Manning memo proves Bush is guilty of murder

[kpete]

Manning memo proves Bush is guilty of murder
by Christian Dem in NC
Sun Jun 01, 2008 at 09:15:49 AM PDT

Bugliosi refers to a meeting Bush held on January 31, 2003 with Tony Blair and six of Bush and Blair's top aides to discuss the Iraq issue. According to a memo summarizing the meeting that was written by David Manning (then Blair's foreign policy adviser and later British ambassador to Washington), Bush actually indicated that he was willing to provoke a confrontation with Saddam. This summary has never been disputed by the White House.

Among the ways Bush proposed to provoke a confrontation was to paint U2s to look like UN airplanes. The theory was that if Saddam tried to fire on them, it would justify military action. I have to say that in reading this, a chill went down my spine. The image I immediately got was of how Hitler started World War II--with a purported violation of the German border by Poland. SS men disguised as Polish soldiers were to stage a phony attack on a German radio station located right on the border, and leave drugged concentration camp inmates dying as "casualties."

This Manning memo got limited play in the press--it was mentioned only in passing in an NYT front-page story in March 2006. However, even without the plans to use U2 aircraft disguised in UN colors, the memo is absolutely damning and proves that the invasion of Iraq is a criminal act.

But behind closed doors, the president was certain that war was inevitable. During a private two-hour meeting in the Oval Office on Jan. 31, 2003, he made clear to Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain that he was determined to invade Iraq without the second resolution, or even if international arms inspectors failed to find unconventional weapons, said a confidential memo about the meeting written by Mr. Blair's top foreign policy adviser and reviewed by The New York Times.

"Our diplomatic strategy had to be arranged around the military planning," David Manning, Mr. Blair's chief foreign policy adviser at the time, wrote in the memo that summarized the discussion between Mr. Bush, Mr. Blair and six of their top aides.

"The start date for the military campaign was now penciled in for 10 March," Mr. Manning wrote, paraphrasing the president. "This was when the bombing would begin." (emphasis mine) http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/27/international/europe/27memo.html

It's one thing for a president to mislead his own people about a threat to the nation. But if Bugliosi and this NYT story are to be believed, then the invasion of Iraq is an American war of aggression, and all of the deaths of the American soldiers up to this point amount at the very least to second-degree murder. As Bugliosi puts it in his book:

If a conspirator (or anyone for that matter) deliberately sets in motion a chain of events that he knows will cause a third-party innocent agent to commit an act (here, the killing of American soldiers by Iraqis), the conspirator is criminally responsible for that act.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/6/1/95844/55255/169/526647

[formercia]

1. Junior and every other perpeTRAITOR in the gang that approved it.

I'd bet there aren't enough cells in Abu Ghraib to hold them all.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Ghraib_prison

[chelaque liberal]

2. There is a poll at the Kos link-I'd like to vote more than once!

Poll

After reading this, do you feel George Bush should be prosecuted for murder?

Yes
92% 90 votes

No
6% 6 votes

Don't know
2% 2 votes

|

[Wilms]

3. .

[Ghost in the Machine]

4. Yet none of this stuff is cause for impeachment.... none of the lies, none of the crimes..

Simply. Amazing.

[magellan]

5. It's sickening to read this stuff again two years on

...and know that lying POS is still in the WH and Congress won't do anything about it.

[alfredo]

6. I wonder if there are people out there ready to file charges?

[seemslikeadream]

7. If they don't the world will

[alfredo]

9. They always let the home country a chance to do the right thing.

[Echo In Light]

8. K&R

[nxylas]

10. Isn't it manslaughter rather than murder?

After all, it's not like Bush deliberately intended the deaths of those soldiers, they were just collateral damage.

[Eurobabe]

11. He is guilty of thousands, maybe millions of murders

and yet he is giving out a congressional medal to a dead Army Specialist as we write.

Sick, just sick.

[madamesilverspurs]

12. The soldier died doing what he was supposed to do.

But only because Bush did what he wasn't supposed to do.

Damn.

[Pierre.Suave]

13. I am sorry but...

I can not get past the first sentence...

Who the hell is bugliosi and why is he important to the story? You need a better intro.

[Kevin Cloyd]

14. He wrote Helter Skelter and

He's the Prosecutor that convicted Charles Mansion, he has won 99% of the cases he’s prosecuted.

[Pierre.Suave]

15. Fine, my point is still valid

the OP needs to write better. Assuming your readers to know something is ridiculous.

To me it looks as if the OP cut and paste and left out the intro to what we are reading here.

[kpete]

16. i am just a cut and paster

but I always link to more info -
so much info to collect on injustice,
sorry if it sometimes seems incomplete...kp

[Pierre.Suave]

25. You are correct about that

there is so much injustice it is hard to know where to begin.

I apologize for being so brash, I should have worded it better.

[merh]

20. Have you ever thought that instead of attacking the thread starter

you could simple post/ask questions or use google? Granted, you are young and obviously uninformed, but that does not give cause to go off on the OP.

How about "who is Buglosi and why does/should his opinion matter?"

