BREAKING: Another Bombshell from Downing Street

BREAKING: Another Bombshell from Downing Street
June 12, 2005

Ministers were told of need for Gulf war excuse
Michael Smith

MINISTERS were warned in July 2002 that Britain was committed to taking part in an American-led invasion of Iraq and they had no choice but to find a way of making it legal.

The warning, in a leaked Cabinet Office briefing paper, said Tony Blair had already agreed to back military action to get rid of Saddam Hussein at a summit at the Texas ranch of President George W Bush three months earlier.

The briefing paper, for participants at a meeting of Blair's inner circle on July 23, 2002, said that since regime change was illegal it was necessary to create the conditions which would make it legal.

This was required because, even if ministers decided Britain should not take part in an invasion, the American military would be using British bases. This would automatically make Britain complicit in any illegal US action.

US plans assume, as a minimum, the use of British bases in Cyprus and Diego Garcia, the briefing paper warned. This meant that issues of legality would arise virtually whatever option ministers choose with regard to UK participation.

The paper was circulated to those present at the meeting, among whom were Blair, Geoff Hoon, then defence secretary, Jack Straw, the foreign secretary, and Sir Richard Dearlove, then chief of MI6. The full minutes of the meeting were published last month in The Sunday Times.

The document said the only way the allies could justify military action was to place Saddam Hussein in a position where he ignored or rejected a United Nations ultimatum ordering him to co-operate with the weapons inspectors. But it warned this would be difficult.

It is just possible that an ultimatum could be cast in terms which Saddam would reject, the document says. But if he accepted it and did not attack the allies, they would be most unlikely to obtain the legal justification they needed.

The suggestions that the allies use the UN to justify war contradicts claims by Blair and Bush, repeated during their Washington summit last week, that they turned to the UN in order to avoid having to go to war. The attack on Iraq finally began in March 2003.

The briefing paper is certain to add to the pressure, particularly on the American president, because of the damaging revelation that Bush and Blair agreed on regime change in April 2002 and then looked for a way to justify it.

There has been a growing storm of protest in America, created by last month�s publication of the minutes in The Sunday Times. A host of citizens, including many internet bloggers, have demanded to know why the Downing Street memo (often shortened to the DSM on websites) has been largely ignored by the US mainstream media.

The White House has declined to respond to a letter from 89 Democratic congressmen asking if it was true as Dearlove told the July meeting that the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy in Washington.

The Downing Street memo burst into the mainstream American media only last week after it was raised at a joint Bush-Blair press conference, forcing the prime minister to insist that �the facts were not fixed in any shape or form at all.

John Conyers, the Democratic congressman who drafted the letter to Bush, has now written to Dearlove asking him to say whether or not it was accurate that he believed the intelligence was being fixed around the policy. He also asked the former MI6 chief precisely when Bush and Blair had agreed to invade Iraq and whether it is true they agreed to manufacture the UN ultimatum in order to justify the war.

He and other Democratic congressmen plan to hold their own inquiry this Thursday with witnesses including Joe Wilson, the American former ambassador who went to Niger to investigate claims that Iraq was seeking to buy uranium ore for its nuclear weapons programme.

Frustrated at the refusal by the White House to respond to their letter, the congressmen have set up a website www.downingstreetmemo.com to collect signatures on a petition demanding the same answers.

Conyers promised to deliver it to Bush once it reached 250,000 signatures. By Friday morning it already had more than 500,000 with as many as 1m expected to have been obtained when he delivers it to the White House on Thursday.

AfterDowningStreet.org, another website set up as a result of the memo, is calling for a congressional committee to consider whether Bush's actions as depicted in the memo constitute grounds for impeachment.

It has been flooded with visits from people angry at what they see as media self-censorship in ignoring the memo. It claims to have attracted more than 1m hits a day.

Democrats.com, another website, even offered $1,000 (about 550) to any journalist who quizzed Bush about the memo�s contents, although the Reuters reporter who asked the question last Tuesday was not aware of the reward and has no intention of claiming it.

