“Here it is,” Greg Palast writes. “The
smoking gun.” He’s referring to the secret Downing Street memo of July 23, 2002, sent to the
British Defense Secretary, Foreign Secretary, Attorney-General and several other top British
government officials at the time. It was disclosed earlier this week in The Times of London, which
quotes it verbatim:
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.
C reported on his recent talks in Washington. … Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through
military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and
facts were being fixed around the policy. The NSC had no patience with the UN route, and
no enthusiasm for publishing material on the Iraqi regime’s record. There was little discussion in
Washington of the aftermath after military action. [Boldface
added.]
Palast believes the memo “has ‘IMPEACH HIM’ written all over it.” Meaning the him in
the White House. (Fat chance.) Palast is also pissed off that the American press, unlike the British
press, has made so little of the memo.
