Saturday, June 11, 2005
Uh Oh! Bush & Blair Need A Plumber!
(Via a diary by KristyZ at Daily Kos)
Michael Smith of The Sunday Times has a sequel to the blog blockbuster "Downing Street Minutes" in an article entitled "Ministers were told of need for Gulf war ‘excuse’":
"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."
"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 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."
Those are the highlights...follow the leak link to find out more. Who knows how long it will take this new leak to surface in America's corporate media?
Meanwhile, thanks to the work of the Big Brass Alliance and all the groups associated with After Downing Street, The Downing Street Memo Website, and MoveOn.org, Congressman John Conyers' letter to Bush is nearing half-a-million signatures.
Conyers' hearing is scheduled for Thursday, unless Sensenbrenner cuts the power again.
And courtesy of The Heretik, here's a list of Big Brass Alliance blogs who took part in the latest blog swarm:
- Shakespeare's Sister, "Conyers Schedules Congressional Hearings on DSM"
- Republic of T, "Score 1 Hearing on DSM"
- Freiheit und Wissen, "Congressional Hearings Spell V-I-C-T-O-R-Y"
- The Heretik, "Downing Street: On Martyrs, Fools, and Flames"
- Poetic Leanings, "The snowball becomes a rolling mountain!"
- That Colored Fellas, "DSM Accountability Clears Another Hurdle"
- The Tattered Coat, "Smells Like Victory"
- Daily Pepper, "Big, Bigger, Biggest Brass Knuckles"
- Pam's House Blend, "Yes! Conyers Schedules Downing Street Minutes Hearings"
- The Funny Farm, "Late Breaking News"
- The Ruth Group, "Yahoo! Whoopee-ti-yi-yi yippie!"
- The Tattered Coat, "Conyers to Hold Downing Street Memo Hearings"
- The Green Knight, "Conyers Holds Hearings!"
- Loaded Mouth, "Congressional Hearings on the DSM? Yup!"
- Alternate Brain, "Shit Does Happen"
- Preemptive Karma, "Conyers to hold Congressional hearings on DSM"
- Liberty Street
- Guerilla Science, "House Democrats Plan Downing Street Minutes Hearing"
- Pissed On Politics, "For Immediate Release: The Downing Street Minutes"
- Rob Schumacher, "Downing Street Memo News You Won't Hear on CNN!"
- Why Are We Back in Iraq? "Downing Street Minutes 'Too Hot To Handle'"
- Thoughts of an Average Woman, "Hearings on Downing Street Memo"
- Stall Nine, "DSM odds and ends"
- PSoTD, "A General Note to America"
- The Snarky Cat, "Knight Ridder in Shining Downing Street Armor"
- The Heretik, "The Buzz From the Swarm
- Jeri Smith-Ready, "Latest DSM News"
- YellaDog, "This is Heart Stoppingly Terrifying"
- Factesque, "Welcome to My Bizarro World"
- Bear Castle, "Corporate Media: Who Cares?"
|
