Downing Street Minutes and More. The Smell of Cover-Up.

[Roland99]

http://www.conjur.com/blog/2005/06/18/downing-street-minutes-were-just-a-crack-in-the-dam-waters-starting-to-gush-now/

The London Times is now reporting that British Foreign Office legal advice has leaked that shows that the British knew that the increased bombing raids on Iraq in the no-fly zones was illegal.

A SHARP increase in British and American bombing raids on Iraq in the run-up to war “to put pressure on the regime” was illegal under international law, according to leaked Foreign Office legal advice.

The advice was first provided to senior ministers in March 2002. Two months later RAF and USAF jets began “spikes of activity” designed to goad Saddam Hussein into retaliating and giving the allies a pretext for war.

<…>

This weekend the Liberal Democrat peer Lord Goodhart, vice-president of the International Commission of Jurists and a world authority on international law, said the intensified raids were illegal if they were meant to pressurise the regime.

He said UN Resolution 688, used by the allies to justify allied patrols over the no-fly zones, was not adopted under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, which deals with all matters authorising military force.

“Putting pressure on Iraq is not something that would be a lawful activity,” said Goodhart, who is also the Liberal Democrat shadow Lord Chancellor.

<…>

“This view is not consistent with resolution 687, which does not deal with the repression of the Iraqi civilian population, or with resolution 688, which was not adopted under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, and does not contain any provision for enforcement,” it said.

Either President Propagandist and his cabal of liars and cheats were hiding from the American public offensive maneuvers that were executed by the Iraqis while engaging in these increased bombing raids (the odds of which are akin to me waking up on the moon tomorrow with a winning $250 million Powerball ticket in my hand) or these bombing raids were solely meant to weaken Iraqi air defenses and other military installations prior to the upcoming invasion.

Now, we all know this administration has been the most secretive and deceptive in American history but I find it absolutely impossible for them to have hidden offensive attacks from Saddam. That would have been in all of their wet dreams for Saddam to provoke the mighty U.S. There wouldn’t have been a need for the cavalcade of lies before the UN. Wolfowitz’s buddy Chalabi probably never would have entered the picture either.

But, one other thing strikes me rather peculiarly. The minutes of the Downing Street document show the meeting took place near the end of July 2002. July 23, 2002 to be exact. Now, just what else was cooking from the Propagandist at that point in time? Hmmm…

Let me post for you some excerpts from Bob Woodward’s book, Plan of Attack:

On July 17, Franks updated Rumsfeld on the preparatory tasks in the region. He carefully listed the cost of each and the risk to the mission if they didn’t proceed along the timeline which set completion by December 1. Total cost: $700 million.

The big-muscle movement was for airfields and fuel infrastructure in Kuwait where a massive covert public works program had already been launched. For years the U.S. military had had a joint plan with the Kuwaitis to improve their airfields. Initially Kuwait had agreed to fund these projects but they had deferred the money. So Franks was able to use the existing contracts and construction plans, but pay for them with U.S. funds, so that nothing really new seemed to be in the works, just an acceleration of the old plan. Huge amounts of ramp space were paved at Al Jaber and Ali Al Salem Air Bases in Kuwait for aircraft use, parking and munitions storage.

One initial concern was the logistical problem of transporting fuel from refineries in Kuiwait to the Iraqi border so there would be sufficient quantities to move and support a giant invasion…All of this was so far below the radar that the Kuwaitis, let alone the Iraqis, seemed not to notice.

<…>

Some of the funding would come from the supplemental appropriations bill being worked out in Congress for the Afghanistan war and the general war on terrorism. The rest would come from old appropriations.

By the end of July, Bush had approved some 30 projects that would eventually cost $700 million…Congress, which is supposed to control the purse strings, had no real knowledge or involvement, had not even been notified that the Pentagon wanted to reprogram money.

So, in the same timeframe that David Manning documented in the Downing Street Minutes that “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.” we see that the Propagandist was already engaged in secretly funneling money from other Congressional appropriations bills in order to setup airfields and fuel infrastructure in Kuwait, all in preparation for war.

Also, by this time, the Propagandist had already declared (on May 23 and May 26, 2002) that there are “no war plans on my desk.” Then, on July 31, 2002, the Propagandist said, “The stated mission is regime change. But all this talk from level four people… are talking about things they know nothing about. Our intent is serious. There are no war plans on my desk. I believe there is casus belli and that the doctrine of preemption applies.”

Hmm…what doctrine of preemption is that? When had the U.S. ever preemptively invaded and occupied another nation? NEVER!

And no war plans on his desk? While not actually being a bald-faced lie, it’s not far from it as by that point, Gen. Franks already had worked through several iterations of updating the Iraq war plans per direction from Donald Rumsfeld.

This whole administration smells. And that is the smell of cover-up. Covering up “high crimes”.

[napi21]

1. Isn't it always the cover up that brings 'em down?

To this day, most people believe if Nixon had come to the Am. people and said, some people working for me did some very wrong things, and I apologize, and they will be punished, that he would have remained in office.

I hope they can prove a cover up. This is good news, and even better that it involves England. Shrub might be able to shut up the american media, but he can't tough the BBC! HA HA!!!

[Roland99]

2. It can be proven, imo, we just need the media and Congress to do their job

[mainer]

3. the London Times again!

Is Rupert Murdoch out to get Bush?