By Sasha Alex Lessin, Ph.D. (Anthropology, UCLA)
HOW I WRITE THIS
Where evidence exists, I state facts.
Where records conflict, I name the dispute.
Where certainty fails, I state my intuition or inference, not fact.
I refuse to confuse outrage with proof—yet I refuse silence when power kills.
EVENT SEQUENCE
1993 ── Clinton bombed Iraq in retaliation for an alleged Iraqi plot to assassinate President Bush, Senior, Clinton’s predecessor.
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1998 ── Clinton bombed Iraq again for failing to allow inspections after the Americans defeated Iraq for invading Kuwait and mandated inspections.
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2001 ── The Twin Towers collapsed, supposedly hit by planes flown by agents of al-Qaeda, but, according to doubters, by a Cheney-orchestrated mining of the Towers’ foundation as well as a third nearby building that, on its 25th floor, CIA offices.
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2001 ── America invaded Afghanistan for the alleged coordination of the Twin Towers attack.
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2002 ── Cheney and Baby Bush framed Iraq as a threat, lying that Iraq’s ruler, Saddam Hussein, threatened the U.S. with weapons of mass destruction and the means to strike the U.S. with these non-existent weapons. Bush drummed up support for an invasion of Iraq to shift attention from the unsuccessful war the U.S. was waging in Afghanistan.
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2003 ── U.S. Ambassador Powell confirmed Cheney’s and Bush’s lies to the United Nations. Powell said Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and rockets that could reach the U.S. with them.-
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2003+ ─ The U.S. invaded and occupied Iraq, where they faced opposition by Iraqis.
CLINTON BOMBED IRAQ — AND NOTHING ENDED
What is documented: In December 1998, President Clinton ordered Operation Desert Fox, a four-day U.S.–UK bombing campaign against Iraq. The administration framed the strikes as punishment for Iraq’s obstruction of UN weapons inspections.
The bombing destroyed Iraq’s infrastructure and weakened Iraqi defenses. It did not remove Saddam Hussein. It did not stabilize the region.
My inference: That campaign normalized permanent coercion against Iraq. It trained Washington to treat Iraq as a standing target rather than a sovereign nation.
I imagine an Iraqi parent thinking: They never left. They only paused.
Baghdad, 1998: cruise missiles overhead, civilians felt fear and disbelief.
CHENEY BUILT POWER BEFORE HE USED IT
What is documented:
Dick Cheney spent decades consolidating executive authority—inside Congress, the Pentagon, and later the Vice Presidency. After 9/11, he pushed expanded war powers, secrecy, and intelligence bypasses.
What I infer that Cheney did not “respond” to a crisis. He waited for one. When it came, he advanced doctrines he already favored: preemption, privatization of war, and insulation from oversight.
I picture a staffer realizing: “The Vice President doesn’t argue policy. He engineers outcomes.”
WAR AS BUSINESS: CONTRACTORS FOLLOWED THE BOMBS
Halliburton and its subsidiaries received massive no-bid contracts in Iraq. Private military companies—especially Blackwater—expanded dramatically. Blackwater operated as an armed private contractor in Iraq. I infer that the Baby Bush war against Hussein created a profit ecosystem that rewarded chaos, not resolution. Each extension of conflict generated new invoices.
I imagine a soldier on foot, searching for improvised explosive devices as Cheney’s men pass him, saying: “Every mile we drive makes someone rich.”
2001: FROM AFGHANISTAN TO IRAQ: THE PIVOT THAT ABANDONED A WAR
Less than seven hours after the North and South Towers of the World Trade Center collapsed at 5.20 pm on September 11, 2001, a nearby building, Building 7, despite not being struck by an airplane, also crumbled to the ground. Engineers speculated that it, like the other collapsed buildings, had been mined by Alcohol and Drug Dept. operatives. Rumors had it that Building 7 housed gold reserves that they removed most of the gold before its collapse.
I infer that strategic neglect replaced strategic necessity. Soldiers paid the price. I imagine a sergeant in Afghanistan muttering: “We chased ghosts here while the real plan moved to Iraq.”
COLIN POWELL: FROM TRUSTED GENERAL TO UN LIAR
What is documented: On February 5, 2003, Secretary of State Colin Powell presented claims to the UN Security Council alleging Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. No stockpiles ever appeared. Powell later called that speech a “blot” on his record. He knew the evidence lacked solidity, tried to narrow claims, but still delivered the lies. He chose obedience over conscience. That choice killed Iraqis. It killed Americans.
INVASION: CIVILIANS DIE, PRISONERS TORTURED, SOLDIERS BROKEN
What is documented: Massive Iraqi civilian casualties, American GIs tortured Iraqi suspects at the Abu Ghraib Prison, and U.S. troops died from improvised explosive devices, suffered amputations, committed suicide, and, to this day, experience post-traumatic stress disorder.
I imagine a GI saying, “They called it liberation. I call it what haunts me.”
LOSS OF RESTRAINT
The Iraq War shattered restraints on U.S. power—normalizing surveillance, torture rhetoric, and endless war. I think that when leaders abandon law abroad, they corrode it at home, and I imagine a future citizen asking: “When did emergency become normal?”
ABOUT 9/11 AND “FALSE FLAG” CLAIMS
Fact: Official investigations attribute 9/11 to al-Qaeda. No public evidence proves U.S. orchestration.
My intuition: I suspect Cheney exploited 9/11 ruthlessly. I cannot prove he orchestrated it.
CONCLUSION: THIS WAS A CHOICE
The Iraq War did not happen by accident. It followed decisions, incentives, obedience, and silence.
People resisted. Soldiers doubted. Some officials spoke out. Not enough.
I write this to remember who paid, who profited, and who must never again escape scrutiny.
#IraqWar #DickCheney #ColinPowell #WeaponsOfMassDestruction #Halliburton #Blackwater #AbuGhraib #WarCrimes #EndEndlessWar
