THE ORIGINAL LIE BY FREDO

THE PRESIDENT: Actually, I was hoping to solve the Iraqi issue diplomatically. That's why I went to the United Nations and worked with the United Nations Security Council, which unanimously passed a resolution that said disclose, disarm or face serious consequences. That was the message, the clear message to Saddam Hussein. He chose the course. (7/12/2007)

THE TRUTH: Pres. Fredo had no intention of settling this diplomatically. As Paul O'Neill and Bob Woodward have informed us, he had determined that Saddam was THE major threat to the U.S. before he was even sworn in and his first two National Security Council meetings dealt with Iraq. Warren P. Strobel and John Walcott of McClatchy reported on 2/13/2002 that Bush has decided to overthrow Saddam.


Daniel Eisenberg ("We're taking him out", TIME, New York: May 13, 2002.Vol.159, Iss. 19; pg. 36, 3 pgs)
reported that Bush had decided by the middle of March, 2002:

TWO MONTHS AGO, A group of Republican and Democratic Senators went to the White House to meet with Condoleezza Rice, the President's National Security Adviser. Bush was not scheduled to attend but poked his head in anyway-and soon turned the discussion to Iraq. ... He showed little interest in debating what to do about Saddam. Instead, he became notably animated, according to one person in the room, used a vulgar epithet to refer to Saddam and concluded with four words that left no one in doubt about Bush's intentions: "We're taking him out."

Dick Cheney carried the same message to Capitol Hill in late March. The Vice President dropped by a Senate Republican policy lunch soon after his 10-day tour of the Middle East-the one meant to drum up support for a U.S. military strike against Iraq. ... Before he spoke, he said no one should repeat what he said, and Senators and staff members promptly put down their pens and pencils. Then he gave them some surprising news. The question was no longer if the U.S. would attack Iraq, he said. The only question was when.

Glenn Kessler of the WaPo (U.S. Decision On Iraq Has Puzzling Past; Opponents of War Wonder When, How Policy Was Set; [FINAL Edition] Glenn Kessler. The Washington Post. Washington, D.C.: Jan 12, 2003. pg. A.01 ) wrote that

Then, in April [2002], Bush approached Rice. It was time to figure out "what we are doing about Iraq," he told her, setting in motion a series of meetings by the principals and their deputies. "I made up my mind that Saddam needs to go," Bush hinted to a British reporter at the time. "That's about all I'm willing to share with you."


In July [2002], the State Department's director of policy planning, Richard N. Haass, held a regular meeting with Rice and asked whether they should talk about the pros and cons of confronting Iraq. Don't bother, Rice replied: The president has made a decision.

The Downing Street Memos reveal that on July 23, 2002,

C reported on his recent talks in Washington. There was a perceptible shift in attitude. Military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy. The NSC had no patience with the UN route, and no enthusiasm for publishing material on the Iraqi regime's record.