This memo, dated July 23, 2002, was published by a meeting of British cabinet members and concerns their plans for a war in Iraq. The date, of course, is a full 8 months prior to the actual invasion. The Times of London recently got their hands on it and published it in full. Despite being acknowledged as accurate, this has received little to no coverage in North American media.
Some choice excerpts:
"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."
"The Defence Secretary said that the US had already begun "spikes of activity" to put pressure on the regime. No decisions had been taken, but he thought the most likely timing in US minds for military action to begin was January, with the timeline beginning 30 days before the US Congressional elections."
I find it quite outrageous that a war would be planned to coincide with an election, in order to boost the Republican party's chance of success.
Read the full Downing Street Memo here.
UPDATE 10:30PM: It looks like the CBC has picked up the story. Interestingly, they focus on the postwar planning passages instead of the manipulation of intelligence to justify the war. I guess in the US, the concept of the President lying to get his invasion is too unthinkable to publish. To the rest of the world, it is no longer news.
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