Home > Iraq memo has serious implications about war
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Earlier this month, a piece of documentation relating to the war in Iraq was uncovered: The Downing Street memo; it is the most convincing proof yet that military action in Iraq was based on faulty, possibly nonexistent intelligence. Worst of all, the memo makes it perfectly clear that the lack of concrete information pertaining to Saddam Hussein’s possession of weapons of mass destruction was no secret to
President Bush.
The memo details British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s report on a political talk involving President Bush. The most poignant line of the memo, dated eight months prior to the United States’ invasion of Iraq, reads:
“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.”
Intelligence and facts were being fixed. Remember how mad the American public became when former President Bill Clinton lied to his nation concerning an extra-marital affair? The Downing Street memo is concrete proof that Bush not only lied about his fears over WMDs, but also led his country blindly into war for the purpose of satisfying some kind of personal vendetta against Saddam Hussein. After thousands of casualties and billions dollars, it seems that someone owes the world an apology.
If the memo is valid, then the significance of Bush’s lie is huge. The Downing Street Memo means that when U.S. political organizations made their decision to support the war in Iraq, they were doing so under false pretenses. The use of a preemptive strike was authorized largely because of the belief (instilled heavily by Bush himself) that there was some sort of time frame; if those politicians had been aware that Bush created Iraq’s WMDs out of thin air, the administration might have been pushed to find a long-term, diplomatic solution.
Besides the material ramifications of such a lie, it is also important to consider the paradigm that is set when a president feels he is correct in lying to the country he has been elected to serve. A democracy is based on serving the will of the people; if those people are receiving false information, their needs and desires can be neither heard nor met.
Of course, it must be kept in mind that the memo is nothing if not ambiguous, as Bush supporters are quick to point out. Bush and Blair have denied allegations that intelligence was fixed to prompt the war in Iraq, and the memo itself does not contain enough specifics to thoroughly indict anyone.
Then again, it didn’t take much more than a blue dress with a stain on it to impeach Clinton. The Downing Street memo has hardly received the enormous media or public attention it deserves. At this point, the Bush administration owes this country a sound explanation, rather than just a vague denial. If Bush or Blair cannot provide such an explanation, then neither man deserves to hold his current public office.
Forum posts
30 June 2005, 04:26
It’s good to see some editorial boards finally speaking out.
Bush and Blair have denied allegations - well duh! If they admit it they’ll go to prison. The liars caught lying say, "we didn’t do it" and we’re supposed to believe that?
Remember the blue dress- the press never let it die. But that same press is doing it’s best to make this story die. Why the double standard?
30 June 2005, 13:34
Although no one doubts that politicians and the media stooges are nothing but a gang of absolute liars - the "leaking" of such a damning [Downing Street] memo makes me uneasy. Its as if we are being set up for THE BIG BANG. The true powers would never in a million years allow such a damning document to get out - unless its all part of a bigger plan. And all those experts and "reputable sources" coming out of the woodwork the last month or so telling us what we already know - that 911 was an inside job - also smacks of the same kind of manipulating. So - lets get hypothetical here - WHAT IF all this stuff about Bush being an idiot, and a liar, traitor and what have you was planned all along - WHAT IF all of the liars and traitors in government are about to be thrown into the slammer - WHAT IF after such a shocking and tumultuous action there is NO ALTERNATIVE but for the MILITARY TO TAKE OVER - ................HEY PRESTO! MARSHALL LAW - we would then be living under a truly fascist police state - MAYBE THIS WAS THE FINAL PLAN FROM SEPT 11 2001 onwards? We can only hope that this is just the ramblings of a paranoid delusional - which unfortunately I don’t think I am.
30 June 2005, 22:31
The double standard, you ask?
Well, now we are killing some brown skinned peoples, labelled, Arabs and Muslims. The sweat in 140 deg. F. heat and smell bad because they have no water [now don’t ask about why there is no water...] Plus, they sit on top of an ocean of oil. This is something we really, really need.
Consider all of the things around you, not one item is not touched either directly or in directly by oil. The plastics used in your laptop. The paints used to color your room. The road. The electric anything. It’s touched by oil. Think. Sit and think of something around you and see how it related to oil. Try and disconnect a simply toothpick from oil — You will never be able to do so.
Thus, the leadership knows this and focuses the American citizen’s inate hate for these dark skinned peoples into accepting killing. But at the same time, in order to placate ther hearts and minds, they have to have some justifications and anything that contradicts these is easily dismissed. The minutes and memos being just one in a long list of things.
Without that oil, it is we who would be living in the stone age.
1 July 2005, 08:44
We already ARE living in the stone age ! Why ? Because instead of using all of the billions of dollars at our disposal to research and develope a replacement alternative to fossil fuels that doesn’t pollute the planet, drive up global warming and allow leaders of various countries to terrorize their people , we chose to follow our tribal instincts of greed, lust and consumption. We may think we are a God fearing people, but all we really fear is each other. It’s time to evolve.
-J.C.-