Saddam Ouster Planned Early '01?:"The Bush Administration began making plans for an invasion of Iraq, including the use of American troops, within days of President Bush's inauguration in January of 2001 -- not eight months later after the 9/11 attacks, as has been previously reported. That's what former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill says in his first interview about his time as a White House insider. O'Neill talks to CBS News Correspondent Lesley Stahl in the interview, to be broadcast on 60 Minutes, Sunday, Jan. 11 at 7 p.m. ET/PT." Thisisoldnews.

Jonathan Dresner - 1/11/2004

Old news to the conspiracy theorists, sure (are they ever surprised?), but the question is "what did the president want and when did he want it?" If it was just "members" of the administration, there might be a slap on the wrist: you expect people at that level to have some ideas about what they want to accomplish when they walk in the door, right? But if the President were involved in discussions regarding regime change in Iraq before 2002, then he's going to have some real explaining to do. All along I've been pooh-poohing the pseudo-psychoanalysis "finish what Dad started" theory, but if he really came in with Iraq on his to-do list then I have to rethink that.