The Downing Street Conspiracy

by Marie

July 2002. The highest levels of the British Government were briefed on where the Bush Administration then stood on the issue of Iraq. It was fairly simple:

1) Bush had decided to remove Saddam by force.
2) Bush would sell the military action to Americans with the conjunction of WMD and terrorism.
The Downing Street Conspiracy
3) The facts on WMD and terrorism didn’t support the use of force against Iraq.
4) Therefore, the Bush Administration was manipulating the facts.

There is no record in the Downing Street Memo that any of participants in the meeting were shocked at these revelations. Ho hum -- getting tipped off that one country has decided to wage war against another country is no big deal. Or maybe that was not news to most of them. The problem for the Brits was that Blair had committed to support Bush and the Brits were not as cavalier as Bush about ignoring International Law. They then plotted on how to make a war with Iraq legal. They considered two options:

1) Get Saddam to attack the US.
2) Get authorization from the UN.

They postulated that the second could be accomplished by getting a new UN resolution for weapons inspection of Iraq. They figured that Saddam would not comply with it and thus clear the way for UN to authorize war.

Everybody knows that Blair urged GWB to seek UN authorization; therefore, it’s not a stretch to conclude that Blair presented his roadmap to Iraq to GWB. Was Bush not content to rely solely on option #2? Does that explain why the US also began covert bombing of Iraq while publicly acting as if we were working though the UN? Was it an attempt to get Saddam to respond by attacking US plans or installations in the Mid-East?

Saddam didn’t take the bait. The UN weapons inspectors were allowed back in and no shots were fired at the US. This sort of put Bush and Blair between a rock and a hard place. December 2002 is when Tenet uttered his famous statement, “It’s a slam dunk.” He was talking about the new, improved and more damning report on Iraq WMD that Bush needed to take back to the UN to get that authorization for war. Colin Powell, ever the good little GOP toady soldier, was dispatched to present the bushel barrel of lies. Like Saddam, the UN didn’t bite.

So, the Downing Street Conspiracy wasn’t successful. However, the crime of conspiracy is not dependent on the outcome. Blair and his team are guilty of a conspiracy to dupe the UN into authorizing a war. The sequence of events from September 2002 through January 2002 demonstrates that Bush and his team joined the conspiracy, and one day documentation or testimony from one of the conspirators will prove this. Failing to secure the veneer of legality, Bush and Blair then proceeded with Bush’s original plan to wage war illegally -- and neither can claim that that was open to question because the Downing Street Memo proves that they knew it no later than July 2002. Good going Tony -- with all your smarts you managed to increase the number of crimes you and your bosom buddy are guilty of. No wonder the poodle can’t collect any payback from Dim Son for his loyal service.