Joint Chiefs of Staff “History” Brief of the Iraq War Gets it Dead Wrong. A recently declassified Joint Chiefs of Staff Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) History Brief gets it dead wrong.
According to the JCS, the United States military did not begin planning for the 2003 invasion of Iraq until 9 July 2002, less than two months before President George W. Bush “approv[ed] overthrow of Saddam Hussein” on 29 August 2002. PART III: Shaping the Debate. , by John Prados - For nearly a year before the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the British government of Prime Minister Tony Blair collaborated closely with the George W. Bush administration to produce a far starker picture of the threat from Saddam Hussein and his weapons of mass destruction (WMD) than was justified by intelligence at the time, according to British and American government documents posted today by the National Security Archive. With the aim of strengthening the political case for going to war, both governments regularly coordinated their assessments, the records show, occasionally downplaying and even eliminating points of disagreement over the available intelligence.
PART I: The U.S. Prepares for Conflict, 2001. PART II: Was There Even a Decision?