A New Memo Surfaces
On the back of what Tim Russert called "the famous Downing Street Memo," On
12 June 2005, The Sunday Times has printed a second leaked document,
Conditions for Military Action, which was written in anticipation of the
meeting recorded by the Downing Street Memo. This July 2002 paper discusses
the UK's desired context for going to war; for example:
"When the Prime Minister discussed Iraq with President Bush at Crawford in
April [2002] he said that the UK would support military action to bring
about regime change, provided that certain conditions were met: efforts had
been made to construct a coalition/shape public opinion, the
Israel-Palestine Crisis was quiescent, and the options for action to
eliminate Iraq's WMD through the UN weapons inspectors had been exhausted."
(Times)
Other major concerns included, in its rush to war, the USA's impatience with
building a thorough political context that would win international support:
"The US Government's military planning for action against Iraq is proceeding
apace. But, as yet, it lacks a political framework. In particular, little
thought has been given to creating the political conditions for military
action, or the aftermath and how to shape it." (Times)
Further, UK intelligence warned that:
"A post-war occupation of Iraq could lead to a protracted and costly
nation-building exercise. As already made clear, the US military plans are
virtually silent on this point. Washington could look to us to share a
disproportionate share of the burden. Further work is required to define
more precisely the means by which the desired endstate would be created, in
particular what form of Government might replace Saddam Hussein's regime and
the timescale within which it would be possible to identify a successor."
(Times)
Of course, Iraqis did have their promised elections, and the Bush / Blair
administrations are to be congratulated for it. However, people--civilians,
Iraqi officials, policemen, and soldiers--are still dying. Hourly. Utility
services (those "luxuries" like electricity and water) still haven't been
widely resumed. Insurgents, who show no sign of surrender, are preventing a
peaceable political solution. Additionally complicating the USA's
withdrawal, of course, is the genuine threat of Iraq's descent into a civil
war.
Senator Joe Biden and Representative Walter Jones (the gentleman who came up
with "freedom fries"), among others, agree that Iraq does face this danger,
and they insist that it's time for the USA to leave. Wilson has said, "'I
feel that we've done about as much as we can do [. . . .] I believe that
once we train the Iraqi people to defend their country, then it should be
their fight. How much can we do?'" (Mercury News). Certainly this question
could have been answered had the allies' strategists actually considered all
possible outcomes to a regime change.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-1648758_3,00.html
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/special_packages/iraq/11878856.htm
M, P, & GS http://home.earthlink.net/~nomo1521/
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