Well, here's something you don't see every day. According to some super-secret memo from a Tony Blair/George Bush
President Bush suggested "flying U2 reconnaissance aircraft planes with fighter cover over Iraq, painted in UN colours," in order to provoke Saddam to shoot on them, therefore putting Iraq in breach of United Nations resolutions.
That's not everything though.
Bush expected Iraq's army to "fold very quickly," and also told the Prime Minister that he thought the Republican Guard would be "decimated by the bombing."
"As for the future government of Iraq, people would find it very odd if we handed it over to another dictator," Blair is quoted as saying.
According to an article on the memo published by the Guardian in February, "Mr Bush made it clear the US intended to invade whether or not there was a second UN resolution and even if UN inspectors found no evidence of a banned Iraqi weapons programme."
"The diplomatic strategy had to be arranged around the military planning", The Guardian reported that Bush told Blair. The prime minister is said to have raised no objection. He is quoted as saying he was "solidly with the president and ready to do whatever it took to disarm Saddam".
How nice.
Here's a link to the NY Times' copy that ran this morning: Click for story.
Tags: [George Bush], [Tony Blair], [secret memo from Blair, Bush meeting], [U2 reconnaissance aircraft planes], [paint U2s in UN colors], [United Nations]
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