"Bush talked about several ways to provoke a confrontation"

[sabra]

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/27/international/europe/27memo.html?ei=5090&en=7c30d11fe0c8c923&ex=1301115600&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all

<snip>

The memo also shows that the president and the prime minister acknowledged that no unconventional weapons had been found inside Iraq. Faced with the possibility of not finding any before the planned invasion, Mr. Bush talked about several ways to provoke a confrontation, including a proposal to paint a United States surveillance plane in the colors of the United Nations in hopes of drawing fire, or assassinating Mr. Hussein.

Those proposals were first reported last month in the British press, but the memo does not make clear whether they reflected Mr. Bush's extemporaneous suggestions, or were elements of the government's plan.

Consistent Remarks

Two senior British officials confirmed the authenticity of the memo, but declined to talk further about it, citing Britain's Official Secrets Act, which made it illegal to divulge classified information. But one of them said, "In all of this discussion during the run-up to the Iraq war, it is obvious that viewing a snapshot at a certain point in time gives only a partial view of the decision-making process."

Is it just me, but I just keep coming back to this part. Here we have a memo that has been confirmed to be authentic. Both Bush and Blair have not dismissed the content, and claim that they won't discuss a private conversation.

ways to provoke a confrontation

I start thinking about PNAC, September 11.... I am putting my tin foil hat away.

[marmar]

1. "I am putting my tin foil hat away"

Me too. It's becoming all too sensible and plausible.

[sabra]

2. Have you seen the documentary, "911 Loose Change" ?

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8260059923762628848

[marmar]

3. No, but a coworker told me about it...

and told me to have some strong liquor ready after watching it. Thanx for the link!

[sabra]

4. I agree with your coworker. It will blow your mind.

[converted_democrat]

5. Unreal.. Uneffing real.. What are these people thinking? n/t

[saltpoint]

6. Bush is so often the blowhard, the instigator, the impish galoot,

the fake cowboy, the unchallenged adult behaving too much like a pre-pubescent schoolyard bully.

He's incurious, anti-science, anti-intellectual, shallow. All hat, no cattle, etc. An irritating, sub-human smirk attends his every sentence, that is when he manages to complete one.

Hunter S. Thompson knew what he was talking about when he described Dubya as "a treacherous little freak."

So I expect Bush to make disastrous judgments and to push bad policy.

But Blair is -- or WAS -- an intelligent human being. What is he doing hanging out with a little fool like Dubya, grinning like a mobster's flunkie when Bush does his tough-guy routine. And how does he live with himself after trading what could have been a good-to-outstanding political career for being the obedient little lapdog who gave it up for BushCo?

I do not respect what these two men and their teams have done to innocent people.

Historians, you may start your Prefaces.

[ninkasi]

7. This is what I have a hard time coming to grips with

I truly believe that even before Bush stole the election in 2000, he had plans to start a war with Iraq. That's been pretty well documented. After 9-11, he seems to have ordered invading Afghanistan impatiently, wanting that battle to be over quickly, so that he could concentrate on his real objective, war with Iraq, and removing Saddam Hussein from power.

Now, this is what I have to accept...and I do...this miserable excuse for a man was willing to send decent men and women to their deaths, or to face lives forever changed by loss of sight, or limb, or mind, in order to get his way. He was perfectly willing to attack Iraq, and innocent women and children, so that he could satisfy his personal ambitions. He knew there was no threat, although he was willing to manufacture one. He knew that lives would be lost, survivors would be forever scarred, and many lives would be shattered by his actions, but he didn't care.

The pain, the horror of war, the grieving for lost loved ones was no more important to him than what color tie to wear on any particular day. For one human being to have enough power to destroy so many lives, there should be no other way to solve the situation. He looked the other way when inspectors found no evidence of WMD in Iraq, and chose to lie, and invade anyway.

These are the actions of a man so lacking in conscience or decency, that he is willing to sacrifice a limitless number of human lives to sate his desire to be a "war president", and defeat Iraq. The president is a sociopath, and America must come to grips with the fact that our so-called leader is devoid of any pretense of human decency, and deserves to be tried for wars against humanity.

[lauren_victoria]

8. The loose change video has become suprisingly popular

with kids at my school, which I see as an accomplishment. Two weeks ago, no one in my school knew anything about what was going on, and now it's nice to hear students talking about these topics in the hallways and in class :]

I can't even pull together the words to express my discontent with this entire war.
Last week, kids at my school were "protesting" about the immigration law.
But none of them could protest about the 3 year anniversary of Iraq?
I brought up this point several times last week...and finally reached a conclusion.
These kids really dont know whats going on (They probably wont for a couple of more years, and by that time...who knows what wouldve already happened), or their parents are telling them that it's for "good causes".

And I agree that bush should be tried for wars against humanities.
I dont even wanna begin to think about all the laws and treaties he has broken:grr:

[Supersedeas]

9. Where is the Corporate Media--why aren't they asking the question???

Why was it necessary to provoke a confrontation, if the rationale for the war was sound in the first place?

[Az_lefty]

10. There can be no question that this little bastard....

wanted to invade Iraq from his first day in office. He was just looking for an excuse. I guess allowing Al-Qaeda to attack us worked in his favor.
:grr: