Former Treasury Secretary Paul H. O’Neill charged in remarks released Saturday that President Bush began planning to oust Saddam Hussein within days of taking office and before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Providing firsthand testimony bolstering a longtime contention of White House critics, O’Neill told Lesley Stahl of CBS News for a segment to be broadcast on “60 Minutes” Sunday night that preparations to oust Hussein long predated Bush’s articulation of his preemption doctrine in June 2002, when he said the United States must strike looming enemies before the worst threats emerge. “From the very beginning, there was a conviction that Saddam Hussein was a bad person and that he needed to go,” O’Neill said, according to CBS. “For me, the notion of preemption — that the U.S. has the unilateral right to do whatever we decide to do — is a really huge leap.” Full Story
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