Saturday, June 25, 2005

Sunday, June 12, 2005

Ministers were told of need for Gulf war �excuse� - Sunday Times - Times Online

Ministers were told of need for Gulf war �excuse� - Sunday Times - Times Online: "The Sunday Times - Britain



June 12, 2005

Ministers were told of need for Gulf war �excuse�
Michael Smith



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.
This 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 US action.
�US plans assume, as a minimum, the use of British bases in Cyprus and Diego Garcia,� the briefing paper warned. This meant that issues of legality �would arise virtually whatever option ministers choose with regard to UK participation�.
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 full minutes of the meeting were published last month in The Sunday Times. "

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  • About Extra!

    Saturday, June 11, 2005

    Feeling A Little Anarchist

    Render Unto "Renderosity"


  • Renderosity renders a good visual every time. This is a link to a fractals gallery - not a bad embarcadero.
  • Saturday, June 04, 2005

    If Life Were A Western

    If life were a western movie, the GOP would be the guy on the ground, Republicans, like, Lott, maybe Cheney, maybe Bush:
  • And the guy wearing the boots, would be the American people stopping the Republican Bush people from looting the national treasury.