Snow Job

Today we get word of even more proof, as if we needed it, that George Bush and his pals were ready to go to war in Iraq long before they admitted it publicly, that the predetermined the date of invasion, and that they were dreaming up ways to provoke Saddam into starting the war so they didn't have to. You wouldn't do that unless you considered an invasion illegitimate, or at least thought the international community would do so.

It also appears to assert that BushCo knew they would find no WMD:

At their meeting, Mr. Bush and Mr. Blair candidly expressed their doubts that chemical, biological or nuclear weapons would be found in Iraq in the coming weeks, the memo said. The president spoke as if an invasion was unavoidable. The two leaders discussed a timetable for the war, details of the military campaign and plans for the aftermath of the war.

Without much elaboration, the memo also says the president raised three possible ways of provoking a confrontation. Since they were first reported last month, neither the White House nor the British government has discussed them.

"The U.S. was thinking of flying U2 reconnaissance aircraft with fighter cover over Iraq, painted in U.N. colours," the memo says, attributing the idea to Mr. Bush. "If Saddam fired on them, he would be in breach."

It also described the president as saying, "The U.S. might be able to bring out a defector who could give a public presentation about Saddam's W.M.D," referring to weapons of mass destruction.

A brief clause in the memo refers to a third possibility, mentioned by Mr. Bush, a proposal to assassinate Saddam Hussein. The memo does not indicate how Mr. Blair responded to the idea.

Like the article says, this information has been known for at least two months, published in a book called Lawless World. Still, to get a picture of the almost casual chatter at this meeting, to see all the assumptions coming from BushCo which have now been proven ridiculous, to see these two small stupid men discussing invasions and provocations and schemes like two teenagers looking at a Risk board is most disturbing. If you were paying attention in 2002 and 2003 you knew this was going on behind the scenes. You knew that the official statements, like this one which came out thirty minutes after the events described in this memo, were horseshit:

Q Mr. President, an account of the White House after 9/11 says that you ordered invasion plans for Iraq six days after September the 11th -- Bob Woodward's account. Isn't it the case that you have always intended war on Iraq, and that international diplomacy is a charade in this case?

THE PRESIDENT: Actually, prior to September the 11th, we were discussing smart sanctions. We were trying to fashion a sanction regime that would make it more likely to be able to contain somebody like Saddam Hussein. After September the 11th, the doctrine of containment just doesn't hold any water, as far as I'm concerned.

I've told you the strategic vision of our country shifted dramatically, and it shifted dramatically because we now recognize that oceans no longer protect us, that we're vulnerable to attack. And the worst form of attack could come from somebody acquiring weapons of mass destruction and using them on the American people, or the worst attack could come when somebody uses weapons of mass destruction on our friends in Great Britain….

And so, no, quite the contrary. My vision shifted dramatically after September the 11th, because I now realize the stakes. I realize the world has changed. My most important obligation is to protect the American people from further harm. And I will do that.

He said pretty much the same thing last week when grilled by Helen Thomas at a press conference. He repeatedly said he hadn't made up his mind on war leading up to the invasion. It was dishonest. And maybe it all unraveled into what you're seeing today BECAUSE it was so dishonest. If you're going to war simply because you want to, then postwar concerns about reconstruction and interim governments and democracy promotion really aren't that important. The idea is just to go to war, and that cavalier attitude, the unseriousness of it all (thinking we could bait Saddam with U2 planes with the UN flag painted on them? Are you kidding me?), has led to the chaos over there today, a hot civil war right in the middle of the most dangerous region in the world.

This whole thing is like running into a brick wall, of course. The White House is not going to admit to the patently obvious, and no amount of evidence will convince the rubber stamp Congress to engage in oversight. We have November and that's about all to hang our hat on that there will be an actual reckoning of the way in which this President took us into this war.