(identity 'myron)

Mon, 09 May 2005

The Secret Memo [/World]

The secret Downing Street memo is making news in the UK, but not so much here. It contains such gems as, "Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy." Say again? The facts were being "fixed around the policy".

And of course, this memo being dated July 23, 2002 puts it well before war was even proposed to congress. Oops. So now a letter, written by one congressman, signed by eighty-seven others, is being sent to the President asking five questions:

1. Do you or anyone in your Administration dispute the accuracy of the leaked document?
2. Were arrangements being made, including the recruitment of allies, before you sought Congressional authorization go to war? Did you or anyone in your Administration obtain Britain's commitment to invade prior to this time?
3. Was there an effort to create an ultimatum about weapons inspectors in order to help with the justification for the war as the minutes indicate?
4. At what point in time did you and Prime Minister Blair first agree it was necessary to invade Iraq?
5. Was there a coordinated effort with the U.S. intelligence community and/or British officials to "fix" the intelligence and facts around the policy as the leaked document states?

Dunce caps for Bush supporters out there.

// posted at 21:28. permalink   comments