just thought this is very interesting article ... which helps support all those believers that think the war was not about terrorism and WMD…. I know this subject has been beaten to death in D&D…however I think this is huge evidence (IMHO)…. They even had an interesting Documentary on BBC all about these documents….. and they discussed how these documents were used to support war…its amazing how in politics the powerful get away with such things………..I’m also surprised CNN actually posted this article….. http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/05/11/britain.war.memo/index.html Bush asked to explain UK war memo Wednesday, May 11, 2005 Posted: 7:36 PM EDT (2336 GMT) WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Eighty-nine Democratic members of the U.S. Congress last week sent President George W. Bush a letter asking for explanation of a secret British memo that said "intelligence and facts were being fixed" to support the Iraq war in mid-2002 -- well before the president brought the issue to Congress for approval. The Times of London newspaper published the memo -- actually minutes of a high-level meeting on Iraq held July 23, 2002 -- on May 1. British officials did not dispute the document's authenticity, and Michael Boyce, then Britain's Chief of Defense Staff, told the paper that Britain had not then made a decision to follow the United States to war, but it would have been "irresponsible" not to prepare for the possibility. The White House has not yet responded to queries about the congressional letter, which was released on May 6. The letter, initiated by Rep. John Conyers, ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, said the memo "raises troubling new questions regarding the legal justifications for the war as well as the integrity of your own administration. ... "While various individuals have asserted this to be the case before, including Paul O'Neill, former U.S. Treasury Secretary, and Richard Clarke, a former National Security Council official, they have been previously dismissed by your administration," the letter said. But, the letter said, when the document was leaked Prime Minister Tony Blair's spokesman called it "nothing new." In addition to Blair, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon, Attorney General Peter Goldsmith, MI6 chief Richard Dearlove and others attended the meeting. A British official identified as "C" said that he had returned from a meeting in Washington and that "military action was now seen as inevitable" by U.S. officials. "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 NSC had no patience with the U.N. route, and no enthusiasm for publishing material on the Iraqi regime's record. There was little discussion in Washington of the aftermath after military action." The memo further discussed the military options under consideration by the United States, along with Britain's possible role. It quoted Hoon as saying the United States had not finalized a timeline, but that it would likely begin "30 days before the U.S. congressional elections," culminating with the actual attack in January 2003. "It seemed clear that Bush had made up his mind to take military action, even if the timing was not yet decided," the memo said. "But the case was thin. Saddam was not threatening his neighbors, and his WMD capability was less than that of Libya, North Korea or Iran." The British officials determined to push for an ultimatum for Saddam to allow U.N. weapons inspectors back into Iraq to "help with the legal justification for the use of force ... despite U.S. resistance." Britain's attorney general, Peter Goldsmith, advised the group that "the desire for regime change was not a legal base for military action" and two of three possible legal bases -- self-defense and humanitarian intervention -- could not be used. The third was a U.N. Security Council resolution, which Goldsmith said "would be difficult." Blair thought that "it would make a big difference politically and legally if Saddam refused to allow in the U.N. inspectors." "If the political context were right, people would support regime change," the memo said. Later, the memo said, Blair would work to convince Bush that they should pursue the ultimatum with Saddam even though "many in the U.S. did not think it worth going down the ultimatum route."
Yeah, LYAO. The president is a joke. Read the article. W04 the people have spoken, indeed. And they elected a confirmed and proven liar. Way to be! That particular joke's a lot sadder than anything you might think about some TV network. Keep smiling though. I know you will.
Ramsey Clark, the former Attorney General of the United States, has also launched a campaign (not affiliated with impeach-bush-now.org) to impeach members of the Bush Administration. See Ramsey Clark's website, and sign the petition at: http://www.votetoimpeach.org Articles of Impeachment of President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard B. Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, and Attorney General John David Ashcroft The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors. - - ARTICLE II, SECTION 4 OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA President George W. Bush, Vice President Richard B. Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, and Attorney General John David Ashcroft have committed violations and subversions of the Constitution of the United States of America in an attempt to carry out with impunity crimes against peace and humanity and war crimes and deprivations of the civil rights of the people of the United States and other nations, by assuming powers of an imperial executive unaccountable to law and usurping powers of the Congress, the Judiciary and those reserved to the people of the United States, by the following acts: 1) Seizing power to wage wars of aggression in defiance of the U.S. Constitution, the U.N. Charter and the rule of law; carrying out a massive assault on and occupation of Iraq, a country that was not threatening the United States, resulting in the death and maiming of tens of thousands of Iraqis, and hundreds of U.S. G.I.s. 2) Lying to the people of the U.S., to Congress, and to the U.N., providing false and deceptive rationales for war. 3) Authorizing, ordering and condoning direct attacks on civilians, civilian facilities and locations where civilian casualties were unavoidable. 4) Threatening the independence and sovereignty of Iraq by belligerently changing its government by force and assaulting Iraq in a war of aggression. 4) Authorizing, ordering and condoning assassinations, summary executions, kidnappings, secret and other illegal detentions of individuals, torture and physical and psychological coercion of prisoners to obtain false statements concerning acts and intentions of governments and individuals and violating within the United States, and by authorizing U.S. forces and agents elsewhere, the rights of individuals under the First, Fourth, Fifth, sixth and Eighth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. 