FOR THE RECORD….I see that good ‘ol Knight Ridder has finally picked up on the July 2002 “Downing Street Memo” that the Sunday Times published last Sunday. They also got some U.S. confirmation that it was accurate:
A highly classified British memo, leaked in the midst of Britain’s just-concluded election campaign, indicates that President Bush decided to overthrow Iraqi President Saddam Hussein by summer 2002 and was determined to ensure that U.S. intelligence data supported his policy.
…. A former senior U.S. official called it “an absolutely accurate description of what transpired” during the senior British intelligence officer’s visit to Washington. He spoke on condition of anonymity.
Look, I know this isn’t going to change anything at this point. We’ve already spent months on the issue of intelligence manipulation and nobody really seems to care all that much. But it would still be nice for the American media to report this stuff just for the record.
According to the memo, the bottom line is this: By the summer of 2002 George Bush had already decided on war regardless of Saddam Hussein’s actions; democracy promotion was not even mentioned in passing as a reason for the war; postwar reconstruction was an issue of no concern; and the “marketing campaign” for the war was deliberately timed to coincide with midterm elections.
Just for the record.
