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Michael Gordon and General Bernard Trainor on the Inside
Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq
New York Times Chief Military Correspondent Michael Gordon
Defends Pre-War Reporting on WMDs
Michael Gordon and General Bernard Trainor on the
Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq
Almost three years to the day the war started, a new book
takes a look at the inside story of the invasion and occupation
of Iraq. "Cobra II," by co-authors Michael Gordon,
the chief military correspondent for The New York Times, and
retired Marine general Bernard Trainor, the book is based
on interviews with a wide range of officials as well as a
classified report based on interrogations of more than 110
Iraqi officials and officers and 600 Iraqi documents. [includes
rush
transcript - partial]
This weekend marks the third anniversary of the launch of
the Iraq invasion. On March 19, 2003, the United States began
dropping bombs on Iraq, while thousands of U.S. and British
forces began pouring across the country's borders.
Three years later the occupation continues - with no end
in sight. The U.S. military announced Thursday it launched
its biggest air offensive in Iraq since the 2003 invasion.
Over 130,000 U.S. troops remain deployed with no clear plan
for withdrawal. The country is wracked by daily bloodshed
and violence and the prospect of an all out civil war is more
real than ever.
Now, almost three years to the day after the war started,
a new book titled "Cobra II" details the inside
story of the invasion and occupation of Iraq. The book is
written by Michael Gordon, chief military correspondent for
The New York Times, and retired Marine general Bernard Trainor.
Gordon was in the war room with Tommy Franks, Donald Rumsfeld,
and various field generals during the planning and execution
of the invasion. The book combines this firsthand experience
with classified military documents, interviews with a wide
range of officials as well as findings from a classified report
on Iraqi views on the war prepared by the U.S. military's
Joint Forces Command. The report is based on interrogations
of more than 110 Iraqi officials and officers as well as over
600 Iraqi documents.
Among what Gordon and Trainor found was that Saddam Hussein
was convinced President George W Bush, like his father, would
not go to Baghdad and they lay out how the Iraqi leader escaped
from the capital.
The book also finds that Britain's top envoy in Iraq, John
Sawers, expressed major concerns about how the U.S. was handling
the occupation of Iraq as early as May 2003, just four days
after arriving in Baghdad.
And "Cobra II" exposes that the tapes that then-Secretary
of State Colin Powel played within his speech before the UN
of recordings of Iraqi military officers in which one said,
"I'm worried you could have something left" was
not referring to WMDs as Powell alleged.
- Michael Gordon, chief military correspondent for The
New York Times. He is co-author of the book "Cobra
II: The Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq."
Gordon has covered conflicts spanning Iraq, Afghanistan,
Kosovo, Chechnya and Panama.
- Gen. Bernard Trainor (Ret.), a retired Marine Corps lieutenant
general. He is co-author of the book "Cobra II: The
Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq."
He was a military correspondent for The New York Times from
1986 to 1990 and director of the National Security program
at Harvard University from 1990 to 1996. He is currently
a military analyst for NBC.
New York Times Chief Military Correspondent Michael
Gordon Defends Pre-War Reporting on WMDs
Michael Gordon, the chief military correspondent for The
New York Times, discusses his reporting on weapons of mass
destruction in Iraq in the run-up to the invasion.
- Michael Gordon, chief military correspondent for The
New York Times. He is co-author of the book "Cobra
II: The Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq."
Gordon has covered conflicts spanning Iraq, Afghanistan,
Kosovo, Chechnya and Panama.
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and Parvez Sharma.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Joe Murgio, John Randolph,
Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Eric Rweyemamu,
Jenny Filipazzo and Isis Phillips.
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