T. Michael Moseley

US Air Force Lieutenant General T. Michael Moseley, in "a [July 19, 2003,] briefing to military commanders, ... acknowledged that the Air Force launched offensive operations against Iraq in June 2002. Three months before President George W. Bush appeared before the United Nations to present a case for 'disarming' Iraq, five months before the adoption of UN Resolution 1441 threatening 'serious consequences' if Iraq did not cooperate with weapons inspectors, and a full nine months before the war was officially announced, the Bush administration had already ordered combat operations to begin.

"In the midst of closed-door congressional inquiries and media speculation over whether the Bush administration went to war on the basis of 'manipulated' or 'faulty' intelligence, the response to Moseley's statements has been a deafening silence. Apart from news reports of Moseley's briefing in the weekend Washington Post and New York Times, nothing has been said about what amounts to an admission that the Bush administration lied to the American people for months about its intentions and operations in Iraq.

"Even as US planes were systematically destroying Iraqi air defenses and communications grids in preparation for a land war, under cover of patrolling the so-called 'no fly' zone in the south of the country, Bush was repeatedly insisting that he had made no decision on invading Iraq and was 'hoping for peace.' Moseley's briefing exposes the entire effort to secure United Nations backing and resume weapons inspections as nothing more than a cynical charade, behind which Washington carried on an air war to facilitate the rapid introduction of ground troops once war was publicly proclaimed.

"According to Moseley, the Air Force received its orders from the White House to begin the preparations for a war on Iraq in late 2001--following the September 11, 2001 attacks."

Source: James Conachy, "Military review reveals more government lies: US launched air war against Iraq in 2002," wsws.org, July 23, 2003.

SourceWatch Resources

 * Bush administration lies that led to war
 * Operation Iraqi Freedom: Military and Political Dissent