George W. Bush, Tony Blair and the death of David Rice Top-Secret Memo Indicates U.S., U.K. Contrived Reasons for War

To date, more than 1200 Americans have been killed in the Iraq War. One of them is Pvt. David Rice, of Sioux City, Iowa. The Department of Defense reports that Rice died when his Humvee rolled over in an accident in Muqdadiyah.

According to The Des Moines Register, the 22-year former high school wrestling champion was the 27th Iowan to die in Iraq since March, 2003.

Tuesday was a particularly difficult day at East High School because Rice's sister, Stevie, is a ninth-grader there, and her mother had to come to the school to notify her daughter about her brother's death, Hamman said.

Now, thanks to a leaked, top-secret British document, we learn that neither Pvt. Rice's death, nor any other in the Iraq War was the least bit necessary.

The Defence Secretary said that the US had already begun "spikes of activity" to put pressure on the regime. No decisions had been taken, but he thought the most likely timing in US minds for military action to begin was January, with the timeline beginning 30 days before the US Congressional elections (emphasis added).

The Foreign Secretary said he would discuss this with Colin Powell this week. 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. We should work up a plan for an ultimatum to Saddam to allow back in the UN weapons inspectors. This would also help with the legal justification for the use of force (emphasis added).

The Attorney-General said that the desire for regime change was not a legal base for military action. There were three possible legal bases: self-defence, humanitarian intervention, or UNSC authorisation. The first and second could not be the base in this case. Relying on UNSCR 1205 of three years ago would be difficult. The situation might of course change.

The Prime Minister said that it would make a big difference politically and legally if Saddam refused to allow in the UN inspectors (emphasis added). Regime change and WMD were linked in the sense that it was the regime that was producing the WMD. There were different strategies for dealing with Libya and Iran. If the political context were right, people would support regime change. The two key issues were whether the military plan worked and whether we had the political strategy to give the military plan the space to work.

Go read the whole thing, along with the accompanying story in the Times (U.K.). Then, once you have finished throwing up, call your congressman and insist that impeachment proceedings against Bush begin immediately.