Which may be the basis of Lord Goldsmith, the Attorney General's original contention that England should not participate in what he said he believed was an illegal war."Unfortunately, the mainstream media in the United States was too busy with wall-to-wall coverage of a "runaway bride" to cover a bombshell report out of the British newspapers," Conyers writes. "The London Times reports that the British government and the United States government had secretly agreed to attack Iraq in 2002, before authorization was sought for such an attack in Congress, and had discussed creating pretextual justifications for doing so."[...]
"The Times reports, based on a newly discovered document, that in 2002 British Prime Minister Tony Blair chaired a meeting in which he expressed his support for "regime change" through the use of force in Iraq and was warned by the nation's top lawyer that such an action would be illegal," he adds. "Blair also discussed the need for America to "create" conditions to justify the war."
Conyers says he is seeking an inquiry.
That Tony Blair! It's all his doing. Bush is innocent, I tell you! Innocent! Raw Story has Conyers' letter.
SECRET AND STRICTLY PERSONAL - UK EYES ONLY
DAVID MANNING
From: Matthew Rycroft
Date: 23 July 2002[...]
This record is extremely sensitive. No further copies should be made. It should be shown only to those with a genuine need to know its contents.
[...]
The Defence Secretary said that the US had already begun "spikes of activity" to put pressure on the regime. No decisions had been taken, but he thought the most likely timing in US minds for military action to begin was January, with the timeline beginning 30 days before the US Congressional elections.
[...]
The Attorney-General said that the desire for regime change was not a legal base for military action. There were three possible legal bases: self-defence, humanitarian intervention, or UNSC authorisation. The first and second could not be the base in this case.
[...]
The Prime Minister said that it would make a big difference politically and legally if Saddam refused to allow in the UN inspectors. [...] The two key issues were whether the military plan worked and whether we had the political strategy to give the military plan the space to work.
[...]
The Foreign Secretary thought the US would not go ahead with a military plan unless convinced that it was a winning strategy. On this, US and UK interests converged. But on the political strategy, there could be US/UK differences. Despite US resistance, we should explore discreetly the ultimatum.
[...]
It would be important for the Prime Minister to set out the political context to Bush.
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