British Adviser’s Memo Says Bush Was Set on Path to War in Iraq

[kerrygoddess]

British Adviser’s Memo Says Bush Was Set on Path to War in Iraq
March 26th, 2006 @ 11:43 pm

The NY Times has finally gotten around to reporting on the latest British Memo that the Guardian UK and Channel4.com reported on in early February. My original post on the story is here. The NY Times reports:

In the weeks before the United States-led invasion of Iraq, as the United States and Britain pressed for a second United Nations resolution condemning Iraq, President Bush’s public ultimatum to Saddam Hussein was blunt: Disarm or face war.

But behind closed doors, the president was certain that war was inevitable. During a private two-hour meeting in the Oval Office on Jan. 31, 2003, he made clear to Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain that he was determined to invade Iraq without the second resolution, or even if international arms inspectors failed to find unconventional weapons, said a confidential memo about the meeting written by Mr. Blair’s top foreign policy adviser and reviewed by The New York Times.

MORE & LINKS - http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=2429

See note to JK at the bottom of the post...

[karynnj]

1. Interesting that the NYT even has this on the front page

of the print paper. I agree with your note to JK. I hope he will demand the investigation again.

That his Georgetown speech was at the same time shows an enormous contrast. Bush threatens arm-twisting, Kerry warns of the danger of that. Bush was ignoring all the promises to Congress, Kerry spoke of abusing Congress's trust, Bush was Hell bent on war, Kerry warned him not to rush to war.

[kerrygoddess]

2. I passed my note along

Hopefully we will see something in the near or not to distant future.

[TayTay]

3. This would be a nice time to re-raise that issue.

I still can't believe only ten people signed that original request for an investigation.

[karynnj]

4. If he tries to get more signatures,

how much support would we get with threads bashing otherwise perfectly good Senators who don't sigh? :)

[kerrygoddess]

5. The idea was well received

Might be nice for them to receive some other requests... just a thought.

[ProSense]

6. It's time they do. Here's a great

House report:

Thwarting Congress and the American Public: The
Death of Accountability under the Bush Administration and the Republican-Controlled Congress

Both the Bush Administration and the Republican-controlled Congress have made it difficult if not impossible for Democrats or the American people to obtain meaningful information or oversight concerning the various abuses and misuse of power described in this Report.

Determination to Go to War Without Congressional Authorization

With regard to the charges that the Bush Administration made a decision to go to war well before seeking congressional authorization, the Administration and congressional Republicans have rejected or ignored every request to obtain information on this matter. This includes efforts to obtain information by letter, through hearings, and by way of Resolution of Inquiry.

Snip...

In addition, Democrats submitted a request for hearings to the various committees of jurisdiction to seek oversight of these serious charges. On June 30, 2005, 52 members formally requested that the House Committees on Judiciary, Armed Services, International Relations, and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence commence hearings on the Downing Street Minutes. None of the
committee chairs responded to this letter. Similarly, on June 22, 2005, Senator Kerry and other Senators urged the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence to investigate pre-war intelligence failures, noting that the “committee’s efforts have taken on renewed urgency given recent revelations in the United Kingdom regarding the apparent minutes of a July 23, 2002, meeting between Prime Minister Tony Blair and his senior national security advisors.” In a convoluted response, Senator Pat Roberts indicated that “the opinions of a British government official as expressed in the ‘Downing Street Memo’ are not pertinent to the Committee’s inquiry on Iraq.”


http://www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/iraqrept122005/section3e.pdf

11/01/2005

Statement by John Kerry on Closed-Door Senate Session and Senate Failures to Investigate Pre-War Intelligence

“For a year and a half, the Republican leadership in Congress has refused again and again to complete Phase II of their investigation into pre-war intelligence failures. All the requests I and other Senators have made of the Intelligence Committee for more information have been pushed aside. The Republican leadership has been complicit in a political cover-up of the decisions that led to war. Nothing could be more serious or more deserving of full public disclosure. The families of our troops deserve the truth, as does every American. Now that one of the chief architects of the war in Iraq has been indicted for related crimes, it is more important than ever to know how intelligence was presented to the Congress.

“The country and the Congress were misled into war. It is deeply troubling that the Republicans in Washington are so afraid to share the truth with the American people. Clearly it will require an independent, outside investigation to get to the bottom of this.”

http://www.kerry.senate.gov/v3/headlines/pdf/SSCI_Letter_Downing_Street.pdf">Click here for Kerry's June 2005 letter to the Intelligence Committee on Phase II of the investigation into pre-war intelligence.

http://www.kerry.senate.gov/v3/headlines/pdf/Roberts_to_Kerry_Response.pdf">Click here for Chairman Roberts' response.