Home > What is the Downing St. Memo?

What is the Downing St. Memo?

by Open-Publishing - Tuesday 17 May 2005
3 comments

Wars and conflicts International USA UK

Nobody wants to go to war. We trust our leaders to shed blood in our name only when absolutely necessary. Two years after the start of the Iraq War, on March 20, 2003, Americans are just learning that our government was dead set on taking our nation to war, even while it claimed to be pursuing diplomacy.

The Downing Street Memo, recently leaked, reveals that President George W. Bush decided to overthrow Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in summer 2002 and?determined to ensure that U.S. intelligence data supported his policies?"fixed" the intelligence and facts relevent to WMD.

What has come to be known as the Downing Street "Memo" is actually a document containing meeting minutes transcribed during the British Prime Minister’s meeting on July 23, 2002. This meeting was held a full 8 months PRIOR to the invasion of Iraq on March 20, 2003. The Times of London printed the text of this document on Sunday, May 1, 2005. When asked about the document’s validity, "British officials did not dispute the document’s authenticity."

The contents of the memo are shocking. The minutes detail how our government did not believe Iraq was a greater threat than other nations; how intelligence was manipulated to sell the case for war to the American public; and how all the talk of "war as a last resort" was mere hollow pretense.

Regardless of politics, all Americans should ask themselves: Was I misled? Did President Bush tell me the truth when he said he would not take us to war unless absolutely necessary?

Please join us in demanding that we get to the bottom of this issue. For if we do not demand the truth from our government here, where the Downing Street Memo is so damning, then we may as well forever cease holding our government accountable.

http://www.downingstreetmemo.com/whycare.html

Forum posts

  • Always great to see people taking action! However, we do not need an explanation of the minutes, they speak for themselves. Tony Blair has already validated their authenticity. This is the proof of what we all already knew. We now have the proof that Bush lied when he said that he wanted to avert war in Iraq, in fact he was creating faulty excuses to attack Iraq. His litany of lies are the evidence. It is time to demand impeachment. Bill Clinton was impeached for lying over personal matters. Bush and Cheney must be removed from office for this crime against humanity. 100,000 Iraqis dead! Their land has been poisoned with radioactive cancer causing Depleted Uranium. 1600 US soldiers dead! 11,000 soldiers died from DU poisoning after coming home from the first gulf war...150,000 on permanent disability. How many will die or be sick this time?

    It is not enough for Bush and Cheney to explain themselves. The time for that is over. It is also not enough to get the media to report on it. The media is complicit in this war. They should also be held accountable for war crimes, the Bush administration could not have committed these atrocities without them. We must bypass the media and go to congress. If they will not do their job and impeach Bush, they will be thrown out of office. Do not listen to the naysayers that say it cannot be done. We must force our democracy to work by exposing the enemy within that is standing in it’s way.

    I think this guy has the right idea...

    impeach_now-sm.jpg

  • I have written several emails in reference to this memo and I don’t know what good it’s going to do if our own media is afraid of Bush. I decided not to sign any petition right now because those that sign have to list their name, address, email address and phone number all of which is going to the White House. I mean, non of the news stations will mention it. This realization is very disturbing to me and a threat to our beliefs and way of life in America. If an administration has this much power over the media, then all those that follow will continue to lie and deceive the American public, as well as the rest of the world. How is this possible? Rather and Clinton were pulverized by every newspaper and news station-you couldn’t get away from it. But barely any mention of this memo has appeared on the news. I myself was on vacation for several days and knew nothing about this memo until a friend forwarded an article about it in a British newspaper a few days ago. I was appalled and wonder why more Americans are not up in arms about this! Especially those that have relatives in the military and are over in Iraq, not to mention 1700 of our soldiers who have died, and the thousands of Iraqis who have perished too.

    This memo should be pushed more in the mainstream media and not just on the internet of which there are scads of sites in reference to this memo and outrage that’s following it!