I know you have been attacked in other forums for no reason so I know you can appreciate how needless such attacks can be.

Just making some observations and suggestions. :hi:

[Pierre.Suave]

26. It wasnt meant as an attack.

"Young and Obviously uninformed"


So everyone over a certain age knows who "Bugliosi" is? Is that what you are saying?

Maybe you old farts should share some of that special knowledge with the rest of us... :eyes:

[merh]

28. Yes, everyone over a certain age does know Charlie Manson

and the man that successfully prosecuted the psycho and his crew. We know of Bugliosi's book "Helter Shelter".

Since you are of an age that you don't know who Bugliosi is one would be safe in saying you are young, since you don't know who Bugliosi is, that makes you uninformed.

Again, google is your friend.

Being rude gets you where?

Deep breath and refocus your energies in other places, the snark and attacks are not endearing and are not even clever.

[Pierre.Suave]

29. I thought we were talking about bush

Do you see how all of this could have been avoided if the OP was a bit more clear?

Like I said, share some of that special knowledge with the rest of us. Then we dont need to get into discussions about who is saying what...

[merh]

31. And swallow your pride and ask when you don't know.

Don't just jump to snark and snotty posts. You are better than that and you know it.

[Pierre.Suave]

32. I did ask.

In my very first reply.

[PurpleChez]

35. Yes...and HOW did you ask? Let's review:

"Who the hell is bugliosi and why is he important to the story? You need a better intro."

Needlessly snarky.

[Pierre.Suave]

36. Well

All I know so far is that he prosecuted Charles Manson.

how does that apply to the Manning Memo?

See what I mean? Very unclear. Who the hell is bugliosi and why should I care, forgetting Manson this time, and what is his involvement with the manning memo...

[merh]

37. Like I said, being uninformed is not a reason for snark.

And this time it is uninformed relative to current news and Mr. Bugliosi.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=3370932

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/05/31/9328/

:hi:

[Pierre.Suave]

39. If asking for clarification passes as snark in GD

It explains why everyone is just throwing shit at each other in here.

Thank you for the links.

[PurpleChez]

34. Right on!!!

The comment was totally overboard. Thanks for saying so.

[merh]

38. I just get tired of needless snark.

And man, I'd never admit to "not knowing" when the internet has the answers at the touch of a finger - if I search it and come up with zilch, then I might ask the who and the why, but google first.

:hi:

[PurpleChez]

33. Did a badger just crawl up your backside and die???

You totally overreacted. You write like the OP just insulted your grandma or something. Take a pill.

[postulater]

27. Wow, Helter Skelter, Great U2 song!

I thought Bono wrote it.

(just kidding.)

Would one of our candidates allow the trial? I'll vote for the one that does.

[Jefferson23]

17. The Democratic Party is going to pay for the mistake of not impeaching these creeps.

One way or another, our Constitution can't survive the damage done here these last years.Where are you Pelosi?

[TellTheTruth82]

18. Nothing in this story

Nothing in this story is actionable. Being willing to do something and actually doing something are entirely different things in legal terms. Just think of the number of comments made here by people who want Bush dead (yes they are plenty...though calls for impeachment heavily outnumber them). Does that mean they have committed a crime? Bush certainly wanted a war, and was willing to provoke, but nothing in this story indicates he did. Not saying he didn't, but rather that nothing here indicates he did.

[magellan]

19. There is plenty of evidence around

This memo is important because it's one of a handful that comes from official channels.

[TellTheTruth82]

21. willingness

Understand that is comes from official channels, but willingness does not equal action. All I'm saying is that this story indicates willingness/desire to go to war - not that anything was done. Unless a memo from official channels comes out and says he did these things (or something else), it doesn't do a whole lot.

[magellan]

23. You're not understanding me

There is actionable evidence that supports the claims of this memo and others (broadly known as the Downing Street memos). The only willingness lacking is that of Congress to prosecute the lying war criminals in the WH.

[TellTheTruth82]

40. I understand

what you are saying...that there are other forms of evidence that can back up these claims. I just saying this story by itself doesn't and is therefore irrelevant.

[underpants]

22. Niobody here calls for Bush's death that is a lie

Thanks to the diligent work of the mods and self-monitoring by DU members threats to anyone for anything are not allowed and are immidiately dealt with.

Try it somewhere else.

[TellTheTruth82]

41. I think you misunderstand

I was trying to make a point that saying you are willing to see something bad happen does not equate with doing it. Perhaps I made a bad analogy, but that was the point I was trying to make. My entire line of reasoning about this story is that if something is going to be done in terms of impeachment, there had better be a stronger case than this story. You don't want to go to court/Congress based on this story alone, as it proves nothing, and would be like crying wolf. So this story is meaningless, in an actionable sense.

[RandomKoolzip]

30. Care to provide a link to any thread on DU that calls for Bush's death...

...that's from a person who wasn't a shit-stirring freeper in disguise?

[TellTheTruth82]

42. see response 30

[davidswanson]

24. White House Memo

http://afterdowningstreet.org/whitehousememo