itself trying to keep track of this Administration’s public untruths and mischaracterizations.


  55. common_sense101 says:

    The U.S. is the only moral agent in the world. Iran needs to be stopped, and the Europeans are too busy at dhimmitude to do what needs to be done. Soon there will be nothing left to do but bomb Iran and bring about the apocalypse the Muslims preach. There can be no diplomacy when the enemy has shown they are liars, full of hate and deceit, and completely incapable of acting in good faith. If some people like to blame Bush for the Islamic insurgency in Iraq, then Obama will be guilty of the millions of murders due to his failed Iran policy.


  56. Gimpy says:

    Boy , you can sure tell where the liberal cry babies hang out.


  57. guzide says:

    OK Pat obviously senile dementia has set in. Time to see the nice young men that will need to take care of you soon.burun estetigi rent a car arac kiralama
    sac ekimi



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