Secret memo reveals offer to help topple Saddam before 9/11

[mickyv]

Apologies if this has been covered here, but it's new to me;

Tony Blair offered British support to join the United States in overthrowing Saddam Hussein six months before the 9/11 attacks, it was revealed last night.

A top-secret Downing Street memo, Iraq: New Policy Framework, says that Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction would be used as a reason to take “direct action” against Iraq.

A section of the document titled “Regime change” says: “The UK and US would need to re-make the case against Saddam Hussein.

“We would issue a contract with the Iraqi people, setting out our goal of a peaceful, law-abiding Iraq, fully reintegrated into the international community, with its people free to live in a society based on the rule of law, respect for human rights and economic freedom, and without the threat of repression, torture and arbitrary arrest.

“The contract would make clear the Iraqi regime’s record and behaviour made it impossible for Iraq to meet the criteria for rejoining the international community without fundamental change.”

It appears to contradict Mr Blair’s claims yesterday to the Chilcot inquiry. The former Prime Minister denied that any serious consideration had been given to overthrowing the regime until the terrorist attacks on the United States in September 2001. However, the two-page memo dated March 2001 makes clear that Britain and the United States were preparing to make Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction justification to overthrow Saddam.

The memo was accompanied by a letter from Sir John Sawers, Mr Blair’s foreign policy adviser at the time of the policy and the current head of MI6, which says: “This remains a confidential internal document and should not, repeat not, be shown to anyone outside HMG.”

The document, which was declassified by the Government moments before Mr Blair gave evidence to the Chilcot inquiry yesterday, is the first sign of London and Washington discussing military action to overthrow Saddam before September 11.

The memo says: “Red lines would be set out and if Iraq were in material breach of them, eg by reconstructing its military capacity to threaten its neighbour or developing its WMD/missile capabilities, it would be clear that we would take direct action, at a time of our choosing, once the necessary regional support and legal base were in place.”

Lord Goldsmith, the Attorney-General at the time of the invasion, later warned Mr Blair and Jack Straw, then Foreign Secretary, that regime change was not a legal basis for war.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article7009175.ece


I find it incredible that Blair who only has two stock responses in attempting to justify the catastrophe in Iraq, namely; 1) “would you rather have Saddam still in power” & 2) “9/11 changed everything”, has not been challenged with this evidence that proves beyond doubt that he lies every time he mention stock response No.2. I believe he even said it to the Chilcot Inquiry with his trademark fake sincerity, and of course wasn't pulled-up on it. The MSM & many anti-war critics seem to be focused on revelations that shown that Blair had promised to join Bush long before Hans Blix had even started his WMD mission, but this pre 9/11 revelation not only proves beyond doubt that the attack on Iraq was a criminal conspiracy, but it also proves that the phoney "War on Terror" is exactly that, with logical conclusion that the attacks on Iraq (& probably Afghanistan) would occurred even without the 9/11 pretext.

In a sane & moral world a lot of politicians here & in the US would now be serving life sentences just of the strength of this one document.