Bush & Blair deny '02 British memo on Iraq

[jojo54]

Here's the link to the story in the PA Inquirer: http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/front/11839082.htm

<snip>"The facts were not being fixed in any shape or form at all," Blair said yesterday. "No one knows more intimately the discussions that we were conducting as two countries at the time... . All the way through that period of time, we were trying to look for a way of managing to resolve this without conflict."

Bush said he considered war "the last option" and insisted that he was not fixated on removing Hussein by force.

"There's nothing further from the truth," Bush said. "My conversations with the prime minister were how can we do this peacefully. We worked hard to figure out how we could do this peacefully."


LIAR!! LIAR!! PANTS ON FIRE!!!

on edit: here's a link to the conference transcript: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/06/20050607-2.html

[rox63]

1. Would that mean

Blair and Bush are calling the author of the memo a liar? Isn't he someone fairly high up in Britain's intelligence service?

[Triana]

2. Funny. I haven't heard a peep on this since then here...

...or anywhere else. SO. That's it, I guess. We're done? Gee. It's as big as Gannongate.

[Spazito]

12. Actually, it is spreading...

sabra (1000+ posts) Tue Jun-07-05 06:52 PM
Original message
Thanks to Steve Holland @ the Press Conference, Downing St. is spreading

Edited on Tue Jun-07-05 07:20 PM by sabra
Because of Steve Holland of Reuters question, KRT (Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services) wire feed reported on it and is being picked up by News agencies cross the country... Look for something in your local paper tomorrow morning!

edit:
found out who Steve was, via BradBlog
<<SNIP>>
Blair, Bush deny manipulating prewar intelligence on Iraq
Centre Daily Times, PA - 23 minutes ago
BY DAVID JACKSON. WASHINGTON - (KRT) - President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Tuesday disputed a 2002 British government ...

Blair, Bush deny manipulating prewar intelligence on Iraq
Charlotte Observer, NC - 23 minutes ago
BY DAVID JACKSON. WASHINGTON - (KRT) - President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Tuesday disputed a 2002 British government ...

Blair, Bush deny manipulating prewar intelligence on Iraq
San Luis Obispo Tribune, CA - 31 minutes ago
BY DAVID JACKSON. WASHINGTON - (KRT) - President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Tuesday disputed a 2002 British government ...

Bush: Iraq war plans memo wrong
CNN - 35 minutes ago
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President George W. Bush said Tuesday that there was "nothing farther from the truth" than allegations in a British government memorandum ...

Blair, Bush deny manipulating prewar intelligence on Iraq
Grand Forks Herald, ND - 38 minutes ago
BY DAVID JACKSON. WASHINGTON - (KRT) - President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Tuesday disputed a 2002 British government ...

Blair, Bush deny manipulating prewar intelligence on Iraq
Bradenton Herald, FL - 38 minutes ago
BY DAVID JACKSON. WASHINGTON - (KRT) - President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Tuesday disputed a 2002 British government ...

Blair, Bush deny manipulating prewar intelligence on Iraq
Macon Telegraph, GA - 38 minutes ago
BY DAVID JACKSON. WASHINGTON - (KRT) - President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Tuesday disputed a 2002 British government ...

Blair, Bush deny manipulating prewar intelligence on Iraq
Duluth News Tribune, MN - 38 minutes ago
BY DAVID JACKSON. WASHINGTON - (KRT) - President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Tuesday disputed a 2002 British government ...

Blair, Bush deny manipulating prewar intelligence on Iraq
Myrtle Beach Sun News, SC - 38 minutes ago
BY DAVID JACKSON. WASHINGTON - (KRT) - President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Tuesday disputed a 2002 British government ...

Leaders deny Bush manipulated Iraq intelligence
Knight-Ridder Washington Bureau - 44 minutes ago
By Ron Hutcheson. WASHINGTON - President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Tuesday forcefully denied that Bush manipulated ...

A Close Reading of FoxSpeak
American Chronicle, CA - 47 minutes ago
By David Swanson. HUME: When we come back with our panel, the memo that the left says the US media won't talk about it. Well, we'll talk about it, next. ...

Leaders deny Bush manipulated Iraq intelligence
Monterey County Herald, CA - 49 minutes ago
BY RON HUTCHESON. WASHINGTON - (KRT) - President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Tuesday forcefully denied that Bush ...

Leaders deny Bush manipulated Iraq intelligence
Pioneer Press, MN - 1 hour ago
BY RON HUTCHESON. WASHINGTON - (KRT) - President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Tuesday forcefully denied that Bush ...

Leaders deny Bush manipulated Iraq intelligence
Bradenton Herald, FL - 1 hour ago
BY RON HUTCHESON. WASHINGTON - (KRT) - President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Tuesday forcefully denied that Bush ...

Leaders deny Bush manipulated Iraq intelligence
Tallahassee.com, FL - 1 hour ago
BY RON HUTCHESON. WASHINGTON - (KRT) - President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Tuesday forcefully denied that Bush ...

