Treasury Demands Probe into O'Neill "Secrets"

13/01/2004| IslamWeb

For some Republicans, former US treasury secretary Paul O'Neill is a traitor. But the man who claims George W. Bush plotted to invade Iraq long before September 11 is sticking to his guns. O'Neill dropped the bombshell in a book, "The Price of Loyalty", written by journalist Ron Suskind about O'Neill's two-year tenure as Bush's top economic aide. The treasury has asked for an inquiry into whether O'Neill broke the law by revealing state secrets to the book's author. The former official has also caused a stir by likening Bush to a "blind man in a room full of deaf people". O'Neill apparently passed on a blueprint for post-Saddam Iraq dating from early 2001, which included a plan for carving up the nation's oil reserves. The book reportedly criticises Bush junior for using the war on terror to settle unfinished business - George senior was president during the first Gulf war, which forced Saddam out of Kuwait but left the Iraqi leader in place. **PHOTO CAPTION*** Former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill gestures while discussing the economy in this July 10, 2002 file photo during an address at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington. (AP Photo/Kenneth Lambert, File)