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Media Notify me of new comments Author Thread: Blair planned Iraq war from start Pundit Blair planned Iraq war from start Posted: Monday, June 13, 2005 1:10 PM (PST) This is a very bold UK headline, but I think they got their facts a little off. Probably what they meant to say was, "Bush planned Iraq war from start and Blair joined in the planning very early on." But that's a little long for a headline.   Do you think an American paper has the guts to print the corrected headline? http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1592724,00.html Comments: Flat Nested Threaded Embedded Oldest First Newest First Author Thread: Pundit Blair planned Iraq war from start Posted: Monday, June 13, 2005 2:56 PM (PST) Here is some specific text from the 3/18/02 memo that I would like explained:   Does this make sense if the US has not commited to a military imposed regime change? On Iraq I opened by sticking very closely to the script that you used with Condi Rice last week. We backed regime change, but the plan had to be clever and failure was not an option. It would be a tough sell for us domestically, and probably tougher elsewhere in Europe. The US could go it alone if it wanted to. But if it wanted to act with partners, there had to be a strategy for building support for military action against Saddam. I then went through the need to wrongfoot Saddam on the inspectors and the UN SCRs and the critical importance of the MEPP as an integral part of the anti-Saddam strategy. If all this could be accomplished skillfully, we were fairly confident that a number of countries would come on board. Note how the dialog here is about how to justify joining the US in military action... and the importance to sell this military effort to the international community.   This is NOT a dialog about deciding what to do. This is planning about how to accomplish the goal... and convincing or deceiving public opinion appears to be #1 on the list. ? Blair planned Iraq war from start Posted: Monday, June 13, 2005 5:25 PM (PST) Yes, having the UN seal of approval was the main concern of the British, so the whole side show of going to the UN was all done to placate our erstwhile ally Tony Blair.  Dick Cheney foresaw that the UN was going to be a boondoggle and was opposed to going that routine.  George Bush sided with Colin Powell and went the UN route and it did turn out to be a big waste of time.  I’m sure that all of this is contained in Bob Woodward’s book “Plan of Attack”.    All of this is fairly old news and mainly of interest to the anti-war Bush bashers.   Pundit Blair planned Iraq war from start Posted: Monday, June 13, 2005 5:40 PM (PST) I’m not sure I understand what you are saying… are you saying the new memos provide no new information?   Are you saying that you agree that yes indeed, GWB lied to the American people over and over again about his motives for invading Iraq Bush to this day continues the lie by continuing to assert that American safety was indeed the motivation Further that Bush lied about when he decided to start to build his case for war And that Bush did not adequately plan for post-war peace-making That is what I believe all the old testimony was suggesting and what the new memos appear to confirm.   Or… are you saying the old data and the new memos combined say something completely different?   By my way of thinking… “planning how to build support for an invasion” is quite different than “investigating WMD’s or the threat to America”.   As we see very clearly, the spring 2002 planning was to build support for an invasion. That is quite a different thing than what Bush continues to assert.   Flow chart: Decide Iraq is a pain/risk/blemish (no controversy here) Ponder what to do about it (italic items done poorly) Diplomacy Plan for diplomacy Negotiate Regime change Plan for invasion. Plan to convince people invasion is needed Plan for post-war reconstruction Persuade people invasion is needed Invade Bush chose 2.2 (regime change) sometime before March 18th, 2002… ("We backed regime change") As part of 2.2.4, trying to convince people that the invasion is necessary and urgent “had to be a strategy for building support for military action” “need to wrongfoot Saddam on the inspectors and the UN SCRs” and from the original DSM, Bush was executing the selling of the war: “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.” One can assail the integrity of the memos, but if the memos are genuine and accurate then the conclusion is obvious and appalling.   Pundit Blair planned Iraq war from start Posted: Monday, June 13, 2005 10:42 PM (PST) Here is a non-partisan examination by Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downing_Street_memo Pundit Blair planned Iraq war from start Posted: Monday, June 13, 2005 11:06 PM (PST) Have the people who don’t think the memo is interesting actually read the memo?? I’ve provided a few snippets out of context. You really could read more of the memo to understand the full implications.   How do you reconcile this? Clearly a decision to invade has been made, the only thing unclear is exactly when to start dropping bombs.   The Defence Secretary said that the US had already begun "spikes of activity" to put pressure on the regime. No decisions had been taken,[about when to launch the invasion] but he thought the most likely timing in US minds for military action to begin was January, with the timeline beginning 30 days before the US Congressional elections.   If you read on in the memo, not only has the US committed to war, but the UK is challenging the legality of such action. It seemed clear that Bush had made up his mind to take military action, even if the timing was not yet decided. But the case was thin. Saddam was not threatening his neighbours, and his WMD capability was less than that of Libya, North Korea or Iran. We should work up a plan for an ultimatum to Saddam to allow back in the UN weapons inspectors. This would also help with the legal justification for the use of force. The UK reasons that they better slow the US down and force Saddam’s hand w/ an ultimatum. ? 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