in case some of you haven't seen this yet

[rone]

Here's the secret Downing Street memo that details the intelligence manipulation regarding the Iraq war on the part of the UK and the US.  The link probably won't work tomorrow (it goes into the paid archives section of the Times), in which case you should head to Greg Palast's copy, if you're willing to put up with his somewhat emotional preamble.

Salon has further discussion on the memo, and Power Line has an opposing viewpoint (and is still flogging the cretinous "acting in self-defense" justification).

I need to read this stupid memo a few more times before i come to any conclusions i feel comfortable espousing.  However, the attention this has gotten in the US media has been minimal compared to, say, that stupid bitch that ran away from her wedding.

Comments

[tronpublic.livejournal.com]

Wait a minute... are you saying that some woman ditched a wedding????? Confirmation!!!!! I want confirmation dammit!!!

[schwa242.livejournal.com]

Well maybe that's because the US media knows how to follow simple instructions such as "UK EYES ONLY", unlike you, you maverick who flaunts rules and order. Shame shame shame!

-- Schwa ---

[therobbergirl.livejournal.com]

It looks like a regular strategy memo to me. For example, the area where it explores the legal bases for war seem pragmatic to me. In spite of bumper stickers claiming that Bush lied about the presence of WMD, to believe that the WMDs were figments of imagination, we have to also believe that France, Germany, Clinton, and everyone else lied, too. Before the invasion, these entities stated their beliefs that there were WMDs. Their differences were in their approaches -- some felt invasion was a good idea and some felt invasion was a bad idea.

I think this push for impeachment is merely a desire for vengeance on the party that impeached Clinton. While I agree that it was appropriate to impeach Clinton, the charges for which he was impeached were the wrong ones. Sadly, the decision to press on with Clinton's impeachment went a long way towards setting us up with the obscenely partisan way most people tend to look at political issues now.(*)

(*) Not that it wasn't partisan before, it's just a lot moreso. Sometimes it feels like people don't espouse an opinion until they find out how the group they feel is the opposition feels about it. Witness the Shiavo case, which stayed nonpartisan until the woman's parents accepted money from anti-abortion groups.

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

Yeah, i think that the calls for impeachment are overblown and histrionic. I just don't see it. They really do seem to be hanging onto the word "fixed" in a desperate way, as if they really want it to mean what they think it means.

Dialogue is so last millennium. Yelling past each other is the new wave of communication!