'TROUBLING QUESTIONS'

A high-level, top-secret British government memo shines an inconvenient light on the fabrications of the Bush administration's call for war in Iraq.

The Times of London published the secret Downing Street memo, which is based on information from an official identified only as "C." It states:

C reported on his recent talks in Washington. There was a perceptible shift in attitude. Military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy. The NSC had no patience with the UN route, and no enthusiasm for publishing material on the Iraqi regime's record. There was little discussion in Washington of the aftermath after military action.

Later, the memo adds:

It seemed clear that Bush had made up his mind to take military action, even if the timing was not yet decided. But the case was thin. Saddam was not threatening his neighbours, and his WMD capability was less than that of Libya, North Korea or Iran.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan issued called the report "flat-out wrong," though he had not seen the "specific memo."

What punishment, one wonders, is adequate for an inept administration's actions that — in McClellan's own words about the Newsweek story — "has had serious consequences. People have lost their lives. The image of the United States abroad has been damaged."