“We spent a long time at dinner on Iraq. It is clear that Bush is grateful for your (Blair) support and has registered that you are getting flak. I said that you would not budge in your support for regime change but you had to manage a press, a Parliament and a public opinion that was very different than anything in the States. And you would not budge either in your insistence that, if we pursued regime change, it must be very carefully done and produce the right result. Failure was not an option.”

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“US scrambling to establish a link between Iraq and Al Qaida is so far frankly unconvincing. To get public and Parliamentary support for military operations, we have to be convincing that the threat is so serious/imminent that it is worth sending out troops to die for; it is qualitatively different from the threat posed by other proliferators who are closer to achieving nuclear capability (including Iran).”

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“We can make the case on qualitative difference (only Iraq has attacked a neighbour, used CW and fired missiles against Israel). The overall strategy needs to include re-doubled effort to tackle other proliferators, including Iran, in other ways (the UK/French ideas on greater IAEA activity are helpful here). But we are still left with a problem of bringing public opinion to accept the imminence of a threat from Iraq. This is something the Prime Minister and President need to have a frank discussion about.”

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“The second problem is the END STATE. Military operations need clear and compelling military objectives. For Kosovo, it was: Serbs out, Kosovars back, peace-keepers in. For Afghanistan, destroying the Taleban and Al Qaida military capability. For Iraq, “regime change” does not stack up. It sounds like a grudge between Bush and Saddam.”

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“Since 1991, our objective has been to re-integrate a law-abiding Iraq which does not possess WMD or threaten its neighbours, into the international community. Implicitly, this cannot occur with Saddam Hussein in power.”

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“Despite sanctions, Iraq continues to develop WMD, although our intelligence is poor. Saddam has used WMD in the past and could do so again if his regime were threatened, though there is no greater threat now than in recent years that Saddam will use WMD.”

Did you also discuss this from the memos:

---that it was clear that both British and American officials believed Saddam had wmd's?

--that they feared he would use them again?

--that he was a destabilizing force in the Middle East?

--that they admitted that containment was no longer working?

--that just as Pres. Bush has told us many times...........9/11 changed
everything and made the risk intolerable?


You guys are PURPOSEFULLY leaving many things that are in those Downing Street Memos OUT!!! Why is that????

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"What exactly is this foreign policy experience?" Obama said mockingly of the New York senator. "Was she negotiating treaties? Was she handling crises? The answer is no."

lol, go back to sleep

Yeah. YOU wish.

Sorry......but more of us are awake on this than you think!

Too bad for you.

__________________
"What exactly is this foreign policy experience?" Obama said mockingly of the New York senator. "Was she negotiating treaties? Was she handling crises? The answer is no."

Take him to court and let's move on.

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Those who think they know everything, usually know the least.

I agree with you that bush is a criminal and we need to move on.

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I've been informed....don't blame Bush, he's "not in control"
That must make him out of control

Moving on with a criminal still in the oval office is not acceptable.

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I shall continue to be an impossible person as long as those who are now possible remain possible.
HuffPo's Off The Bus campaign coverage project....Off The Bus Blog

If you think that there are "many things that are in those Downing Street Memos" that we "guys are PURPOSEFULLY leaving OUT", then why don't you actually quote the relevant paragraphs like Clara did instead of spewing a bunch of idiotic, baseless drivel that you've made up out of your own fantasies.

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"Everybody's worried about stopping terrorism. Well, there's a really easy way: stop participating in it. " --Noam Chomsky

Having actually read the Downing Street Memos, which I'm guessing that few here can honestly claim, I can assure you they were well aware, and admitted fully that on the issue of WMD "the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy" (paragraph 2) and that "Saddam was not threatening his neighbours, and his WMD capability was less than that of Libya, North Korea or Iran" (paragraph 11).


I would think the intolerable risk would the risk of terrorist attacks, which increased substantially worldwide after we went into Iraq. Unlike Iraq, Afghanistan was being used as a safe-haven for the most powerful terrorist organization in the world. When we decided to go into Iraq, however, we spread our resources so thin that we were unable to effectively deal with Afghanistan, and we still don't have Osama Bin Laden; not that it would matter, because by going into Iraq we've given Al Qaeda so much relaxing time they've been able to effectively decentralize.

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"Nothing is true. Everything is permitted." - Hassan-i-Saba

Proving that there were only "plans".....not yet an actual decision to go to war:

1) US Military Planning
6. Although no political decisions have been taken, US military planners have drafted options for the US Government to undertake an invasion of Iraq."

Proving that both the U.S. and the Brits believed Saddam would not cooperate....as he had not done for 12 years. And they were ultimately right on this point:

]2) 13. In practice, facing pressure of military action, Saddam is likely to admit weapons inspectors as a means of forestalling it. But once admitted, he would not allow them to operate freely."[/b]

Proving that they believed Iraq was still developing wmd and that sanctions were not working:

3) Despite sanctions, Iraq continues to develop wmd, although our intelligence is poor.

Proving they believed Saddam's regime was a threat:

4) Saddam's brutal regime remains in power and destablizes the Arab and wider Islamic world.

Those are direct quotes.

__________________
"What exactly is this foreign policy experience?" Obama said mockingly of the New York senator. "Was she negotiating treaties? Was she handling crises? The answer is no."