UK Inquiry Releases Scathing Report on Iraq War

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/uk-inquiry-releases-scathing-report-on-iraq-war_us_577cdb35e4b0a629c1ab39b0?section=&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=The%20Morning%20Email%20070616&utm_content=The%20Morning%20Email%20070616+CID_4e2d5a195689f6c656fa997550e675e4&utm_source=Email%20marketing%20software&utm_term=particularly%20excoriates

Chilcot report delivers damning verdict on British role in Iraq War
http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/06/europe/uk-iraq-inquiry-chilcot-report/index.html

Excerpt:

London (CNN) — A long-awaited official inquiry delivered a devastating indictment of Britain's decision to invade Iraq Wednesday, finding that the war was based on flawed intelligence and had been launched before diplomatic options were exhausted.

The findings of the 2.6 million-word Iraq Inquiry -- seven years in the making -- were released following a statement by probe chairman John Chilcot in London Wednesday.

The former civil servant said that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein posed "no imminent threat" when the U.S-led invasion was launched in March 2003, and that while military action against him "might have been necessary at some point," the "strategy of containment" could have continued for some time.

Just why did we succumb to the LIES of George W. Bush and company? Iraq posed no imminent threat to the U.S. Options other than war were still available.

http://downingstreetmemo.com/

The Downing Street "Memo" is actually the minutes of a meeting, transcribed during a gathering of many of the British Prime Minister's senior ministers on July 23, 2002. Published by The Sunday Times on May 1, 2005 this document was the first hard evidence from within the UK or US governments that exposed the truth about how the Iraq war began.
Since that time, much more information has come to light through leaks of secret government documents and the accounts of an increasing number of people who have witnessed the administration’s wrongdoing firsthand.
There is now in the public record a large body of evidence that vividly illustrates:

Bush’s long-standing intent to invade Iraq
Bush’s willingness to provoke Saddam (in a variety of ways) into providing a pretext for war
The fact that the war effectively began with an air campaign nearly a year before the March 2003 invasion and months before Congressional approval for the use of force
The administration’s widespread effort to crush dissent and manipulate information that would counter its justification for war
The lack of planning for the war’s aftermath and a fundamental lack of understanding of the Iraqi society
Even as the Bush presidency winds down, a recent Senate investigation final report shows how the administration manipulated information to overstate the WMD threat and conjure up a connection between Saddam Hussein and Al Quaida that did not exist.

A majority of the American people now believes that the president intentionally misled our nation into war, and many more believe the sacrifice made in Iraq has not been worthwhile. This web site is intended as a resource to document the truth about how we were misled into war, so that we might avoid such a mistake in the future.

(from May, 2005)

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The website also includes an extensive timeline:

http://downingstreetmemo.com/timeline/

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We have no moral high ground as a nation. It will take years to earn the same back with actions..........Enough war.....enough militarization of our society.....enough blank checks for special interests.....shame....shame....

2seaoat wrote:We have no moral high ground as a nation.  It will take years to earn the same back with actions..........Enough war.....enough militarization of our society.....enough blank checks for special interests.....shame....shame....

That is a product of the individual; we all have to stick to our standards. For the record, Seaoat, I think you're one of the good ones.