The complaints of media self-censorship have been backed up by the ombudsmen of The Washington Post, The New York Times and National Public Radio, who have questioned the lack of attention the minutes have received from their organisations.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1650822,00.html
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Sen. Kennedy speaks out on Downing Street Memo: 'Twisted intelligence; Distorted facts'

RAW STORY

The following was released by Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) on the Downing Street Minutes this morning. Kennedy becomes the first senator to raise the issue in the Senate, after earlier reports that Massachusetts' junior senator, John Kerry, would speak about the minutes in Washington.
http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Kennedy_speaks_out_on_Downing_Street_Memo_Twisted_intelligence_Distorted_f_0607.html

No one is above the law guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States.

The Founding Fathers of the United States Constitution especially included an impeachment clause for high officers who violate the principles of the Constitution as stated in Article II Section 4

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.

Alexander Hamilton asserted that an impeachment was warranted for "those offences which proceed from the misconduct of public men, or, in other words, from the abuse or violation of some public trust as they relate chiefly to injuries done immediately to the society itself." And James Madison at Virginia�s ratification convention stated: A President is impeachable if he attempts to subvert the Constitution.

As fact after fact come forth revealing the truths of the Iraq War and a democracy turning into a tyranny behind the mask of wartime necessity, President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard B. Cheney have continuously abused their powers, abused public trust, and violated the constitutional principles in an attempt to subvert the Constitution. The American people and the Congress can now hold the President and the Vice President accountable for their misconduct and unconstitutional actions against the United States of America.

Besides violating the Presidential Oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution (Article II Section 1) and violating his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed (Article II Section 3), George W. Bush along with Richard Cheney stand to be impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors and for violating the following Articles and Bill of Rights of the United States Constitution:

manipulated intelligence and media so as to allege falsely a national security threat posed by Iraq

provided a forged document dated October 2000, describing the sale of uranium to Iraq by Niger to the International Atomic Energy Commission and used that sale in the State of the Union Address

(TRUTH: CIA claimed that Bush knew beforehand that the document was bogus.)

justified war against Iraq by providing false information, including weapons of mass destruction (WMD)

Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised." Bush's Address to the Nation (March 17, 2003)

"Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction. There is no doubt he is amassing them to use against our friends, against our allies, and against us." Cheney's Speech at Veterans of Foreign Wars 103rd National Convention (August 26, 2002)

(TRUTH: No WMD)

misled the nation to believe Iraq was linked to the terrorist attacks of September 11th by Al-Qaeda

"He (Saddam Hussein) was a threat because he had used weapons of mass destruction against his own people. He was a threat because he was a sworn enemy to the United States of America, just like Al-Qaeda. He was a threat because he had terrorist connections not only Al-Qaeda connections, but other connections to terrorist organizations." Bush (New York Times 6-18-2004)

�If we�re successful in Iraqwe will have struck a major blow right at the heart of the base, if you will, the geographic base of the terrorists who have had us under the assault now for many years, but most especially on 9/11. Cheney (Meet The Press 9-14-2003)

(TRUTH: Commission Investigation Report on Sept. 11 terrorist attacks found no collaborative relationship between Iraq and the Al-Qaeda terrorists. The only relationship was that Al-Qaeda contacted Iraq for support but was rejected. Al-Qaeda terrorists didn't operate in Iraq until after the invasion by the U.S. military forces.)

deceived the Congress on the rationale for a war of aggression against Iraq and miscarried the action of the Congress
(Violation of the Federal Anti-conspiracy Statute, 18 U.S.C. 371 and The False Statements Accountability Act of 1996, 18 U.S.C. 1001)

submitted a false report and a letter (March 18, 2003) to the United States Congress on the reasons for launching a pre-emptive attack on Iraq (Downing Street Memo, dated July 23, 2002, revealed that by the summer of 2002, President Bush had decided to launch a war against Iraq with the justification of terrorism and WMD based on fixed facts and intelligence.)

