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John Rendon, Bush's War Propoganda Minister

Rolling Stone brings us John Rendon, the man Bush used to sell the War in Iraq. The story begins in December, 2001:

The road to war in Iraq led through many unlikely places. One of them was a chic hotel nestled among the strip bars and brothels that cater to foreigners in the town of Pattaya, on the Gulf of Thailand.

On December 17th, 2001, in a small room within the sound of the crashing tide, a CIA officer attached metal electrodes to the ring and index fingers of a man sitting pensively in a padded chair. The officer then stretched a black rubber tube, pleated like an accordion, around the man's chest and another across his abdomen. Finally, he slipped a thick cuff over the man's brachial artery, on the inside of his upper arm.

The subject was Adnan Ihsan Saeed al-Haideri, whom as we now know, told a very false tale.

It was damning stuff -- just the kind of evidence the Bush administration was looking for. If the charges were true, they would offer the White House a compelling reason to invade Iraq and depose Saddam. That's why the Pentagon had flown a CIA polygraph expert to Pattaya: to question al-Haideri and confirm, once and for all, that Saddam was secretly stockpiling weapons of mass destruction.

There was only one problem: It was all a lie. After a review of the sharp peaks and deep valleys on the polygraph chart, the intelligence officer concluded that al-Haideri had made up the entire story, apparently in the hopes of securing a visa.

There's lots more to the story.

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    Re: John Rendon, Bush's War Propoganda Minister (none / 0) (#1)
    by Andreas on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:19 PM EST
    I think that it is important to note that the article was written by James Bamford, a well known expert regarding the National Security Agency. His book "The Puzzle Palace" is worth reading.

    Re: John Rendon, Bush's War Propoganda Minister (none / 0) (#2)
    by Ernesto Del Mundo on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:21 PM EST
    Yeah, along with "Body of Secrets".

    Re: John Rendon, Bush's War Propoganda Minister (none / 0) (#3)
    by Ernesto Del Mundo on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:21 PM EST
    If only Bush was hooked up to that polygraph while he gave the 2003 State of the Union speech.