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New 'Downing Street Memo' says Bush, Blair agreed on 'regime change' in 2002
SF Gate ^ | 6/14/05

Posted on 06/14/2005 7:41:25 AM PDT by areafiftyone

Is it a second Downing Street Memo -- or something even more damning for both the Bush administration and the government of British Prime Minister Tony Blair?

On May 1, Britain's Sunday Times broke the story of the now-infamous Downing Street Memo; that document, the minutes of a meeting of Blair's top advisers, showed that the prime minister had known, some eight months before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, that a war not authorized by the United Nations would be illegal for British troops to take part in. Now The Times has scooped its rivals again with the news -- and the text of -- a leaked, extremely secret British Cabinet Office briefing paper dated July 23, 2002.

Prepared for Blair and his closest advisers, this newly discovered document clearly states that "since regime change was illegal, it was 'necessary to create the conditions' which would make it legal."

The Times' news story, written by defense reporter Michael Smith, about the newly discovered, secret briefing paper noted that it had confirmed that 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." In his news article, Smith explained that fabricating conditions for going to war "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 U.S. action."

(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...


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1 posted on 06/14/2005 7:41:25 AM PDT by areafiftyone
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To: All

I don't think we Republicans should ignore this blatent attempt by the media and the Leftists to bring down Bush. We need to fight this!


2 posted on 06/14/2005 7:42:55 AM PDT by areafiftyone (Politicians Are Like Diapers, Both Need To Be Changed Often And For The Same Reason!)
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To: areafiftyone
It's a briefing paper? That would mean it is someone's view of the facts (or opinion) being given to his superiors. That isn't proof of anything.
3 posted on 06/14/2005 7:44:15 AM PDT by bnelson44
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To: areafiftyone

Hasn't regime change been the policy of the United States since 1998?

Do these morans take us for morons?


4 posted on 06/14/2005 7:44:35 AM PDT by Duke Nukum (Fiery the Angels rose & as they rose deep thunder roll'd around their shores)
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To: areafiftyone

What is the "United Nations"?


5 posted on 06/14/2005 7:44:37 AM PDT by Dallas59 (" I have a great team that is going to beat George W. Bush" John Kerry -2004)
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To: areafiftyone
showed that the prime minister had known, some eight months before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, that a war not authorized by the United Nations would be illegal for British troops to take part in.

Like this makes a lick of sense, given that Blair and Clinton bombed Kosovo and Serbia without UN approval.

6 posted on 06/14/2005 7:44:37 AM PDT by dirtboy (Drool overflowed my buffer...)
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To: areafiftyone

Wasn't "regime change" the official policy of the United States ever since 1994 or around there?


7 posted on 06/14/2005 7:45:00 AM PDT by rhc2000
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To: areafiftyone

LET'S SEE THE ACTUAL DOCS.


8 posted on 06/14/2005 7:45:04 AM PDT by marty60
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To: areafiftyone

This propaganda has already been discredited, even before it started. The British legal adviser said that although a UN resolution gave some legal justification, it was several years old, which put it into question. So they went back to the UN and got a new resolution.

The administration won't get bogged down in arguing over this, so it's up to the internet to straighten it out.


9 posted on 06/14/2005 7:46:10 AM PDT by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
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To: areafiftyone
...the now-infamous Downing Street Memo...

Only with the DU and kindred spirits.

10 posted on 06/14/2005 7:46:20 AM PDT by facedown (Armed in the Heartland)
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To: areafiftyone
When one document does not provide the desired results, dig up or produce another document. SOP for the left wing press.


With Howard Dean the dems have formally graduated from "disarray" to "debacle", with "irretrievable disaster" just around the corner.

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11 posted on 06/14/2005 7:46:36 AM PDT by speed_addiction ( Somethings gnaw on a man worse'n dyin'!)
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To: areafiftyone
I don't think we Republicans should ignore this blatent attempt by the media and the Leftists to bring down Bush

Now there's another Downing Street Memo?

This attempt to bring down Bush and Blair has reached the point of parody. It looks contrived, and, frankly, nobody cares about it anymore.

The White House should say nothing more about any of this.

12 posted on 06/14/2005 7:47:00 AM PDT by sinkspur (If you want unconditional love with skin, and hair and a warm nose, get a shelter dog.)
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To: areafiftyone
Authorization? What by a bunch of UNELECTED despots from tin horn dictatorships "authorizing"???

I don't care to be "authorized" by anyone the American electorate didn't "authorize"!

13 posted on 06/14/2005 7:47:03 AM PDT by Bob Eimiller (Kerry, Kennedy, Pelosi, Leahy, Kucinich, Durbin Pro Abort Catholics Excommunication?)
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To: marty60
LET'S SEE THE ACTUAL DOCS.

Microsoft Word with British English default grammar being queued up as we speak...

14 posted on 06/14/2005 7:47:09 AM PDT by frogjerk
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To: marty60

The doc was released and discussed yesterday or the day before on one of the blogs. There's a thread here somewhere. The actual text of the memo completely discredits this leftist propaganda.


15 posted on 06/14/2005 7:47:25 AM PDT by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
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To: areafiftyone

I don't get it. What's the news in this supposed to be? Now they are gonna get in trouble for making sure it was legal??


16 posted on 06/14/2005 7:47:31 AM PDT by Huck (One day the lion will lay down with the lamb; Until that day comes, I want America to be the lion.)
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To: marty60; All
LET'S SEE THE ACTUAL DOCS.

Go to RAW STORY for the documents. This is what the MSM is picking up.

17 posted on 06/14/2005 7:48:12 AM PDT by areafiftyone (Politicians Are Like Diapers, Both Need To Be Changed Often And For The Same Reason!)
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To: areafiftyone

If you ignore them long enough, they go away.


18 posted on 06/14/2005 7:48:19 AM PDT by advance_copy (Stand for life, or nothing at all)
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To: areafiftyone
They're not real until both Dan Rather and Buckhead agree on them.
19 posted on 06/14/2005 7:48:48 AM PDT by Preachin' (Georgia finally saw the light in 2000.)
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To: areafiftyone

I just did an FR search on "Downing Street memo." There's not one but several recent articles discrediting this story posted here over the past couple of days.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/search?m=any;o=score;s=Downing%20Street%20Memo


20 posted on 06/14/2005 7:49:11 AM PDT by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
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