(Violation of Article 1 Section 8)

(TRUTH: The Oct. 2002 resolution passed by the Congress gave Bush the authority �to take action in order to deter and prevent acts of international terrorism against the United States. The resolution never granted the president authority to declare war on Iraq. In fact, only Congress can declare war for the United States.)

(Violation of Article II Section 3)

shifted money allocated by Congress for the war in Afghanistan to the war in Iraq. (President can only execute the laws passed by Congress.)

ignoring the executive duty to protect the American citizens and the country

failed as leaders in their dereliction of duty in preventing September 11 terrorist attacks

(Commission Investigation Report on September 11 terrorist attacks noted that Bush Administration received heightened warnings of possible terrorist attacks in the summer of 2001 and a presidential daily briefing (August 6, 2001 a month before the September 11) regarding an imminent terrorist attack on U.S. soil.)

(Violation of Bill of Rights: Fifth Amendment)

denying the citizen�s constitutional rights for a fair trial

(Confining American citizens without charges and denying their fundamental rights for due process of law.)

diverting military resources from pursuing known terrorists in Afghanistan

(As the Commander-in-Chief, Bush diverted military resources from Afghanistan to Iraq. Instead of conducting an all-out effort in pursuing known terrorists, such as Osama Bin Laden who have repeatedly attacked the United States of America, the U.S. military forces were diverted to invade and occupy Iraq. To this day, Osama Bin Laden remains at large and still a threat.)

waging an illegal war in Iraq

(Violation of Article VI)

defied the decisions of the United Nations against attacking Iraq is a violation of the UN Charter

(Violation of Article VI)

committing a war of aggression is a violation of the Nuremberg Charter

(killing and injuring hundred thousands of civilians)

(TRUTH: By violating the International Laws that the U.S. agreed to by treaty, Bush has violated the �supreme Law of the Land.)

(Violation of Article VI and Article III Section 3)

authorizing the use of torture on detainees in prison camps, such as the infamous Iraq's Abu Ghraib and Cuba's Guantanamo Bay

(As the Commander-in-Chief, Bush is accountable for the U.S. military personnel in violating the Geneva Convention and the U.S. Constitution against torture ratified in 1994.)

(TRUTH: Since Bush�s declaration of Mission Accomplished at the end of Iraq war two years ago, the deaths and injuries of U.S. soldiers and Iraqis continue to climb every day. Despite a newly established Iraqi government, Iraq remains unstable and its future unclear.)

In the last thirty-one years, considering the two previous presidential impeachments Richard Nixon charged for obstructing justice, abuse of powers, and unlawful refusal to supply material subpoenaed by the House of Representatives; Bill Clinton charged for perjury and obstruction of justice George Bush certainly warrants an impeachment not only for his lengthy list but also for the severity of the impeachable offenses.

Although Cheney keeps a low profile, he has worked behind the scenes as one of the most powerful vice presidents, regarded as a driving force behind the Iraq war and the Bush administration's energy policy, according to the White House insiders. He withheld the details of his energy task force meetings with energy industry leaders to help formulate the administration's national energy policy. He denied that he played any role in awarding a billion-dollar business contract to Halliburton, where Cheney was chief executive from 1995 to 2000. He has shaped the administration's strategy in the war on terrorism. Undoubtedly, Cheney's shadow looms larger than Bush's presence in the Oval Office.

Along with their own 2004 and 2000 elections under the suspicion of fraud, George W. Bush and Richard B. Cheney at the helm of the administration, have led this nation to an illegal and ongoing war, economic disaster, environmental decline, and international disgrace.

It's time for the American people to speak out. It's time for the Congress to do their duty. It's time for the American people, through the representatives of the Congress, to impeach the President and the Vice President of the United States.

Copyright 2005 UniOrb
http://uniorb.com/RCHECK/Rimpeach.htm