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last week I wrote;
“U.K. Intelligence Told Blair there were No wmd’s Before the attack on Iraq”
The diary is about to go dark for comments so I am compelled to start a new one though this one goes with that very nicely
The fact that Blair’s intelligence told him there were no wmd long before we attacked Iraq was pretty bad all by itself but if you click through the comments there are some excellent assists with terrific links and insights by thingscomeundone, Libbyliberal, Bluebutterfly, Aquarius74
We also find out on that diary that not only is the investigation demonstrating the depraved indifference for the facts, human life and the consequences of their decision but we ALSO find out this investigation is itself being censored and we are not even hearing the worst of it
Well today another shoe drops;
Blair was told Iraq war ‘illegal’
He was told he was committing a war crime;
Peter Goldsmith, the Attorney General at the time, wrote to Blair eight months before the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, but the premier ignored the advice, the Mail on Sunday claimed.
The newspaper said a public inquiry into Britain’s involvement in the war was in possession of Goldsmith’s letter and he and Blair are likely to be questioned about it when they give evidence next year.
There it is, willful defiance of the law, willfully committing war crimes, Blair does not have the luxury of claiming "he thought he was doing the right thing" because he was told he was not, he was told there was no case for the war AND he was told the invasion would be a war crime
this gets worse;
The Mail on Sunday reported that Goldsmith was "gagged" after he tried to dissuade Blair from lending Britain’s support to the war.
follow what went on there;
Blair was informed by none other then his own attorney general that he was about to commit a war crime, he was told that there was no case for the war, he was told what he was doing would be prosecutable
Blair has the NERVE to gag the attorney general so he can go forward with the invasion he KNEW was a war crime, he knew was based on forged data, he knew was determined long long ago
(all bolds are mine)
43 Comments
I think just before they attacked, Blair arm twisted Goldsmith into changing his legal opinion, and Blair got the letter he needed to go ahead with it.
He’s an a-hole, but he’s not a dumb a-hole. Still, he probably is starting to worry a little bit about some Spanish or Italian lawyers.
I also recall that another lawyer, a woman I believe, who was involved in doing the first legal opinion, resigned rather than go along with it.
I think they will have to ask Goldsmith what changed.
Anyway, Tony can just do some extra praying, maybe with George, then everything will be ok. Cause, he’s a profoundly faithful Christian you know.
thanx for that info, even if true, blair had the ag gagged, that means he wasn’t happy about it
it’s also similar to bush/cheney hiring and pressuring lawyers into finding justification for their house of torture, the differane being yoo had absolutely no problem making up the crap bush/cheney wanted to hear
here’s a great blog following the inquiry, he notes;
see that?
it was well known the us was going to attack regardless any findings by the uk or anyone
check out this next snippet he uncovers;
“no basis in law” means “it is breaking the law”, now check this out;
like I said, everyone knew there was no threat from Iraq
But Bush’s Neo-Con dogs of war, “hell bent” on the invasion, were barking loud enough to be heard on both sides of the Atlantic, and their call for overthrowing Saddam Hussein and his non-existent WMDs was drowning out all dissenters.
have a read and leave a comment on his blog, it’s good and needs some action
Spain and Italy are a darned sight closer to the U.K. than they are to the U.S.
I hope that the U.K. investigation prompts the U.K. Crown Prosecution Service to prosecute old Tony.
Failing that, I hope that the Spanish, Italians, or others do so. The Spanish and Italians can prosecute and convict defendants in absentia. U.K. (and U.S.) courts cannot. This gives the Spanish and Italian courts, and courts in other Roman law countries, a great advantage over courts in countries that require the physical presence of the defendant for prosecution.
What I cannot fathom about Blair, or Bush, or Obama, or any of these guys who blithely send people off to kill and die for no defensible reason, is their stunning indifference to human life. What part of ‘Thou shalt not kill’ eludes them?
“Collateral damage” must be one of the most immoral terms ever coined.
I’m pretty certain cheney/bush/rumsfeld/blair are afraid to travel abroad right now
I wonder what obama would do if bush/cheney were arrested and brought to trial
man I hope he is faced with that predicament
Anybody recall Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia being informed by the WH of a planned Iraqi invasion by the U.S.—BEFORE Colin Powell was even informed?
turns out, two days before the president told Powell [about his plan to go to war with Iraq, Cheney and Rumsfeld had already briefed Prince Bandar, …
balkin.blogspot.com/2004_04_18_balkin_archive.html – Cached – Similar
Incidentally, type BAE and Prince Bandar or BAE and Saudi Arabia into the search engine of your choice.WOWZA!
