Hi Everyone,
An internal memo discussion the US rush to war has been leaked in London. The Times of London got a hold of the memo and has published it here. The memo is a report from a British Government official intended to brief the Prime Minister and other ministers. Highlights include a report that Bush administration officials were basing their timing of military operations around the U.S. Congressional elections (supporting claims by Democrats that Republicans were using the war for political purposes), that intelligence was "being fixed" by Bush administration officials to make it better conform to their justification for war. Despite recognizing these weaknesses in the Bush case, the Blair government was working on the assumption that British troops would participate right from the start.
CNN is reporting that 89 Democrats in Congress have written a letter to President Bush insisting that he explain the memo. I would point out here that if the Democrats had a majority, or if the President doing this stuff were a Democrat, we would be having impeachment hearings now if not back in 2003.
The facts reported in the memo are not new or really surprising. However, their source is new. The quality and quantity of evidence supporting the accusations that Bush was committed to war for political purposes rather than national security concerns is growing. Only the Republican majority in the Congress is preventing a major political fight over this.
Any comments?
Thursday, May 12, 2005
Bush's Rush to War: The View From Whitehall
Posted by Raised By Republicans at 7:18 AM
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2 comments:
The Defence Secretary said that the US had already begun "spikes of activity" to put pressure on the regime. No decisions had been taken, but he thought the most likely timing in US minds for military action to begin was January, with the timeline beginning 30 days before the US Congressional elections.
This politicization of combat is as much a scandal as the rush to war!
// posted by LTG
I couldn't agree more!!
I'd also point out that many international relations scholars ("realists") like to assume that wars happen because they are in the best national interest of the countries involved. They further assume that domestic politics is not involved but only national security issues which apply regardless of the partisan identity of national leaders.
This memo would suggest that such an argument is complete hogwash. Again, it's not the first thing to refute "realism" but I like beating up on the unrealistic assumptions of "realism."
// posted by Raised By Republicans
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