Re: anyone believe this? [POLITICS]
perris said:
people are believing the memo because the tenets of the issues are already testified as accurate by bush advisor's and aids
we have already been told that Bush had Iraq on his mind from his first days in office...
when Afghanistan attacked America, we already know as a fact that the first thing Bush wanted to do was attack Iraq immediately even though he knew it was Afghanistan that we needed to respond against
we also know as a fact that rumsfeld wanted to ignore Afghanistan entirely and go after Iraq instead.
we also know as a fact that rumsfeld took the resources that were earmarked for Afghanistan and put them aside for the initiative in Iraq long before he had any notion that the attack in Iraq would be approved
we also know as a fact that the very people that supplied the information Bush used to make his case for war in Iraq told him his case was not accurate, and we know as a fact that he used the said data after he was told what he wanted to say didn't stand
so even though the actual memo seems staged to me, the entire hypothesis is not hard to believe at all
True, there are quite a number of things I've heard of, and independently have been convinced of... And short of documentary evidence, that is what one would have to base their assesement upon. I think much of this would come down to one's views of the Iraq war and the events surrounding the entrence into it, a priori how people will assess the document.
What would be nice, and would help resolve some of the unknown concerning the memo itself, is if it's signatures, seals, official marks, etc could be analyzed. If through handwritting analysis for instance, it could be demonstrated that the signatures are obvious forgeries, then it would put the memo into question in doubt... Same if the seals (which shouldn't very much as if they were hand written, because the same device is used to imprint the paper) are slightly off... It would essentially be the same thing used when someone isn't sure if a legal document was in question and one was looking for a forgery...
If on the other hand, everything checks out as being reasonably correct and in order, and the information is also confirmable otherwise...it'd be the strongest case that could be made that a document is in fact legit... The typing of a document into a news article does result in some loss of information (concerning the document itself), which leaves such independent verification harder...
But yes, there is independent colloboration for the points you're making above...
Oh, and speaking of entering into Iraq, another account (albeit it would be seperate from this memo) is one given in
Bush's Brain: How Karl Rove Made George W Bush Presidential. A meeting was said to be held with key Repubs and Karl Rove... On a power point presentation was found on slide 16, essentially:
To win 2002 Congressional elections for the Republican Party and increase our power:
- Talk about war against terror and war in Iraq
- Above all, don't let the media focus on the economy
This was said (by the author of
Bush's Brain to have been composed before the war in Iraq ever became an issue in the public's eye...