BAE is a British Armament firm,btw.
Interesting,that Lord Goldsmith…..
Lord Goldsmith – Labour Party – Parties – UK Politics – newsJust because the SFO couldn’t bring its earlier case against BAE because Tony Blair and Lord Goldsmith decided to end the Saudi inquiry on grounds of …
http://www.wikio.co.uk/uk_politics/parties/labour…/lord_goldsmith – Cached
Blair forced Goldsmith to drop BAE charges | World news | The GuardianFeb 1, 2007 … Having reviewed the SFO’s files, Lord Goldsmith agreed that BAE could, in effect, be offered a plea bargain in which investigators would …
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/feb/01/bae.saudiarabia – Cached – Similar
I don’t remember that story, can you hunt it down?
In his testimony, Meyer said that Iraq was not a priority in Bush’s administration during 2001. That is why he is surprised when Condi, on 911, said they were looking for possible involvement by Saddam. Invading Iraq was Wolfowitz’s dream for many years.
**********
(page 3 of the PDF)
“SIR CHRISTOPHER MEYER: It wasn’t until fairly late in theday, in that year, that we knew who were going to occupy the chief positions in the Bush administration. So until that became clear, to find out what was going on, what was being planned, it became necessary to speak to members of a group who were known informally as the Vulcans, the Vulcans were a group of American advisers who advised George W Bush when he was the presidential candidate, and when I went down to Texas in early 1999, which was shortly before he declared himself as a candidate, he said to me with very great frankness, “I don’t know much about foreign policy. I’m going to have to learn pretty damn fast, and one of the things I’m going to have to do is surround myself with good people”. The “good people” turned out to be this group called the Vulcans, led by Condoleeza Rice and Paul Wolfowitz; Paul Wolfowitz, of course, who became Deputy Secretary for Defence. ”
(page 10 of the PDF)
“Paul Wolfowitz, who became Deputy Defence Secretary, and who was the leading neocon in the US administration,a man of very, very brilliant intelligence, harnessed to a particular view of the world and the way in which Americans should deploy their power and I remember him saying to me, years previously, probably in 1997 or 1998 when I first arrived in Washington, at which time he was Dean of the Paul H Nitze School of International Relations, “We should invade southern Iraq, seize the oil fields, base ourselves in Basra and from there launch raids in Baghdad, and little by little we will bring the regime down”. ”
(page 20 of the PDF)
“SIR CHRISTOPHER MEYER: Well, again, I couldn’t find any record of this in the archives. On 9/11 itself, in the course of the day, I had a telephone conversation with Rice, and, “Condolences. Anything we can do to help? Who do you think did it?” She said, “There is no doubt this has been an AlQaeda
operation”, but at the end of the conversation, “We are just looking to see whether there could possibly be any connection with Saddam Hussein”. That was the very first time on the day itself that I heard the name of the Iraqi leader mentioned in the context of 9/11. “ ”
http://www.iraqinquiry.org.uk/media/38413/091126am.pdf
“Prince Bandar’s stratospheric connections in Washington were laid out in Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward’s account on the build-up to the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, Plan of Attack.
Mr Woodward claims that in January 2003, Prince Bandar was shown essential details of the war plan against Saddam Hussein, even before then Secretary of State Colin Powell. ”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4635383.stm
Tony Blair is an extraordinarily sincere Catholic with a deep respect for the sanctity of human life. Except when he’s, you know, a total fucking hypocrite.
Meyer mentioned this act in his testimony. The last I checked, regime change is still illegal.
*********
H.R.4655
Iraq Liberation Act of 1998
“Iraq Liberation Act of 1998 – Declares that it should be the policy of the United States to seek to remove the Saddam Hussein regime from power in Iraq and to replace it with a democratic government. ”
http://www.iraqwatch.org/government/US/Legislation/ILA.htm
Which is 24/7..’g’.
@8
Monday, April 19, 2004
JB
Oil For State Secrets?
Among the more interesting parts of Woodward’s book:
But, it turns out, two days before the president told Powell [about his plan to go to war with Iraq], Cheney and Rumsfeld had already briefed Prince Bandar, the Saudi ambassador.
”Saturday, Jan. 11, with the president’s permission, Cheney and Rumsfeld call Bandar to Cheney’s West Wing office, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Gen. Myers, is there with a top-secret map of the war plan. And it says, ‘Top secret. No foreign.’ No foreign means no foreigners are supposed to see this,” says Woodward.
