WASHINGTON (AFP) - The White House denied a New York Times report that President George W. Bush was determined to invade Iraq by late January 2003, two months before he did so.
Bush told British Prime Minister Tony Blair on January 31, 2003 that he was determined to invade Iraq without a second UN resolution and even if UN arms inspectors failed to find weapons of mass destruction in the country, according to the Times report.
It cited a top secret memo about the private White House meeting by David Manning, Blair's chief foreign policy adviser at the time.
Asked Monday if the memo showed Bush was determined to go to war, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said, "that's not an accurate assessment," although he did not deny the existence of the memo.
"The use of force was the last option," said McClellan, adding that the option had to be planned for.
In his memo, Manning paraphrased Bush as saying "'The start date for the military campaign was now penciled in for 10 March,'" according to the Times report. 'This was when the bombing would begin'."
"We were continuing to pursue a diplomatic solution, but we recognized that is was necessary to prepare and plan accordingly in the event we would need to use force," McClellan said.
"The president pursed a diplomatic solution, that's why we went to the United Nation, that's why we passed a 17th resolution that called on the regime to disclose or face serious consequences," he said.
Asked about the contradiction between his statements and the memo cited by the Times, McClellan said: "I think that our public and private comments are fully consistent."
Today I had this huge argument with some supposedly educated "academically level" low life, stupid Racist bunch of idiots (mostly WOMAN type) about the 3rd world and particularly female's position in 3rd word?.
What would you change from the current political state? This is for all of you armchair presidents out there. Which is pretty much everyone lol. I would especially like to hear primegen's and branh's responses. But I certainly want everyone to reply to th
is it just me , or does anyone else find it amazing that the U.S. government can track a cow born in Canada almost three years ago, right to the stall where she sleeps in the state of washington And they tracked her calves to their stalls. But they can no
? Boy Emperor ? Bubble Boy ? Bush Leaguer ? Chimperor ? Chimpy ? Commander-in-Thief ? Deserter-in-Chief ? Dubyanocchio ? Idiot Son of a Buffoon ? Incurious George
While our media is filled with stories on the Bush administration and Iran, they almost invariably focus on the Iranian nuclear program (or European negotiations and U.S. non-negotiations about the same). You could
50 hilarious quotes of President Bush Said in His First Term:
50. "I promise you I will listen to what has been said here, even though I wasn't here." ?at the President's Economic Forum in Waco, Texas, Aug. 13, 2002
President George W. Bush was determined to invade
Iraq by late January 2003, two months before he did so.
Bush told British Prime Minister
Tony Blair on January 31, 2003 that he was determined to invade Iraq without a second UN resolution and even if UN arms inspectors failed to find weapons of mass destruction in the country, according to the Times report.
It cited a top secret memo about the private White House meeting by David Manning, Blair's chief foreign policy adviser at the time.
Asked Monday if the memo showed Bush was determined to go to war, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said, "that's not an accurate assessment," although he did not deny the existence of the memo.
"The use of force was the last option," said McClellan, adding that the option had to be planned for.
In his memo, Manning paraphrased Bush as saying "'The start date for the military campaign was now penciled in for 10 March,'" according to the Times report. 'This was when the bombing would begin'."
"We were continuing to pursue a diplomatic solution, but we recognized that is was necessary to prepare and plan accordingly in the event we would need to use force," McClellan said.
"The president pursed a diplomatic solution, that's why we went to the United Nation, that's why we passed a 17th resolution that called on the regime to disclose or face serious consequences," he said.
Asked about the contradiction between his statements and the memo cited by the Times, McClellan said: "I think that our public and private comments are fully consistent."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060327/pl_afp/usbritainbushiraq