IT WAS ALWAYS GOING TO BE IRAQ

Chris Matthews is repeating a story he got confirmed with William Cohen, Secretary of State under Clinton. Seems in December of 2000, just after the Supreme Court delivered the presidency to George W. Bush, Vice President-elect Dick Cheney called Cohen and told him he didn't want one of those tours of all the trouble spots in the world, he didn't want a briefing about all the national threats, he wanted one thing only: a briefing about Iraq. That's the sole country he was interested in. It's just more confirmation that Cheney, for some reason, was obsessed with Iraq from Day One.

Chris is incensed by the pre-war memo detailing Bush's determination to invade Iraq no matter what. Well heck, what's new? The Downing Street Memo predates this one by months, and we've known about it for nearly a year. I'm so glad Chris actually paid attention to this one.

But the reason he did is obvious. Sometime in the past couple of weeks Chris has had his come-to-Jesus moment with George W. Bush and lost the faith. He's sounded like a betrayed man in his last few TV appearances that I've observed. He's not happy. So he's more receptive to evidence that President Codpiece is a liar and an incompetent.

Chris is asking his guests just when they thought Bush decided to invade Iraq. Craig Cook says pre-9/11, maybe even from the beginning of his presidency. Someone else said when Cheney convinced him to. Another suggested that it was precisely on 9/11.

I'm not sure Bush had invasion of Iraq on his mind when he assumed the presidency. I do believe it's well documented that Dick Cheney, Don Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfiwitz, and the other signers of the Project For A New American Century found their mouths watering at the idea of getting to put their grand experiment into play -- and Iraq was central to their plans. I tend to think that Dubya didn't have the faintest idea what to do with his presidency once it had been gifted him -- and 9/11 gave him a sense of purpose. It was a road-to-Damascus experience. He wanted action, more action, activity, vengeance, war -- he was finally, at 50+, ready to get payback for all the failures, embarrassments and fancied slights he'd experienced in his life. He just needed somebody to supply him with a target, and Cheney et al were well prepared to convince the Boy King that they'd identified Saddam as his dark half.

Tags: Bush, Chris Matthews, Hardball, Downing Street Memo, Dick Cheney, Iraq