“They describe in detail the war plan for Bandar. And so Bandar, who’s skeptical because he knows in the first Gulf War we didn’t get Saddam out, so he says to Cheney and Rumsfeld, ‘So Saddam this time is gonna be out, period?’ And Cheney – who has said nothing – says the following: ‘Prince Bandar, once we start, Saddam is toast.’”
After Bandar left, according to Woodward, Cheney said, “I wanted him to know that this is for real. We’re really doing it.”
But this wasn’t enough for Prince Bandar, who Woodward says wanted confirmation from the president. “Then, two days later, Bandar is called to meet with the president and the president says, ‘Their message is my message,’” says Woodward.
Excepted from the website Balkinization-will supply link.
BalkinizationFind opinions and reflections from Yale Law School professor Jack M. Balkin.
balkin.blogspot.com/ – Cached
http://balkin.blogspot.com/
Thanks,bb.
Here’s a really good piece of info about the Saudis and British Aerospace-BAE-much of this took place in Blair administration.
CorpWatch : BAE System’s Dirty DealingsBAE System’s Dirty Dealings. by Sasha Lilley, Special to CorpWatch …. McLean says that BAE Systems’ dealings in India are not an anomaly. …
http://www.corpwatch.org › Industries › War & Disaster Profiteering – Cached – Similar
That’s correct; Goldsmith provided a brief statement affirming the legality of the attack. The Mail article describes how it was coerced. I don’t believe Goldsmith ever renounced the statement, but now that the more detailed earlier letter is no longer secret, Goldsmith may be more forthcoming.
You’re welcome. Use the url at the page you want to link to. It appears that you are linking from the google page. Thanks..Corp Watch is a good site. No ads, so no answering to sponsors.
Blair is as much a war criminal as Bush, and like Bush is still walking free.
Cheney BAE Scandal Ignored By American MediaJun 26, 2007 … Will BAE Scandal of Century Bring Down Cheney? → Scandal of the Century Rocks British Crown and the City. Bookmark and Share …
http://www.mathaba.net/0_index.shtml?x=556515 – Similar
Show more results from http://www.mathaba.net
This is an excellent piece about Saudi oil for arms-off the books- and the complicity for over 20 years now between Saudis, UK and US.
WOWZA!
Saudi Prince Bandar Bush threatens Britain with more terrorist …22 posts – 16 authors – Last post: Oct 14
Saudi Prince Bandar Bush threatens Britain with more terrorist attacks like 7/ ….. The British government has been attempting to block all …
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az…all... – Cached
BAE: secret papers reveal threats from Saudi prince | World news …Feb 15, 2008 … Prince Bandar, head of Saudi Arabia’s national security council, … act into the British money received in the US by Bandar while he was …
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/feb/15/bae.armstrade – Cached – Similar
You can’t bitch about the Saudi’s until You quit buying their oil, and the American people and the Government seem content on doing that until their oil runs out.
So suck it up and fill Your tank again.
this isn’t quite on the mark;
we could have, should have been energy independant by now and if reagan didn’t rescind carter’s programs, if he wasn’t in the pockets of oil, nor bush one and two, then we wouldn’t be needing or even wanting suadi oil, they’d beg us to take it and we would only do it reluctantly
we can blame reagan/bush/bush for the illusion of dependance, we can also blame that illusion of dependance for the iraq war
let’s hope we turn that around pronto
it’s supposed Iraq is sitting on greater reserves then saudi arabia, we went there to control the distribution
saddam was going to use that petro for funding and wasnt’t going to listen to opec or anyone
See even You think in terms of oil. There is no good reason we are still dependent on oil other than the fact we would rather fight than switch fuels.
Had we switched fuels there would have been no need for Iraq, or to save Kuait, and we wouldn’t have pissed off Bin Laden with our troops on Saudi soil.
The day we should have gotten off oil was the day we could no longer produce enough for our needs. Greed said we could get all we needed by using other Countries and getting their oil. We are still working on that premise today, and are feeling the costs of it.
And WHO is representing Saudi Prince Bandar these days?
Why none other than Louis Freeh-former head of FBI:
FRONTLINE/WORLD: The Business of Bribes: Extended Interview With …Apr 7, 2009 … Freeh denied that the arms company, BAE Systems, had any role in disbursing funds to the accounts … Freeh says, “The way the treaty [Al-Yamamah] was set up, …. What I found most amazing was the 2001 excerpt of the interview with Bandar …. Privacy Policy • © 2002-2009 WGBH. All Rights Reserved. …
http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/…/louis-freeh-interview.html – Cached – Similar
I am in 100 percent agreement
thank you for your contribution, I have alot to read
http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/bribe/2009/04/louis-freeh-interview.html
And even before 9/11 they had a strategy to create a provocation to justify an attack, according to Meyer:
Yet once 9/11 happened Blair wasn’t concerned in the slightest about the “legalities” or proportionality. It was all about getting the public to believe that there was a WMD threat.
