In February 2003, the president was insistent that he hoped to find a peaceful solution to his standoff with Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, and would work with and through the United Nations to resolve the conflict. At least, that was what he was saying publicly.
According to a new report published today by El Pais, Spain’s largest daily newspaper, Bush told then-Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar at the time that he was going to invade Iraq no matter what happened. Spanish speakers can read the transcript of their discussion — I’m a little rusty — but E&P has a report on the revelations.
Bush purportedly said he planned to invade Iraq in March “if there was a United Nations Security Council resolution or not…. We have to get rid of Saddam. We will be in Baghdad at the end of March.”
He said the U.S. takeover would happen without widespread destruction. He observed that he was willing to play bad cop to British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s good cop.
According to the transcript, Aznar asked Bush to be more patient and emphasized the importance of a U.N. resolution. The president said he was out of patience. Aznar said he was worried that Bush was overly optimistic about what would happen. Bush reportedly said, “I am optimistic because I believe I am right. I am at peace with myself.”
One Trackback To “The Spanish Downing Street memo?“
Primero.
Chimpy is a lying ba$tard… who will ever believe him again?! Not me!!
Tercero…
Wingnuts still use the “I believe…” to start their declarative sentences. Like, well, if they believe strongly enough, then can they really be faulted if it doesn’t go the way they intended?
Uhm, yes. Yes they can.
It’s Peter Pan politics. Wingnuts think they can “wish” reality into being.
Bush reportedly said, “I am optimistic because I believe I am right. I am at peace with myself.”
It’s all about you, isn’t it Mr. Bush.
Seriously, is there some mechanism for removing the president and such from office when deemed mentally unstable? The constitution says there shall be no religious test for office. Well, perhaps there should be a mental health test.
If there are no legal means to remove dangerous people like this from office then perhaps it is time to try some illegal means.
Why of why is that man and his cabal of criminals not rotting in jail awaiting their executions for crimes against humanity? It amazes me to no end that people still treat him and his crime gang with any respect. Not a single one of them deserves any.
Como esta, asshole bush?
There’s not a lot new in this one, sadly. We already had information about the minutes from the Bush/Blair meeting of Jan. 31, 2003 where Bush was saying some truly bizarre things about trying to provoke Hussein into a shooting war, and where he admits that the UN inspectors aren’t going to find any weapons.
The Spanish minutes add little more than that by late February Bush had settled on an invasion date after March 15 (and that that was based on when US troops were ready to invade). There’s also the posturing about dragging Hussein before the world court. Whatever happened to that plan?
It wasn’t the only reason, and maybe not the most important one, but remember somebody told him he couldn’t be a “great” president unless he was a wartime president. They sure knew how to feed his ego.
And everyone else has had to pay for it.
Zombies are always pretty much at peace with themselves.
And their grammar’s usually bad too, as with the Zombie-in-Chief, who today said:
“As yesterday’s positive report card shows, childrens do learn when standards are high and results are measured.”
High standards. Measured results. Yeah.
Does this mean GW Bush can be held accountable for murder? I am having a hard time seeing the US as moral anymore. There are the crack-pot Christians who get their panties all wadded up over sex, other people’s embryos and naughty words, but how can we imagine ourselves as Moral when we allow elected leaders to commit war crimes??
Sigh. First they came for the liberals.
If this is actually a fact, this will add one more evidence that BUSH was intent on attacking IRAQ even if it meant fixing intelligence or lying to the public.
IMPEACH….
Oh, gee whilikers, maybe this will be the straw that makes the ball-less Dems put “impeachment on the table.”
I’m going to hold my breath now!
(Someone call 911 in about 5 minutes…or at least pour beer down my throat.)
Sign me,
“Emasculated”
I’m so tired of this…
I can not tell you the hate I have for this poor exquse of human beings. Please if there is a god do not make us live under this kind of hell. Or is this what God wants for its people? Of corse GWB talks to god. Iforgot. Well there is no god. thank you.
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Proud American @ 13:
Will never happen.
Bush and Cheney could play a game of kickball on the white house lawn with a newborn baby, during the middle of a press conference.
The media would interview anyone who had a problem with this and ask:
“You don’t like sports? You America hating terrorist!”
LEAVE PRESIDENT BUSH ALOOONNE!!!! LEAVE HIM ALOOONNE!! IT’S NOT HIS FAULT!! **sobbing**
But seriously; reality really does have a liberal bias
Eamon @ 18:
Actually, liberals have a reality bias.
Bush always thinks he’s right which is why there is no peace
Somewhere there is a singular MSM report of the ultimatum given Saddam in the hours before the first invasion: leave the country and we’ll spare your ass and your country. Bush and Cheney gave Saddam a certain time by which to respond. Saddam met the deadline, but Cheney convinced Bush to ignore the deadline in the interim no matter what the answer was, and bomb him anyway.
I read this. I thought I saved it. I can’t find it. BUT I REMEMBER IT.
right on! @ 2:
Who ever believed him in the first place?
