Bush And Blair Made Plans For War At Ranch 9 Mos. Before Approval

[bigtree]

Details from a secret briefing paper, published in London's Evening Standard, suggest that military commanders took part in a war planning conference with US counterparts as early as June 2002.

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Entitled "Operation Iraqi Freedom: Strategic Lessons Learned", it is classified "Secret/Noforn", meaning it is not to be released to foreign governments.

According to Evening Standard correspondent Andrew Gilligan, it was prepared by the Pentagon for a presentation by US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in August last year.

It details a series of planning meetings and war preparations taking place before the United Nations Security Council passed its Resolution 1441 on November 8 2002, which gave Saddam Hussein a final opportunity to disarm or face "serious consequences".

Full story:
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/story.jsp?story=566954

[Wickerman]

1. No surprise, but shame they jumped straight to "Serious Consequences"

[July]

2. Remember "I have no war plans on my desk"? nt

[bigtree]

3. Good call

May 23, 2002

President Bush attempted to reassure critics of the war on terror at a joint news conference Thursday with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder in Berlin.

BERLIN, Germany (CNN) -- President Bush reiterated Thursday that Iraq remains a significant threat, but he stopped short of saying the United States will go to war with the Middle Eastern country.

"I have no war plans on my desk," Bush said at a Berlin news conference during the first stop of his European tour. "We've got to use all means at our disposal to deal with Saddam Hussein."

http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/05/23/gen.war.on.terror/

[RaleighNCDUer]

6. They're in another office down the hall.

Reminds me of Russia and Germany plotting how to divide Poland -- except WE'RE THE GOOD GUYS and WE'RE NOT SUPPOSDED TO DO THAT!

[July]

7. Funny!

That's probably how Bush rationalizes his lies. It's sort of like "the meaning of is," except that when Bush does it, it's jim-dandy.

[gWbush is Mabus]

4. actually 9/13/01 when Blair offered condolences over the phone

told Bush that Britain would do ANYTHING to help.

[Inland]

5. In the same way, there's no plan for a draft and no plan to cancel US vote

Nope, no plans at all.

[teryang]

8. I reported here in April 2002

...that the decision to go to war had probably been made, when Gen. Franks was interviewed on a Sunday on a meet the press via video conference from Fort Hood, Texas. He didn't say why he was in Fort Hood or what was so important as to bring the Centcom commander there on a Sunday.

From this article:

<Today's leak, on the eve of a crucial debate on Iraq at Labour's conference in Brighton, will fuel speculation that Mr Blair agreed in principle to join the US in military action at his April 2002 summit at President George Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas - something the Prime Minister has always denied.>