Raw Story acquires new British Iraq docs; Narrative late today
UK DOC TELLS OF 2002 NEED FOR WAR ‘EXCUSE’
The
Iraq options paper –
After
axis of evil, British foreign
secretary says Iraq case
weak – Condi
committed to regime change
in 2002 – The
British legal background
– Admission
that Iraq WMD program hadn’t
changed – The
‘need to wrongfoot’ Saddam
on inspectors
And, Juan Cole is on a tear with “Top Ten Things You Wouldn’t Expect to Happen If You Listened to Bush and Cheney.”
I am somewhat amazed that we have accurately assessed what was going on behind the scenes. I also assume that I am not seeing the whole picture. The Brits analysis reads just like dozens of analyses I’ve read or written on when we decided to go to war, why we pursued the UN route, why we decided to hype WMD…
What is still missing is why we didn’t plan for the aftermath. Clearly the Brits don’t understand it either.
What is still missing is why we didn’t plan for the aftermath. Clearly the Brits don’t understand it either.
I haven’t read all the docs listed above. Just the WaPo and Times stories. The Brits were worried about the U.S.’s lack of planning for the aftermath, and afraid they might get stuck holding the bag.
I wonder why they didn’t press harder on the post-invasion planning.
I recall comments during the Falklands “War” that the U.K. cannot give top level promotions except after combat experience.
Can any of our U.K. friends clarify (or correct me)about whether this could be a factor encouraging their participation?
I agree Booman, I had the same thought when I read this stuff, we had it right, some of us from the beginning, I count myself among those, and don’t you think this lends more credence to the 9/11 issue.
I am hoping that there will be many more leaked papers and maybe they will start doing the same thing here in the US.
We need some real heros now to stand up.
Me too. It was clear as day.
I knew that the U.N. stuff didn’t matter because they’d manipulate it however to go to war…. it was just window-dressing.
And it was obvious it’d be a huge mess.
And that’s from my somewhat ill-educated vantage (in terms of knowledge of Mid-East history and politics).
Which brings me to one of the things I”ll never understand. How could bright people like Al Franken and Biden and the rest go for the bull from Bush?
(That they’ve seen now that the war is a mistake doesn’t absolve them, in my book. That they were missing whatever it takes to see the folly and cruelty and death that would result is very worrisome to me.)
Susan, there was a time when a lot of the pundits were non-apologizing for being wrong about the war. I wrote to them all and to my politicians who also were non-apologizing for being wrong about the war. I told them all the same thing: If I had been so wrong about something for which the consequences were so great, I’d want to kill myself. Then I said that the least they could do is be better men (they were all men) and dedicate their lives to stopping what they had started.
What terrific thinking and writing by you. I love it.
And that was one of the problems of Kerry, the gutless wonder. Dancing around the invasion in Senate-speak. It was maddening. He did get a bit more forceful — I recall one speech on Iraq in, what was it, October? — but he’d already been undone by his tap dancing.
I wrote an apology for them this morning [edited]:
We were wrong to support this war – to cast that vote – and we apologize to the American people for not demanding answers before we allowed this President to send our people into harm’s way. We didn’t listen when Paul O’Neill told us that the advanced planning for this war began when this administration took office. And we didn’t listen to our own people who tried to warn us the war was wrong.
We believed, as many did, that all the President’s men – and women – were telling us the truth: about WMD, about terrorists in the Northeast corner of Iraq, about secret weapons facilities.
Well, we now have proof of the advanced planning that you told us about almost three years ago. Verified by what have been called the “Downing Street Memos”. We also have proof that each and every justification for this war was based on false information, and outright lies. We pledge today to act on the information we now have, and place those responsible on notice they will be held accountable by the American people.
And we are not alone in this effort. We are joined by members from the other side of the aisle who, like us, feel at least disappointed, at worst betrayed. All of us, working together, will generate a plan that finally allows our people to come home, and returns true power to the people of Iraq.
We ask for your patience, and once again for your support in our efforts to find the truth.
There’s plenty more to say, but an apology would be a good start. Can’t those high-paid geniuses in D.C. write an apology? And more importantly, why haven’t they?
They haven’t apologized (and probably won’t) because they have no humility and are unable to admit their mistakes.
Democratic senators? I think they’re responsive when the numbers are high enough. Remember that Boxer started alone on the Gonzales rejection.
You’re probably right, I’m just cursed with the likes of Santorum, Specter, Gerlach, and Weldon in my state…I love Boxer and wish she were ny senator!
to me is that Bush’s handlers really believed the “Happy Iraqi” scenario. Years from now it wouldn’t surprise me to find that thousands of American flags were flown to Iraq for distribution to the folks who would flood the streets to thank us for saving them.
The CW in the administration might have been that what little resistance there might be would be crushed by this grateful populace.
Any other explanation assumes a level of stupidity that’s hard to believe, even for these guys.
The most disturbing part of these documents is that these actions were made possible because Bush was able to utilize the deaths of 9/11 for his own puposes. Sickening.