Milan Rai of
Justice Not Venegance has a very good
commentary on the infamous memo.
Its conclustion is absolutely damning (emphasis in original).
The July 2002 memo confirms what was long known:
that the British Government had decided on war by mid-2002; that the evidence and intelligence was 'fixed around the policy' rather than the evidence determining the policy; that dislodging Saddam Hussein (misleadingly referred to as 'regime change') rather than disarmament was the key goal from the very beginning; that UN inspectors were seen from the outset as a public relations device rather than as a means of disarmament; that Britain (and the US) were trying to create a situation in which Baghdad would refuse to re-admit the inspectors, in order to create a political and legal justification for a war they were already committed to for other reasons; that Tony Blair and his ministers lied through their teeth.
Un-bleepity-bleeping believable. The UN was being played like a violin, and London and Washington were scared to death that inspectors would find nothing (and nothing was found anyway).
And however uncivilized Saddam's regime was, our behavior in this draws comparisons to Austria-Hungary's attempt to booby-trap Serbia in the aftermath of Francis Ferdinand's assassination.
Yet more reason to demand an investigation. Sign this petition: http://www.petitiononline.com/UKMemo