5) Making, ordering and condoning false statements and propaganda about the conduct of foreign governments and individuals and acts by U.S. government personnel; manipulating the media and foreign governments with false information; concealing information vital to public discussion and informed judgment concerning acts, intentions and possession, or efforts to obtain weapons of mass destruction in order to falsely create a climate of fear and destroy opposition to U.S. wars of aggression and first strike attacks. 6) Violations and subversions of the Charter of the United Nations and international law, both a part of the "Supreme Law of the land" under Article VI, paragraph 2, of the Constitution, in an attempt to commit with impunity crimes against peace and humanity and war crimes in wars and threats of aggression against Afghanistan, Iraq and others and usurping powers of the United Nations and the peoples of its nations by bribery, coercion and other corrupt acts and by rejecting treaties, committing treaty violations, and frustrating compliance with treaties in order to destroy any means by which international law and institutions can prevent, affect, or adjudicate the exercise of U.S. military and economic power against the international community. 7) Acting to strip United States citizens of their constitutional and human rights, ordering indefinite detention of citizens, without access to counsel, without charge, and without opportunity to appear before a civil judicial officer to challenge the detention, based solely on the discretionary designation by the Executive of a citizen as an "enemy combatant." 8) Ordering indefinite detention of non-citizens in the United States and elsewhere, and without charge, at the discretionary designation of the Attorney General or the Secretary of Defense. 9) Ordering and authorizing the Attorney General to override judicial orders of release of detainees under INS jurisdiction, even where the judicial officer after full hearing determines a detainee is wrongfully held by the government. 10) Authorizing secret military tribunals and summary execution of persons who are not citizens who are designated solely at the discretion of the Executive who acts as indicting official, prosecutor and as the only avenue of appellate relief. 11) Refusing to provide public disclosure of the identities and locations of persons who have been arrested, detained and imprisoned by the U.S. government in the United States, including in response to Congressional inquiry. 12) Use of secret arrests of persons within the United States and elsewhere and denial of the right to public trials. 13) Authorizing the monitoring of confidential attorney-client privileged communications by the government, even in the absence of a court order and even where an incarcerated person has not been charged with a crime. 14) Ordering and authorizing the seizure of assets of persons in the United States, prior to hearing or trial, for lawful or innocent association with any entity that at the discretionary designation of the Executive has been deemed "terrorist." 15) Institutionalization of racial and religious profiling and authorization of domestic spying by federal law enforcement on persons based on their engagement in noncriminal religious and political activity. 16) Refusal to provide information and records necessary and appropriate for the constitutional right of legislative oversight of executive functions. 17) Rejecting treaties protective of peace and human rights and abrogation of the obligations of the United States under, and withdrawal from, international treaties and obligations without consent of the legislative branch, and including termination of the ABM treaty between the United States and Russia, and rescission of the authorizing signature from the Treaty of Rome which served as the basis for the International Criminal Court. Sign the petition today. Contact your local representitives.
Let's see: Impeaching a president for not calling a blowjob sex. Or to impeach a president who lied to the American people so he can invade a sovereign nation on false pretenses leading to the deaths of over 1,600 American soldiers with no end in sight! So for everyone who wanted Clinton impeached, ask yourself, if he deserved it how does this compare.
The apologists will counter that it wasn't about the sex but lying under oath. And Jr wasn't under oath and was mislead on the intelligence, so it doesn't compare.
Well you say you got the blues, Got holes in both of your shoes, Feelin alone and confused, You got to keep on smilin, keep on smilin Yeah, you're about to go insane, Cause your womans playing games And she says that you're to blame, You got to keep on smilin, keep on smilin Keep on smilin through the rain, laughin at the pain Rollin with the changes til the sun comes out again Keep on smilin through the rain, laughin at the pain Rollin with the changes, singin this refrain Singin in a honky tonk cafe, Nobody's hearin what you play, They're too busy drinkin anyway, You got to keep on smilin, keep on smilin Brother keep on smiling You say you found a piece of land Gonna change from city boy to country man Try to build your life with your hands You got to keep on smilin, keep on smilin You're just hangin out in a local bar, And you're wonderin who the hell you are Are you a bum or are you a star?
This is a very interesting thread. Here is what it would look like to an outsider A Huge Headline reades: Concrete Evidence Found Showing That The U.S. President Lied to the American People in Order To Start a War. Anti-war crowd: Well there is the proof. It is a sad day when our Nation which has always tried to be beacon of justice, freedom, and truth in the world, starts a war based on lies. How does the leader get away with it? Pro War supporter 1: Remember when a producer got burned on a single news news story? Pro War Supporter 2: Yeah that was a riot. (other war supporters laugh loudly and point at the anti-war crowd) Pro War Supporter 3: What about this new memo, though? Pro War Supporter1: What about it? What is the big deal? (sarcastically Should I be concerned? Is this really such a bad thing? Pro War Supporter 3: Yeah, your right. We were lied to, and we bought it hook line and sinker. Now we are shown we were wrong the whole time. That is hilarious All war supporters laugh uproariously
FB -- remember the team nature of politics...and how difficult it is for anyone to admit they were duped or that they were wrong. even if they did see it as you do, those are obstacles. it is not comfortable for me to come to grips with the concepts behind some of what we're learning here. i'm doing it...but it's not easy.
Biggest story of my life: 2 years after the fact, the liberals are still debating amongst themselves whether we should invade Iraq. Hilarious. While we're at it, why not debate whether we should send a man to the moon. Nah, I don't have time. I'm too busy debating myself whether or not I should log on to the internet today.