Here’s another interesting thing about the Meyer testimony last week in front of the Chilcott Commission:
Clearly this was just one more of Darth’s gambits to sway Dubya. He had no real intention of having the Administration inoculate the entire population against smallpox- and I think that Meyer is mistaken here since smallpox vaccines are largely safe and are, or were, almost universally applied already. There would not be anywhere near those amounts of deaths. Rather he must have meant ANTHRAX…which had an untested and already doubtfully safe vaccine involved. But Darth’s real rationale was to say “We must stop Saddam NOW because he might have WMD’s. I’m on balance willing to put 20 million Americans up as stakes against Al Baradei’s “let’s do inspections”. Darth actually won this “gamble”…he outbluffed Dubya.
Then there is Karl Rove and his political considerations to rush into the War because delay would look like it was a “political consideration”.
He didn’t have to be worried thanks to a media that repeated the official line of propaganda without questioning it. The no fly zones were not legal and neither were the bombs that were dropped on Iraq.
************
Feb 19/01
“However, unlike the military campaign to expel Iraqi forces from Kuwait, the no-fly zones were not authorised by the UN and they are not specifically sanctioned by any Security Council resolution.
But French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine has called on Washington to redefine its policy on Iraq and criticised the recent US-British airstrikes on Baghdad as having no legal basis in international law.
“We have believed for a long time that there is no basis in international law for this type of bombing,” Mr Vedrine has said. ”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/1175950.stm
Kinda sick isn’t it? Starting an illegal war of aggression was OK; ruining Bush’s campaigning wasn’t. These testimonies are enlightening, but very upsetting to read. People in Iraq are going to be enraged as they learn how the US and UK governments plotted to takeover their country.
The failure of Obama and his wimpy Congressional Democrats to Call for Prosecution of the Obvious and Admitted WMD Lies and the Conspiracy to Violate our Federal Anti-Torture Laws
Will cause a Massive Democratic Defeat in both 2010 & 2012
when Voters Just Stay Home & Stop Giving Money.
If this happens, it will be the end of Democratic rule for a long time and perhaps a third party will emerge.
ANGRYVOTERS.org
So the idiotic American people will vote back in Republicans who were the enablers of Bush and Cheney, because they are unhappy with the Democrats not prosicuting the Republicans.
It’s no wonder this Nation is in such a mess, when we have people who think this way, and have such short memeories.
Bush and Cheney could not have done what they did without the help of the Republican Congress, The CIA and our other intelligence agencies, and our military which jumped at the chance for the wars.
If The people of this country ever vote in another Republican we should kiss our butts goodbye.
I think this is entirely correct, iremember54.
Saudi Prince Bandar Bush threatens Britain with more terrorist …22 posts – 16 authors – Last post: Oct 14
Saudi Prince Bandar Bush threatens Britain with more terrorist attacks like 7/ ….. The British government has been attempting to block all …
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az…all... – Cached
BAE: secret papers reveal threats from Saudi prince | World news …Feb 15, 2008 … Prince Bandar, head of Saudi Arabia’s national security council, … act into the British money received in the US by Bandar while he was …
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/feb/15/bae.armstrade – Cached – Similar
Mod please delete. This is duplicate posting, Thanks.
Some of us are capable of rational thought. Thanks for the agreement.
I can’t believe people are actually considering voting for a Republican while actually seeing them in action in the Congress over the last few months. Not just with healthcare, they are unwilling to even work to solve any of our problems, but are just bent on obstruction, and making points for themselves.
It’s just pure lunicy.
“
Interesting how a person can be very very brilliant, (that’s real brilliant) in one way, and
very very stupid, in another way.
Wolfowitz is one of the most dislikeable of a very easy to disklike group.
Many psychopaths are brilliant people, but are also totally devoid of a conscience. Therefore he saw nothing wrong with telling Meyer that,” “We should invade southern Iraq, seize the oil fields, base ourselves in Basra and from there launch raids in Baghdad, and little by little we will bring the regime down”. ” The fact that it was illegal and that people would die, meant nothing to him.
“Prince Bandar, challenged as to whether there is corruption in deals with the Saudi royal family, replies: “Yes. So what?”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/video/2007/jun/07/bae.files.bandar