The two expressed common ground most emphatically on the Downing
Street memo, which was written by Matthew Rycroft, a top aide to Mr.
Blair.

In particular, it reports that Sir Richard Dearlove, the chief of
Britain's Secret Intelligence Service, had been in talks in Washington
and had told other senior British officials that Mr. Bush "wanted to
remove" Mr. Hussein "through military action, justified by the
conjunction of terrorism and W.M.D.," or weapons of mass destruction.

"But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy,"
Sir Richard was reported in the memo to have told his colleagues.


From The New York Times, 6/8/05:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/08/international/08prexy.html?

Bush and Blair Deny 'Fixed' Iraq Reports

By ELISABETH BUMILLER

WASHINGTON -

President Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain presented a
united front on Tuesday against a recently disclosed British
government memorandum that said in July 2002 that American
intelligence was being "fixed" around the policy of removing Saddam
Hussein in Iraq.

"There's nothing farther from the truth," Mr. Bush said in his first
public comments about the so-called Downing Street memo, which has
created anger among the administration's critics who see it as
evidence that the president was intent to go to war with Iraq earlier
than the White House has said.

"Look, both of us didn't want to use our military," Mr. Bush added.

"Nobody wants to commit military into combat. It's the last option."

Mr. Blair, standing at Mr. Bush's side in a joint news conference in
the East Room of the White House, said, "No, the facts were not being
fixed in any shape or form at all."

The statements contradicted assertions in the memorandum, which was
first disclosed by The Sunday Times of London on May 1 and which
records the minutes of a meeting of Mr. Blair's senior policy advisers
more than half a year before the war with Iraq began.

___________________________________________________________

Well, are they saying that the memo doesn't exist? What in hell are
they saying?

Harry

Wiil Bush and Blair swear, under oath, that they didn't fix intelligence?