Leaders deny Bush manipulated Iraq intelligence
Kentucky.com, KY - 1 hour ago
BY RON HUTCHESON. WASHINGTON - (KRT) - President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Tuesday forcefully denied that Bush ...

Leaders deny Bush manipulated Iraq intelligence
Myrtle Beach Sun News, SC - 1 hour ago
BY RON HUTCHESON. WASHINGTON - (KRT) - President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Tuesday forcefully denied that Bush ...

Bush: Iraq war plans memo wrong
CNN International - 1 hour ago
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President George W. Bush said Tuesday that there was "nothing farther from the truth" than allegations in a British government memorandum ...

Bush, Blair deny misuse of evidence prior to war
Knoxville News Sentinel (subscription), TN - 2 hours ago
By BILL STRAUB. British Prime Minister Tony Blair joined President Bush on Tuesday in rejecting claims the US government manipulated ...

<</SNIP>>



Link to the thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3808760

NBC, CBS, Countdown, Hardball covered it last night.

You can see the clips here:

http://www.dembloggers.com/

[Triana]

16. As of this morning it seems to have all but disappeared (n/t)

[Spazito]

18. Here is a great thread that is tracking the DSM coverage

daily and it shows it has been gaining steadily:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3685817#3810544

[Double T]

3. President Lies And Deceptions Body Language Said It All.......

.....now on to appointing a special prosecutor

[Dhalgren]

4. Fuck Bush...Fuck Blair

[Pockets]

5. This does not make sense

"We worked hard to figure out how we could do this peacefully."

That's complete B.S.

Even * supporters voted for him because he 'kicks butt' in Iraq, not because he seeks peace. Is there any evidence that he ever really sought peace???

[Mythsaje]

8. Remember what they said

the "memo" dates back to from BEFORE they even went to the U.N.

We're supposed to ignore the fact that they went to the U.N., had Bolton bully the inspectors, lied to the U.N. and the American people, played up questionable intelligence--at the same time the CIA and other intelligence agencies were saying 'what WMDs?' and then took us into war anyway.

Going to the U.N. is NOT seeking a peaceful solution while you're lying to them, bullying them, and planning on going it alone if you can't get their cooperation.

[KoKo]

6. He said "facts weren't fixed" not "intelligence" wasn't fixed.

I think they blew off the question. I watched it twice to see how they handled it. Basically they blew it off but they didn't deny the legitimacy of the memo so it leaves it open. :shrug:

[jojo54]

7. Check out this thread

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1837981

Wow! I guess once it reaches the Texas newspapers, it's really news! Although I haven't read this account yet.

[racaulk]

9. If that's true, then why did they wait so long to address it?

It seems like if this memo were filled with lies, * and Blair would have addressed it immediately after its emergence, instead of waiting WEEKS to say anything about it.

[babylonsister]

10. Very good point, racaulk. And,

welcome to DU!
It's not filled with lies, it's all about ducking the facts, which these two blowhards did fairly well yesterday.

[jojo54]

11. Does anyone know the timeline

of when CCB first went to the U.N. and the date of this memo? Just curious to know if the memo was a direct result of * realizing the U.N. wasn't going to give their support.

[Spazito]

14. The Minutes are dated July 23, 2002

and I believe they did not go to the UN until after Congress had passed a joint resolution on October 10th, so the Minutes are BEFORE any attempt was made to include the UN, they went back to the UN in February trying to get a second resolution despite the fact the UN inspectors were on the ground and were reporting no WMDs had been found.

Here is a link to the timelines:

http://www.afsc.org/iraq/guide/war-timeline.htm

[jojo54]

15. So, in other words

we were invading Iraq no matter what. This definately proves that he sent OUR people, our sons/daughters/husbands/wives to Iraq for revenge and money. Frucking creep.

btw, thanks for the link.

[Karenina]

20. And what about these minutes from March 18, 2002

Posted here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3809302

CONFIDENTIAL AND PERSONAL

British Embassy Washington

From the Ambassador
Christopher Meyer KCMG

18 March 2002

Sir David Manning KCMG
No 10 Downing Street

IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN: CONVERSATION WITH WOLFOWITZ

1 Paul Wolfowitz, the Deputy Secretary of Defense, came to Sunday lunch on 17 March.

2 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 skilfully, we were fairly confident that a number of countries would come on board.

3 I said that the UK was giving serious thought to publishing a paper that would make the case against Saddam. If the UK were to join with the US in any operation against Saddam, we would have to be able to take a critical mass of parliamentary and public opinion with us. It was extraordinary how people had forgotten how bad he was.

4 Wolfowitz said that he fully agreed. He took a slightly different position from others in the Administration, who were focussed on Saddam's capacity to develop weapons of mass destruction. The WMD danger was of course crucial to the public case against Saddam, particularly the potential linkage to terrorism. But Wolfowitz thought it indispensable to spell out in detail Saddam's barbarism. This was well documented from what he had done during the occupation
of Kuwait, the incursion into Kurdish territory, the assault on the Marsh Arabs, and to his own people. A lot of work had been done on this towards the end of the first Bush administration. Wolfowitz thought that this would go a long way to destroying any notion of moral equivalence between Iraq and Israel. I said that I had been forcefully struck, when addressing university audiences in the US how ready students were to gloss over Saddam's crimes and to blame the US
and the UK for the suffering of the Iraqi people.

