Well I for one am pretty gratified by this memo, if it is as internal or classified as advertised. Even if Juan Cole were correct that Bush never intended to allow the process to culminate in an official, full resolution specifically stating that Saddam must disarm or the US and its allies will invade, Bush clearly only believed that to be the proper tack because Saddam had never complied with his responsabilities, had not complied up until that point in his last disclosure/inspection opportunity, and was clearly relying on opposition in the Security Council to carry on his istransigence indefinitely – a presumption largely born out by history. Moreover it shows we did have some sort of plan before we went in, we were dedicated to the development of Iraq into a functioning representative government, and Bush was hopeful of either (1) Saddam’s evacuation, (2) his assassination, or (3) a security council resolution settling all legal questions.
It does no good to point to the Germans and French and Russians and say “See? They didn’t want you to invade, and so anything you do is ipso facto illegal and immoral.” That is a proposition for idiots and charlatans, and it makes absolutely no sense to people who aren’t distracted by the supposed halo of peaceful political compromise the media maintains around the UN.
And those WMD? Obviously they were removed by Russia. Very convenient to have a gigantic continent-sized media black hole just to your north for things to disappear into at a moment’s notice, no? I’m sorry, I just don’t think that’s a very eccentric opinion when, inter alia, even the MSM like USA Today published the reports, which Condi later confirmed, that the Russians gave Saddam the USA’s complete invasion plans. Oh, and what kind of tanks were we facing? Abrams? Leopold IIs? What kind of rifles, artillery shells, RPGs? Who organized his “state”?
So often the most obvious answer is the correct one. It’s just a shame we, in the open society par excellence, must wade tirelessly through so many self-inflicted Juan Coles to get to the open air and sunlight.
