Oakland Trib: "War foes call memo vindication" [View All]

[ailsagirl]

June 17, 2005

Downing Street minutes, intelligence 'hype' at center of Democrat-led hearing

WASHINGTON — Opponents of the war in Iraq on Thursday held an unofficial hearing on Capitol Hill to draw attention to a leaked British government document they say proves their case that President Bush misled the public about his war plans in 2002 and distorted intelligence to support his policy.

In a jammed room in the basement of the Capitol, Rep. John Conyers Jr. of Michigan, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, presided as witnesses asserted that the "Downing Street memo" — minutes of a July 23, 2002, meeting of Prime Minister Tony Blair and his top British security officials — vindicated their view that Bush made the decision to topple Saddam Hussein long before he has admitted...

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The House Democrats accused Bush and his top aides of deliberately deceiving the public about his intent to go to war. They said the British memo contradicted the president's statement that he did not decide to invade Iraq until shortly before the March 2003 launch of hostilities.

The hearing and other events Thursday reflected anti-war sentiment re-energized both by publication of the British memo and by evidence that congressional and public opinion has shifted significantly against the president's conduct of the war.

http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/localnews/ci_2808106