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Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Rarebird who wrote (25851)	8/20/2003 12:58:41 PM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 89467

This may be the key passage... <<...If the Prime Minister goes down, he can take President Bush with him. And wouldn't that be just wonderful and lovely?...>> -s2 btw, do you have a link for that article...? thnx.

To: Rarebird who wrote (25851)	8/20/2003 1:07:53 PM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 89467

GOP should fear Wesley Clark tallahassee.com

To: Rarebird who wrote (25851)	8/20/2003 1:41:56 PM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 89467

Cover-up on Iraq exposed dailynews.co.za August 20, 2003 When the names of the witnesses called to testify at this week's sessions of the Hutton inquiry were announced, it was hoped that the torch that had so illuminated the dark recesses of the Ministry of Defence and the BBC would shine as brightly on Downing Street. Within hours of the start of the proceedings, those hopes were realised. A clutch of revelations have corroborated almost all the key charges made by Dr David Kelly, as they were originally reported by the BBC. Charge One was that the dossier had been "transformed" in the last week before publication. An email from the Prime Minister's Communications Director, Alastair Campbell, to Blair's chief of staff said the dossier was undergoing a "substantial re-write" overseen, among others, by the chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee, John Scarlett. Charge Two was that the dossier had been "sexed up" to make the Prime Minister's case for war. Among the "sexiest" of the details was the claim that Saddam Hussein could have weapons of mass destruction deployed within 45 minutes. Successive versions of the dossier released last week showed that the 45-minute claim was indeed a late addition. Yesterday an email from Blair's chief of staff, Jonathan Powell, to senior colleagues in the Prime Minister's office showed that Powell considered the arguments for war still too weak. Damning the dossier with faint praise, Powell - an experienced ex-diplomat - said in its current form it would convince only "those who are prepared to be convinced". Charge Three was that Campbell himself had authorised the "sexing up" and inserted the 45-minute claim. Yesterday's emails showed that it was none other than Campbell who informed Powell that the dossier was being rewritten, and none other than Campbell to whom Powell sent his withering assessment. This may have been simply because Campbell was acting in his capacity as Communications Director. The late Kelly, according to those reporters who spoke to him, veered between identifying Campbell as personally involved or responsible by virtue of his position. The distinction hardly matters. Kelly's accusations - and the BBC's reporting of them - are vindicated. Directly and indirectly, yesterday's testimony from those at the nerve-centre of power in Britain showed up a consistent discrepancy between appearance and reality - the very discrepancy that has left Blair's credibility so damaged. We saw the cool and quiet manners of those who gave evidence. But little flashes - from emails sent at the time, from phrases snatched from other people's conversations, from the occasional spontaneous remark - belied that untroubled facade. A spokesman was quoted as describing the dispute between Downing Street and the BBC as "a game of chicken". And, as if manipulating information was second nature, Powell ends his assessment of the dossier by offering Saddam Hussein some media advice. "If I was Saddam," he says, "I would take a party of Western journalists to the Ibn Sina factory ... to demonstrate there is nothing there." No doubt Saddam would have thanked him for the advice. Whether it will either help the Government press its case against the BBC or justify its treatment of David Kelly is quite another matter. - The Independent, London

To: Rarebird who wrote (25851)	8/20/2003 2:10:39 PM
From: Crimson Ghost	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 89467

Bush tries to swagger as a tough guy but actually is "a very weak man" as many of us have long suspected. Former US Diplomat Says Rumsfeld Led Bush to War The AFP Sunday 17 August 2003 ATHENS - A former US diplomat who resigned over the Iraq war described US President George W. Bush as a "very weak" man led by the hand into battle by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Brady Kiesling, who was political counsellor at the US embassy in Athens at the time of his resignation in February, said in an open letter published by Greek daily To Vima that Rumsfeld exploited the war to increase his own power. Kiesling -- whose warning that US aims in Iraq were "incompatible with American values" struck a chord with the predominantly anti-war Greeks -- described Bush as "a politician who badly wants to appear strong but in reality is very weak." He said Rumsfeld led Bush by the hand into war, marginalized the secret services who had doubts about the war, and emerged as the top politician in Washington. "Easy to convince, (Bush) blindly believed in Rumsfeld's assurances that the occupation of Iraq would pay for itself," Kiesling said. "The longer we remain in Iraq, the more the resistance to the American presence is going to be a source of legitimacy for the extremists," he said. He called for an expanded role for the United Nations and the European Union in the reconstruction of Iraq. Kiesling said he regretted that US intelligence services had not spoken out about untruths concerning Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, which he added had humiliated the United States and damaged its closest ally, Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain.