The Downing Street Sequel

Okay it's true, the American Mainstream Press is a bit slow. It was only last week that the President and Tony Blair were questioned about the Downing Street Memo, even though it was first reported in the British press more than a month ago. I mean it's old news isn't it? Who has time to rehash things that everyone already knows, when the Michael Jackson affair is happening now and in real time? And who can keep up with all of these scandals? We're trying to pay attention to the Tom Delay thing, and the numerous John Bolton scandals, and by the time we realize we're behind on the news of the first Downing Street Memo, and then BAM, here is a second one.

So many scandals, so little time.

The second memo, (should we simply call it The Sequel? instead of having to type all of those words or use some mysterious acronym that no one can remember?) relates to a meeting of members of Tony Blair's staff concerning America's lack of preparation for the post war period. The British thought we were all a bit crazy, and they were pretty sure that the Iraqis were not going to throw roses at our feet and welcome us as liberators. Why, if they knew better, did they ultimately decide to join us in this insane endeavor? Did they miss the old days of Colonialism?

Another really damaging part of The Sequel deals with the legallity of the invasion. This is from The Sunday Times of London:

"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."

Create the conditions which would make it legal.

So the US and the UK went to the UN, (so many u's!) and they got resolution number (I can't remember the number, does it even matter now?) whatever, and then the invasion suddenly became legal. Once they had UN permission to use force, that was all they needed, just a little resolution and Iraq was theirs for the taking. NO need to make sure that there were indeed violations, that there were in fact, tons of chemicals and germy things just waiting to be handed over to terrorists at a moments notice. No need to check the facts before the Sidewinders flew, they had their legal document, that's all they needed.

Pretty incredible.

We are going to need a couple of weeks to catch up to the rest of the current news. Now that the Michael Jackson thing is over, maybe we can find the time.

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