The Smoking Gun Memo, the Pretext for War and the "Liberal Press"

[QuadsOverQuads]

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How can this be explained as anything but proof of a huge and effective propaganda system?

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Bingo.


q/q

[Il_Mostro]

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Tomgram: Mark Danner on the British Smoking-Gun Memo

In its June 9 issue (on sale this week), the New York Review of Books will be the first American print publication to publish the full British "smoking gun" document, the secret memorandum of the minutes of a meeting of Tony Blair's top advisors in July 2002, eight months before the Iraq War commenced. Leaked to the London Sunday Times, which first published it on May 1, the memo offers irrefutable proof of the way in which the Bush administration made its decision to invade Iraq -- without significant consultation, reasonable intelligence on Iraq, or any desire to explore ways to avoid war -- and well before seeking a Congressional or United Nations mandate of any sort.

By July, as the British officials reported, the decision to invade was already in the bag. The only real questions -- other than those involving war planning -- were how to organize the intelligence in such a way as to promote the war to come and how to finesse Congress (and the UN). While people often speak of the "road to war," in the case of the invasion of Iraq, as this document makes clear, a more accurate phrase might be "the bum's rush to war." The Review is also publishing an accompanying piece on the secret memo and what to make of it by their regular Iraq correspondent, Mark Danner, and its editors have been kind enough to allow Tomdispatch to distribute the piece early on-line.

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Read the full text here

[andyfox]

"By July, as the British officials reported, the decision to invade was already in the bag."

The decision to invade was in the bag when the Supreme Court made Bush president.

[player24]

After 9-11 President Bush stood up and told the world - "you are either with us, or you're against us". He warned every rogue nation that they had better help us clear up the terrorist threat - or else... Afghanistan didn't deal with the problems within their borders, so we did the job ourselves. Iraq was next in line to get the message. We (most everyone) believed that Sadaam had or was developing WMD and that he would not hesitate to transfer said weapons to terrorists. He thumbed his nose at us, and...now he gets the joke. The US didn't start the Iraqi war - the war started when Iraq invaded Kuwait...and the stalemate ended on 9-11. Iran best pay attention.

[LaggyLou]

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After 9-11 President Bush stood up and told the world - "you are either with us, or you're against us"

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Only a sith thinks in absolutes.

[kurto]

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We (most everyone) believed that Sadaam had or was developing WMD

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I would argue that this is wrong.

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The US didn't start the Iraqi war - the war started when Iraq invaded Kuwait...and the stalemate ended on 9-11.

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Its amazing to see people STILL linking Iraq to 9/11. Sigh.

[Il_Mostro]

In some cases propaganda works incredibly well.

[kurto]

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In some cases propaganda works incredibly well.

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Even when its been proven wrong, some still refuse to accept the truth.

Let's just say that a lot of Fox viewers still believed a year after 9/11 that the hijackers were Iraqis.

[andyfox]

We went after Afghanistan because that's where Al Qaeda was being given safe haven by the Taliban and we determined that Al Qaeda was responsible for 9-11.

We didn't invade Iraq because of 9-11. Many key members of the administration had called for the removal of Saddam Hussein for many years, most memorably in an open letter to President Clinton. When Bush appointed these people into positions of responsibility in his administration, it was a foregone conclusion that Hussein would be removed. 9/11 and the WMDs provided the pretext, not the reason. On 9/12, Wolfwowitz said we should invade Iraq whether or not Husssein had anything to do with 9/11.

I don't understand why people have such a hard time with this. All governments lie when they take their country into a war and when they prosecute the war.

[kurto]

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I don't understand why people have such a hard time with this. All governments lie when they take their country into a war and when they prosecute the war

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The people who like Bush actually believe he's an honest man. To maintain that belief, they have to pretty much fabricate their own reality. Having conversations with them can get pretty bizarre.