It is not hard for me to hold the democrats responsible for not impeaching this bastard but on the same hand we the people gave them “ALMOST” enough tools to work with and then ask them to convince the lockstep repugnants to go along with taking down their GOD
Get fucking real people
The same sentiment is heard in padded cells and mental institutions around the world… George W. Bush is the Charles Manson of American Politics.
RagingGurrl @ 5:
Well, he’s the only person in the world he allows to be at peace.
Bush is obviously mentally ill, and all of the morally bankrupt follow along try to reap the spoils. . .
Rene ala Carte @ 10:
Maybe, but i remember reading that he came out of a meeting with Paul Wolfowitz in 1994 saying that if he was President he would invade Iraq. I personally believe this is why and how he got to BE President.
The Spanish Downing Street memo!
(i fixed your headline)
The permanent US Embassy in Iraq will be bigger than Vatican City and cost over a billion dollars. A large contingent of US troops will be necessary to protect the complex and our oil interest in Iraq. Any politician who promises to leave Iraq now or any time in the foreseeable future is a lying sack of crap.
Cythraul @ 17:
The above graphic image needs to be made into a new political cartoon in my opinion.
Okay. now we’ve got the British Downing Street Memo to indict Bush with as well as the Spanish version. How many indictments do we need before congress takes the action mandated by the constitution as well as their oath of office? Impeachment is not a “choice”; rather impeachment is a mandate and Congress does not have the luxury of bringing action toward impeachment or not - they must when there is evidence that a high crime has been committed.
Congress: How much more prima facie evidence do you need? Get off your asses and finally DO SOMETHING to help save this democracy from pending and obvious implosion.
This proof is among many other facts with documents that the White House has lied from day one yet Americans sit back and say/do nothing. Bush/Cheney planned this to steal Iraq oil and it worked. Now we know the Pakistan President was telling the truth that Bush/Cheney threaten to bomb countries if they didn’t join in the illegal invasion. Yes some countries got money and others got both money and weapons. No wonder the US National Debt is 9 Trillion dollars and continuing to go up. Now Americans are allowing Bush/Cheney to illegally bomb Iran for it’s oil. We have no troops to send so Cheney will just bomb Iran.
Americans will realize to late and the United Nations will step in as all the countries join Iran against the United States. We have no shame in this country we let hired Killers like Blackwater go out to kill innocent Iraq men/women/children and even kill Pat Tillman and others soldiers that the White House ordered killed.
What a proud nation the United States of American has come to be under the leadership of a drunken/coward/weak President Bush and a sick/evil/ Satan worshipper President Cheney.
English translation of the transcript here
judge him by the Nuremburg standard then if found guilty lock him in a 3 X 4 x 5 dog cage.
mrogi @ 29:
no, rogi, its a lying sack of shit! This is no time to be mealymouthed. Speak up!!
I’m sure you’ll have some cosmic rationale
But here you are with your faith
And your Peter Pan advice
You have no scars on your face
And you cannot handle PRESSURE
“My patience is at an end” LOL
what is America going to say when bush declares martial law and sets Blackwater on the American citizens? and you don’t think he will do this, do you?
THINK AGAIN !
Don’t you all get it yet? No one cares! By no one, of course, I mean the 29 percenters or whatever the figure is now. The White House could release a video of Bush saying that he knew terrorists were planning to attack on 9/11, and that he was going to use that as an excuse to invade Iraq, and the sheeple would still bleat “Saddam was a bad man and the world is better off without him.” I asked one of my relatives years ago what George W. would have to do to override the fact that he claims to be a Christian, and to lose her support. Sadly, I have come to realize that the answer is that there is nothing that will cause his base to turn against him.
What I do not understand is why the Democratic Congressmen have apparently not realized this. It seems like they are still trying to appeal to some mythical “moderate” voters. There are no more moderates regarding this war, and have not been for some time. Seriously, who do you know who pays the slightest attention to current events who is not either completely against the war or will continue to support it no matter what (unless, of course, their kids were drafted or their taxes were raised to pay for it.)
This is lovely too:
Besides the fact that it’s a complete lie (maybe he thinks he did comfort Cindy Sheehan?) it’s even more disgusting because, as usual, the slimeball had no idea at all who he was actually going to send off to fight. Perhaps if he did, he might have realized that comforting would also be needed for the widowers and grandchildren of the dead? I swear the idiot thinks it’s all a movie, with some imaginary eighteen year old boys dying noble, heroic, painless and bloodless deaths.
FINALLY!
After almost 7 years, I finally have read about a bush success story.
He observed that he was willing to play bad cop to British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s good cop.
And the decider has done a fine job at being a bad cop.
One day Bush will have to answer for his crimes. ;)
And I believe I am right: Bush is the worst president, ever. History doesn’t have to happen to judge him, he’s being judged now by the present, and it’s a rather ugly picture. He is no Truman, and no Reagan, and not even close to Lincoln. He’s more akin to Harding or Buchanan as bad presidents go, but rather lower than them even. A failure. Thanks for playing ‘bad cop’ with soldier’s lives, W.