5 Wolfowitz said that it was absurd to deny the link between terrorism and Saddam. There might be doubt about the alleged meeting in Prague between Mohammed Atta, the lead hijacker on 9/11, and Iraqi intelligence (did we, he asked, know anything more about this meeting?). But there were other substantiated cases of Saddam giving comfort to terrorists, including someone involved in the first attack on the World Trade Center (the latest New Yorker apparently has a story about links between Saddam and Al Qaeda operating in Kurdistan).

6 I asked for Wolfowitz's take on the stuggle inside the Administration between the pro- and anti- INC lobbies (well documented in Sy Hersh's recent New Yorker piece, which I gave you). He said that he found himself between the two sides (but as the conversation developed, it became clear that Wolfowitz was far more pro-INC than not). He said that he was strongly opposed to what some were advocating: a coalition including all outside factions except the
INC (INA, KDP, PUK, SCIRI). This would not work. Hostility towards the INC was in reality hostility towards Chalabi. It was true that Chalabi was not the easiest person to work with. Bute had a good record in bringing high-grade defectorsout of Iraq. The CIA stubbornly refused to recognise this. They unreasonably denigrated the INC because of their fixation with Chalabi. When I mentioned that
the INC was penetraded by Iraqi intelligence, Wolfowitz commented that this was probably the case with all the opposition groups: it was something we would have to live with. As to the Kurds, it was true that they were living well (another point to be made in any public dossier on Saddam) and that they feared provoking an incursion by Baghdad, But there were good people among the Kurds, including in particular Salih (?) of the PUK. Wolfowitz brushed over my reference to the absence of SUnni in the INC: there was a big difference between
Iraqi and Iranian Shia. The former just wanted to be rid of Saddam.

7 Wolvowitz was pretty dismissive of the desirability of a military coup and of the defector generals in the wings. The latter had blood on their hands. The important thing was to try to have Saddam replaced by something like a functioning democracy. Though imperfect, the Kurdish model was not bad. How to achieve this, I asked? Only through a coalition of all the parties was the answer (we did not get into military planning).

[jojo54]

21. I didn't know about this one Karenina

Thx for the link to the other thread. This is really getting deep and I don't think that this will vanish into thin air. The Brits are pissed off too.

[jpak]

13. Every single Chimp/Poodle claim used to justify the war was false

Every single one!

No reconstituted nuclear program

No biological weapons - and no capability to deploy them in "45 minutes".

No chemical weapons

No SCUDS

No Drones of Death (WMD armed UAV's)

No Mobile Bio-weapons labs

No Dreaded Aluminum Tubes for uranium gas centrifuges

Forged Niger Uranium Documernts

No connections to Al Queda

No Connections to 9/11

...and now they claim - all evidence to the contrary - that the intel was not "fixed" and there was no predetermined decision to go to war?????

If so...

The Moon really is made of Green Cheese

and Babies really do come from the Cabbage Patch

Impeach the motherfuckers...

[PurityOfEssence]

17. No uranium found in a Turkish taxi either

Common sense: nobody ran to the White House all afeared of the evil Saddam; the initiatives ALL came from within the administration. They repeatedly removed all qualifiers on intel reports and ruthlessly suppressed anything that didn't agree. They undercut the inspections. They stirred up the whole ruckus just before an election, and AFTER they'd already started offensive air operations. Continually, they promised that they would sincerely exhaust diplomatic avenues, when from at least July on, they had no intention of doing so. Thus, although they're studied con artists who avoid making outright "lies", any mention of diplomatic solutions after July (WELL before the resolution vote) is, by definition, a lie.

He lied to Congress. He lied with the 16 words in front of both houses of Congress. (We didn't "learn" this from Britain; we KNEW what their "evidence" was, and we knew it to be false. By saying we found this out from them, he LIED.) He lied when he said "we never had an inkling" that there was anything wrong with the intelligence, yet they repeatedly scrubbed all qualifying language and fought to put back into speeches allegations that the CIA wanted removed.

Okay, so he only mentioned Al Queda and Saddam in close proximity to get people to make the connection, but he did it repeatedly and specifically for that reason. They can squirm and say those weren't lies, although they were deliberate rhetorical attempts to deceive. With the other issues, THEY CAN'T SQUIRM. Those were dictionary-defined LIES, and they were done to deceive the rest of the government into relinquishing its Constitutional power. It was done to give a license to kill and steal for George W. Bush's personal financial gain.

If THIS story has no legs, our society is in deep trouble.

[jpak]

19. All I have to say is...

ORANGE ALERT!!!

ORANGE ALERT!!!

Git yer duct tape and plastic drop-cloth - quick-like!!!!

Git yer smallpox vax!!!

An, yer An-ther-ax shot too!!!!

TERRA!!

TERRA!!

TERRA!!

Gee, we haven't heard that one in a while either...