LOVELAND, OHIO - Today the list of American dead from the war in Iraq has grown to more than 1,700. And day by day, American moms and dads, wives and husbands, sons and daughters are learning that the war their loved ones died in was based not just on faulty
intelligence, but on cooked intelligence. A British memo says President Bush was intent on going to war in Iraq and nothing was going to stop him, not the United Nations, and certainly not the facts.
The Downing Street Memo is a document containing meeting minutes transcribed during a British Prime Minister's meeting on July 23, 2002—a full eight months prior to the invasion of Iraq on March 20, 2003. "The newly disclosed memo, which was first reported by the Sunday Times of London, hasn't been disavowed by the British government," according to Newsday, " Bush manipulated Iraq intel" was the Newsday headline of May. The purpose of the high level meeting was for Sir Richard Dearlove, Director of the British foreign intelligence service, (MI6) to report on his recent meetings in Washington D.C.
The LA Times, May 12, 2005 edition said, since the report was published May 1, Tony Blair's Downing Street office has not disputed the document's authenticity."
Reporting on the Downing Street Memo, the Times of London, on May 1, 2005 wrote, "The Americans had been trying to link Saddam to the 9/11 attacks; but the British knew the evidence was flimsy or non-existent. Dearlove warned the meeting that 'the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy. "But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy."
The high level British meeting memo says, "It seemed clear that Bush had made up his mind to take military action, even if the timing was not yet decided. But the case was thin. Saddam was not threatening his neighbours, and his WMD capability was less than that of Libya, North Korea or Iran."
British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his senior staff attended. They included three members of the Cabinet (Prime Minister Blair, the Defence Secretary and the Foreign Secretary), the nation's most senior bureaucrat (the Cabinet Secretary), three out of the four top people from the UK intelligence community (the JIC Chair and the heads of MI6 and GCHQ), the head of the armed forces and four of the innermost circle of the Prime Minister's political advisors.
"The memo summarizes all of the key components of Bush’s deception: that Iraq posed an imminent threat to the United States, that the US was willing to work with the UN on a diplomatic solution, that war was a last resort, but if undertaken that the legal basis for it was sound, and that the aftermath of an invasion, if necessary, would be managed responsibly," said DowningStreetMemo.com.
The Guardian said on May 2, 2005 "The documents show how Mr. Blair was told how Britain and the US could ‘create the conditions’ for an invasion, partly, in the words of Jack Straw, to ‘work up’ an ultimatum to Saddam Hussein even though, in the foreign secretary's own words, ‘the case was thin."
The memo details how the Bush Administration did not believe Iraq was a greater threat than other nations. It says the intelligence was "fixed" to sell the case for war to the public and how the Bush Administration was lying when they repeatedly gave public assurances that war was a last resort. All of this was contrary to their privately stated intentions.
"A former senior U.S. official called it 'an absolutely accurate description of what transpired' during the senior British intelligence officer's visit to Washington. He spoke on condition of anonymity," said the Knight Ridder"s Washington Bureau on May 5. The headline read, " British memo indicates Bush made intelligence fit Iraq policy."
New York Newsday described the revelations of the memo, "A highly classified British memo, leaked in the midst of Britain's just-concluded election campaign, indicates that President George W. Bush decided to overthrow Iraqi President Saddam Hussein by summer 2002 and was determined to ensure that U.S. intelligence data supported his policy."
Just two weeks ago, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told troops stationed in Iraq: "This war came to us, not the other way around.
Many say that this is not new information and that may be true given that most Americans now know they and Congress were lied to as Bush led this nation to war. Some Americans, never believed Bush in the first place. The questions many people will begin to ask after reading the memo is: If we had known this from the start would we have ever had allowed Bush to invade Iraq? Would we now be involved in a war that is taking two American lives per day?
Given the three main players, Bush, Blair, Hussein; Saddam Hussein may have been the only one telling the truth. He had no WMD.
To read the memo click here: Download downing_street_memo.html
To read the "Who's Who" of characters, click here: Download the_whos_who.html
For more reading:
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org
http://www.downingstreetmemo.com/
LOVELAND, OHIO - At a special Board of Education Meeting on June 28, the Loveland School Board approved the employment of Mary Helen Moorhead as principal of Loveland High School. Dr. Moorhead is from Princeton City Schools where she has served as high school vocal music teacher, high school assistant principal for five years, and middle school principal for the past four years. 
"Our young customers like to collect the Little League ball hats." The Dairy Whip has many other favorites like the Banana Boat, Cyclone, Clown Sundae, shakes, sundaes and more. Morgan said that old-timers refer to the Dairy Whip as the "Whippy-Dip." She said it was a phrase coined by Bob Patterson many, many years ago.
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