Via an excellent post by All-Spin Zone’s Richard Cranium, comes this most welcome news:
The Downing Street Memo has finally hit the front page.
Still below the fold, but it’s a start.
The Sunday Times of London has a damning article based on newly revealed documents:
Ministers were warned in July 2002 that Britain was committed to taking part in an American-led invasion of Iraq and they had no choice but to find a way of making it legal.
The warning, in a leaked Cabinet Office briefing paper, said Tony Blair had already agreed to back military action to get rid of Saddam Hussein at a summit at the Texas ranch of President George W Bush three months earlier.
The briefing paper, for participants at a meeting of Blair’s inner circle on July 23, 2002, said that since regime change was illegal it was “necessary to create the conditions” which would make it legal.
This was required because, even if ministers decided Britain should not take part in an invasion, the American military would be using British bases. This would automatically make Britain complicit in any illegal US action.
So, the ministers were told that after a some heavy brush-clearing down at Bush’s ranch, and some long stares into some very shallow eyes, Tony Blair had already committed them to the war. The Yanks were coming whether they liked it or not, so they damn well better make it look kosher.
And as Richard Cranium points out, the Ministers were told explicitly that they would have to manage the propoganda public-relations campaign:
Oh, and in case this news hasn’t already brightened your morning, here is a nice little tidbit from the Times article:
We are making a difference. Every blog post, every signature on Conyers’ petition, every email sent to the editor of an American newspaper counts.
We have drawn a line in the sand.
And together, we will Awaken the Mainstream Media. Why? Because our soldiers deserve no less. How? With our Big Brass Alliance.
Cookie Jill of skippy the bush kangeroo says it best:
2 Comments on "Front Page News"
Freiheit und Wissen:
A Second Leak, A Second Memo…
In a startling confirmation of the Downing Street Minutes, the Sunday Times revealed British plans in 2002 to make a war in Iraq “legal” at all costs…
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