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Bonifaz on Bush and Blair
June 7, 2005
STATEMENT BY CONSTITUTIONAL ATTORNEY JOHN BONIFAZ ON BEHALF OF AFTERDOWNINGSTREET.ORG ON TODAY'S JOINT PRESS CONFERENCE WITH PRESIDENT BUSH AND BRITISH PRIME MINISTER BLAIR
President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair continued today to try to hide from the explosive revelations in the Downing Street Minutes.
Neither President Bush nor Prime Minister Blair denied today that the Downing Street Minutes are, in fact, the official minutes of the secret meeting that Prime Minister Blair held in London on July 23, 2002, with his top national security officials to receive a briefing from Richard Dearlove, then director of Britain�s CIA equivalent, MI-6.
Neither President Bush nor Prime Minister Blair denied today that Mr. Dearlove, in reporting on his meetings with high U.S. Government officials in Washington, stated at that meeting: �Military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD [weapons of mass destruction]. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy.�
The Prime Minister asserted that �the facts were not being fixed in any shape or form at all.�
The President claimed that �[t]here�s nothing farther from the truth� with respect to Mr. Dearlove�s statement that the President had decided, by July 2002, to invade Iraq, months before submitting his resolution on Iraq to the United States Congress and months before he and the Prime Minister asked the United Nations to resume its inspections for alleged weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
The American people deserve to know the truth. Mr. Dearlove�s report in July 2002 directly contradicts what the President and the Prime Minister said today. Only a full congressional investigation, with subpoena power, will reveal the truth.
AfterDowningStreet.org, a broad coalition of veterans groups, peace groups, and public interest organizations across this country, renews its call today for Members of Congress to introduce a Resolution of Inquiry directing the House Judiciary Committee to launch a formal investigation into whether the President of the United States has committed impeachable offenses in connection with the Iraq war. This inquiry must now answer the question: Has the President engaged in a conspiracy to deceive and mislead the United States Congress and the American people about the basis for going to war against Iraq? If the President has committed a High Crime, he must be held accountable under the United States Constitution.
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Blair just told Gwen Ifill on Lehrer News Hour on PBS in an interview taped earlier today that the Downing Street Minutes were proved baseless by the fact that Britain and the US went through an open process with the UN with the goal of achieving a peaceful solution - of giving that a last chance.
Of course, this conflicts with the escalation of bombing of Iraq, which we know had the goal of provoking a martial incident. Going to the UN was Britain's attempt to legalize the war, not to avoid it. The inspections found no weapons. Meanwhile weapons were found in Korea. Yet Britain and the US proceeded to launch a war on Iraq. The war had been decided upon, as is made clear in a growing file of evidence that includes the Downing Street Minutes.
Here's why Bush went to Congress:
ABC News Poll. Aug. 29, 2002.
"If Bush decides to go to war with Iraq, do you think he should get authorization from Congress before launching an attack, or not?"
---------------Yes--------No--------No Opinion
-----------------%---------%--------------%
8/29/02-------80--------17--------------3
8/7-11/02----75--------21--------------5
Asked of those who think Bush should get authorization from Congress:
"If Bush and the Congress disagree on attacking Iraq, who should have the final decision: Bush or the Congress?"
------------------Bush-----Congress-----No Opinion
--------------------%------------%-----------------%
8/29/02---------34------------61----------------4
8/7-11/02------37------------59----------------4
***********************************************
Here's why he went to the UN:
Los Angeles Times Poll. Aug. 22-25, 2002.
"Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? The United States should take military action against Iraq only if that military action has the support of the international community."
-------------------ALL-----Democrats-----Independents-----Republicans
--------------------%-----------%--------------------%---------------------%
Agree-----------65-----------74-------------------70--------------------51
Disagree------27-----------18-------------------25--------------------41
Unsure----------8-------------8--------------------5----------------------8
Mr. Bonifaz states my position exactly. The Minutes are unambiguous, and Blair was unable to explain why it contained the statement that the "facts were being fixed". President Bush seemed to imply that because it was leaked to the media that it was "suspect", however, neither he, nor Blair contradicted the authenticity of the Minutes. They are probably going to threaten Dearlove and whoever recorded the minutes with whatever they can to get them to retract what was recorded! How else will Bush be able to escape the truth this time?!
Thanks for continuing to seek the truth from the President of the United States who lied to us about WMDs. He would not have had my support to go to war but for his propaganda.
I remember the polls and the proganda very well- Bush had to "fix the facts" to satisfy the American people and so he did- hopefully we still care about why we went to war in the first place- because Iraq had WMDs!- not because Sadaam was a bad person, but because he was a "great threat" to the United States.
Yes, I watched the news conference with the BB's today and I actually got sick to my stomach from listening to their responces when asked about the Downing Street Memo. The great friends reminded me of a comedy act I saw many years ago, Donald O'Connor and Francis the talking mule. Except that these two, the BB are very dangerous the the entire world's health and welfare. Their smugness shows a real weakness, they are very vulnerable if the media pressure is kept up on them. And as for impeachable offenses, where does one start with king george. It will take time and to get rid of him but in my 62 years I have seen many of the supposed mighty fall.
Together, we can make this happen. Now that the documentation is beginning to find it's way out, it will be like a little crack in the dam, it will leak and leak and finally it will all come flooding out.