Moments ago, Bush and Blair answered a question about the Downing Street Minutes.
At a press conference in Washington, the Prime Minister and President both answered a question as to the accuracy of the statement in the Downing Street Minutes that in July 2002 they were fixing the facts to suit their determined policy to go to war.
Blair said that was false, while seeming to acknowledge (and certainly not disputing) the authenticity of the minutes. Then he asserted that the meeting recorded in the minutes had taken place prior to approaching the United Nations.
Yes, that is part of the problem. It was also prior to approaching the US Congress or the public. Blair did not say the minutes were an inaccurate recording of the meeting, but said that he had not been fixing facts around policy.
Bush also seemed to acknowledge (and certainly did not dispute) that these were the minutes of a meeting that occured in the time and place recorded. He claimed that he and Blair had been trying to find a peaceful solution, and he parroted Blair's remark about the UN meeting coming later.
Neither Bush nor Blair presented any evidence to call into doubt the minutes or to demonstrate that they, Bush and Blair, had not at that time decided on war and decided to lie about the reasons for it.
AfterDowningStreet.org, a coalition of veterans groups, peace groups, and public interest organizations around the country, renewed its call today for a full congressional investigation into whether the President has committed impeachable offenses in connection with the Iraq war, in light of the new evidence revealed by the Downing Street Minutes.
QUESTION: On Iraq, the so-called Downing Street Memo from July, 2002, says