On June 12, 2005, the London Times published a portion of a Cabinet Office Paper dated July 21, 2002. Paragraph 10 reads:
The Conditions Necessary for Military Action 10. Aside from the existence of a viable military plan we consider the following conditions necessary for military action and UK participation: justification/legal base; an international coalition; a quiescent Israel/Palestine; a positive risk/benefit assessment; and the preparation of domestic opinion.
My question? What the hell happened? This was a good framework to follow before considering invasion and would have increased the chances for success. Either the conditions were not followed, or there are some interesting documents out there that show a "viable military plan", a "justification/legal base" for war, a new definition of an "international coalition", a "positive risk/benefit assessment" and some sort of prepared "domestic opinion". Someone needs to ask Blair and his cohorts whether they followed their plan, and if they didn't why not.