The fact that Bush is “at peace with himself” must be a comfort to the family members (American, British & Iraqi) who lost loved ones in Bush’s pissing contest!
May you rot in hell, you fucking doofus!!
Oh and remember people he is there because of one thing: the Republican Party foisted him onto us. All of his decisions and their results are the fault, indirectly, of the GOP. Yes it is that simple. They should pay by losing elections for a time to come.
the media will memory hole this. “OMG, Jack Bauer DUI”
Criminal traitor war criminals like Bush, Cheney, and all the rest of the neocon cabal and talibangelicals should be tried, tarred and feathered, and summarily executed. Moderator please don’t tell me not to advocate violence: I am advocating what is normally done to traitors and war criminals.
The bastard needs to be hung by his neck for what he has done and we need to make the next President of the US, accountable for making sure he is held accountable for all the misery he has brought to this country and Iraq and the whole world.
Bush reportedly said, “I am optimistic because I believe I am right. I am at peace with myself.”
Hey, thats exactly what I always say.
If your ever in front of a judge for DUI or criminal equivalent just try it. Tell the judge you did what you did and, “I am optimistic because I believe I am right. I am at peace with myself.”
It works for no down, no interest loans too…………….
StCyrlyMe @ 46:
Hanging the criminals who have caused so many deaths in their war profiteering effort would not appease the families of those left to wonder why. They do need to pay but there is not, in my view, anything that they have to offer because the lives of the criminals are simply not worth the death of even one person who has died as a result of their actions. I would prefer that they spend the rest of their lives undergoing alternative interrogation so that we could hopefully reach the depth of their wrongdoing. They would crack in an instant. These are people who were too afraid to serve their country when the had the chance.
yeah…
quite a
bragadiccio
heh…
I couldn’t wait for the translation, here’s the original to those who can read Spanish.
ACTA DE LA CONVERSACIÓN ENTRE GEORGE W. BUSH Y JOSÉ MARÍA AZNAR - CRAWFORD, TEJAS, 22 DE FEBRERO DE 2003
“Llegó el momento de deshacerse de Sadam”
26/09/2007
Presidente Bush. Estamos a favor de conseguir una segunda resolución en el Consejo de Seguridad y querríamos hacerlo rápidamente. Querríamos anunciarla el lunes o el martes [24 o 25 de febrero de 2003].
Presidente Aznar. Mejor el martes, después de la reunión del Consejo de Asuntos Generales de la Unión Europea. Es importante mantener el momentum [impulso] conseguido por la resolución de la cumbre de la Unión Europea [en Bruselas, el lunes 17 de febrero]. Nosotros preferiríamos esperar hasta el martes.
PB. Podría ser el lunes por la tarde, teniendo en cuenta la diferencia horaria. En cualquier caso la próxima semana. Vemos la resolución redactada de manera que no contenga elementos obligatorios, que no mencione el uso de la fuerza, y que constate que Sadam Hussein ha sido incapaz de cumplir sus obligaciones. Ese tipo de resolución puede ser votada por mucha gente. Sería algo parecida a la que se obtuvo cuando lo de Kosovo [el 10 de junio de 1999].
PA. ¿Se presentaría ante el Consejo de Seguridad antes e independientemente de una declaración paralela?.
Condoleezza Rice. En realidad no habría declaración paralela. Estamos pensando en una resolución tan simple como sea posible sin muchos detalles de cumplimiento que pudieran servir para que Sadam Hussein los utilizara como etapas y consiguientemente incumplirlas. Estamos hablando con Blix [jefe de los inspectores de la ONU] y otros de su equipo para obtener ideas que pueden servir para introducir la resolución.
PB. Sadam Husein no cambiará y seguirá jugando. Ha llegado el momento de deshacerse de él. Es así. Yo, por mi parte, procuraré a partir de ahora utilizar una retórica lo más sutil posible, mientras buscamos la aprobación de la resolución. Si alguien veta [Rusia, China y Francia poseen junto a EE UU y Reino Unido derecho a veto en el Consejo de Seguridad en su calidad de miembros permanentes], nosotros iremos. Sadam Hussein no se está desarmando. Le tenemos que coger ahora mismo. Hemos mostrado un grado increíble de paciencia hasta ahora. Quedan dos semanas. En dos semanas estaremos militarmente listos. Creo que conseguiremos la segunda resolución. En el Consejo de Seguridad tenemos a los tres africanos [Camerún, Angola y Guinea], a los chilenos, a los mexicanos. Hablaré con todos ellos, también con Putin, naturalmente. Estaremos en Bagdad a finales de marzo. Existe un 15% de posibilidades de que en ese momento Sadam Hussein esté muerto o se haya ido. Pero esas posibilidades no existen antes de que hayamos mostrado nuestra resolución. Los egipcios están hablando con Sadam Hussein. Parece que ha indicado que estaría dispuesto a exiliarse si le dejaran llevarse 1.000 millones de dólares y toda la información que quisiera sobre armas de destrucción masiva. [Muammar El] Gaddafi le ha dicho a Berlusconi que Sadam Hussein quiere irse. Mubarak nos