Many thanks for the summary, Keith. Bush is not (yet?) in as much trouble here, but elements of trouble are present: 1) the Pew Center has just released a report on international public opinion that shows that the credibility of the US and Bush have fallen dramatically around the world, 2) the Inspector General's office of the Department of Justice has just released a scathing report on the improper detentions of immigrants post Sept. 11, and 3), as you say, there are rumblings of inquiry in Congress.
But we have yet to see the Democrats seriously question Bush's actions, and this reflects Bush's still-high popularity ratings in the US, falling but still-high. The makings of a further fall by Bush are present: even greater civil rights abuses than the IG revealed; the intrinsic incongruencies and vacuities with which Bush justified the attack on Iraq, the growing suspicion that those who advised the attack on Iraq may not have had the interests of the US in mind, the likelihood that things will become significantly worse for the US in Iraq (essentially from all Iraqis -- not just the Shi'i!), the impact of the invasion on the US budget, and smaller but symbolically powerful elements, such as the Jessica Lynch 'story'. Stay tuned.... Cheers, Lawry > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Keith Hudson > Sent: Wed, June 04, 2003 4:00 AM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: [Futurework] After the Lord Mayor's Show > > > "After the Lord Mayor's Show comes the dustcart" aptly describes what is > now going on over here. We have four Ministry of Defence > enquiries (two of > them very serious) going on now into the torture, killings and > humiliations > of Iraqi civilians by UK soldiers in Iraq. Since last night, we now have > two official Parliamentary enquiries into the reason why Blair took the > decision to go to war (the Intelligence Committee of the House of > Commons, > the Foreign Relations Committee). Did he, or did he not, edit and > embellish > the report of the Intelligence Services in order to justify WMDs, > Saddam-controlled terroism, linkages with Al Qaeda and so on? And now, to > cap it all, we have a demand from MPs and many other eminent people that > there should be a full Public Enquiry into the whole affair. > > And then, late last night, a really stupid remark by the Leader of the > House of Commons, John Reed (only recently appointed by Blair) > has probably > meant the death penalty for Blair's political life. > > For the last six years, the Labour Government's spin doctors have learned > many tricks and one of them is to turn things backwards in a > bare-faced way > as Blair did yesterday when at Evian. He said: "Our accusers > should supply > the evidence [of wrong-doing on my part]". This is a clever trick because > it is precisely the lack of evidence for declaring war that accusers are > complaining about. > > One of the ways that Blair has been answering charges of lying to > Parliament is to say that his decision to go to war was based on a > confidential report of the Intelligence Services. The > Intelligence Services > have no way of publicly saying that Blair had doctored their report, so > there have been rumours only -- but rumours that appear to have come from > extremely high sources in the Intelligence Service. Hitherto, > Blair's trick > would have sufficed. The high IS person(s) would have remained > dumb. But no > longer. > > But now, John Reed has gone too far. He said last night that the > Intelligence Report given to Blair was distorted by "rogue > elements" within > the IS! This despite the obvious fact that such a report could only have > been finalised by the very highest levels of the IS. In effect, > the Labour > Party in government have now declared war on the IS! > > The most troublesome fact of the IS Report to Blair was a mention that an > Iraqi dissident had said that Saddam had WMDs which he could unleash on > other countries within 45 minutes. But (according to rumour) the > IS Report > specifically said that this was a single piece of evidence from > one person, > it was not to be trusted too much because the source was a bitter > opponent > of Saddam and there was no corroboration of this from other sources. > Specifically, there was no evidence from satellite photographs. > It was this > 'evidence' that we were all within 45 minutes of disaster that > Blair made a > great deal of in his speech to Parliament in justification of his > decision > to go to war. > > While I am writing this, John Reed is now saying on the radio that there > are four "rogue elements" within the IS who have been briefing BBC > journalists, MPs and so on that the IS Report did not say that there was > sufficient evidence to go to war. The British Government and Labour Party > are now suffering from an advanced case of Conspiracitis! We have now > reached the stage of so much lack of credibility in the > truthfulness of the > Government that, as the BBC journalist is now saying at this very > moment of > writing, he has been briefed by someone in the "highest levels" of the IS > that the Government, and Blair in particular, had grossly exaggerated the > original IS Report. > > I understand that there are now two US Congressional enquiries into the > evidence for the decision for invading Iraq. If these have the > same head of > steam behind them as is now exists here, then I don't give Bush > much chance > of coming through the examination unscathed. Over here, Blair is now > probably finished as the Prime Minister because he will no longer be > trusted on anything he says or any policy that he espouses. A recent > world-wide opinion poll said that Blair was considered to be the > strongest > and most competent leader in the world. Over here, he is falling apart. > > Keith Hudson > Keith Hudson, 6 Upper Camden Place, Bath, England > > _______________________________________________ > Futurework mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
