The Energy Depthad told them the tubes couldn't be used for nuclear centrifugesMonths and years afterwards Bush and Cheney lied on national TV about this.
We found out after the war began that Bush came to office wanting to invade Iraq again and 'finish the job his father started'Bush arrived at the White House with an agenda already set an in placeHe used 9/11, as he used every crisis and emergency during his years in the White House, as a justification to pursue this pre-set agendaThere are web pages that list as many as 20 or 25 reasons Bush came up with to invade IraqOne after another these reasons were discredited, and Bush would just drag out another oneSaddam had helped Al QuaedaSaddam was in league with terroristsSaddam had bio and chemical weapons with which he planned to attack the USHe had unmanned aircraft that could reach the US and do serious damageHe had nuclear weapons! No? Well he had a nuclear programNo? Well he had nuclear program related activitiesHe'd bought tons of uranium ore from NigerHe had mobile WMD labs The aluminum tubes was just one more phoney reasonIt came, was discredited, and forgotten, replaced by other justificationsIf the news media had been doing their job they would have pointed out 'This is the 17th reason Bush has come up with for why we must immediately invade Iraq.' Instead they treated each new revelation as something new, actual evidence, actual 'news'Paul Wolfowitz, one of the main architects of the plan, openly admitted some years later that the WMD was a red herring, a fake issueIt was just something we could all agree on, he saidThe real reasons for the invasion had nothing to do with WMD.
