Front page Sunday Oregonian: US rationale for War "unconvincing"

[Generator]

Under headline this quote above the byline:

" It sounds like a grudge between Bush and Saddam," wrote one British official.

Can't find a direct link on Oregon live-so y'all believe me as I'm stunned and shaking.

But here you go:

http://www.thewgalchannel.com/news/4625244/detail.html?rss=lan&psp=nationalnews

Secret British Memos: Al-Qaida, Iraq Link 'Unconvincing'

POSTED: 4:57 pm EDT June 18, 2005
UPDATED: 5:54 pm EDT June 18, 2005

LONDON -- When Prime Minister Tony Blair's chief foreign policy adviser dined with Condoleezza Rice six months after Sept. 11, the then-U.S. national security adviser didn't want to discuss Osama bin Laden or al-Qaida. She wanted to talk about "regime change" in Iraq, setting the stage for the U.S.-led invasion more than a year later.

President George W. Bush wanted Blair's support, but British officials worried the White House was rushing to war, according to a series of leaked secret Downing Street memos that have renewed questions and debate about Washington's motives for ousting Saddam Hussein.

In one of the memos, British Foreign Office political director Peter Ricketts openly asks whether the Bush administration had a clear and compelling military reason for war.

"U.S. scrambling to establish a link between Iraq and al-Qaida is so far frankly unconvincing," Ricketts says in the memo. "For Iraq, `regime change' does not stack up. It sounds like a grudge between Bush and Saddam."


Front page folks.

[longship]

1. WooHoo! Wish it were like this in Ohio papers, too.

Or Kansas, or Mississippi, or anywhere but the left coast. But we need the left coast, too. Great news.

[Generator]

2. Oh and my paper has it as an Associated press article

by Thomas Warner exactly as printed above except my lovely lovely Oregonian picked the grudge quote to go above the byline!

[dogday]

3. Absolutely Wonderful-Am Glad To See This

Spread The Truth...

[MissB]

4. Hopefully it stays up for the Sunday edition

I assume you're looking at the Saturday release of the Sunday paper. Can't wait to look at it in the morning.

[Generator]

9. Yep we always go get the Sunday paper on Saturday

I've got it in my hands. A GRUDGE between Bush and Saddam.

[MissB]

13. Wasn't it just last Sunday that the editorial board

was giving all sorts of reasons (listed in the Public Editor's column in Sunday's Commentary section) why the Oregonian wasn't dealing with the DSM?

[Straight Shooter]

5. I'm buying tomorrow's paper and saving it for "I told you so"

Not that I would ever be so nasty as to actually say "I told you so," because it's all so sad and awful. But I haven't bought the Oregonian in ages because, well, I've got DU.

Yet tomorrow's paper will be worth buying if for no other reason than to support the Oregonian on this issue.

Thanks for the heads up! :thumbsup:

[Generator]

11. On the Oregonian Page 2 is texts from all the memos!

"Excerpts from material in secret Dowing Street memo written in 2002. The information, authenticated by a senior British offical was transcribed from the orignal documents. Spelling is retained."

A keeper. This one.

[Straight Shooter]

16. Thanks for the extra incentive. I'm in the boonies. Paper comes tomorrow

Heads will explode in local restaurants as the bushies eat their breakfasts of steak and hashbrowns with lots of ketchup. :7

[Arugula Latte]

6. Well, it's three years too late, but we'll take it.

nt

[OldLeftieLawyer]

7. "...unconvincing"?

What a shame the weasels had to use such a mushy, innocuous word. That's a real invitation to ignore the article.

What if someone wrote a headline that said "Bush Lied And Thousands Have Died Because He Lied"?

Wouldn't that be something?

Imagine - accuracy in the media.

[Generator]

12. Hey it beats the title that MSNBC used

U.K. memos show concern over Iraq invasion

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8270144/

It's the same damn article. But they didn't pick out those lovely quotes for a headline like the Oregonian did.

Unconvincing and a grudge!!! Bush is such a disgrace.

[Straight Shooter]

17. Well, that would be inflammatory.

Can't have that, can we? ;)

[OldLeftieLawyer]

21. Let's all go to

www.buyasetofballs.com, and get enough for newspaper editors all over the country, why don't we?

[knowbody0]

8. truth is like sunlight

it disinfects most fungal and bacterial matter

[NicRic]

10. Shocking !

Well surprise ,surprise ,even the folks in Mayberry would have figured that one out ! Are the american people just playing dumb on this ,or are we really this stupid ? I have never been as proud as Iam now that I disliked someone running for President as Iam on this one , Nixon a close second !

[gratuitous]

14. Hmmm, this is the same Oregonian?

They ran an editorial right after the biggest demonstration downtown against the war in February 2003, and dismissed the protestors as "naive." They also hired an airplane to fly over the demonstration and take photos, which they then used to dispute the number of marchers.

It's nice that the Oregonian seems to have come around. It's too bad that it took tens of thousands of deaths and hundreds of billions of dollars to get them to ask the hard questions and do some basic analysis that might have moved public opinion in another direction.

[stevedeshazer]

23. That's the one.

Always late to the party.

They wrote about Bob Packwood and Neil Goldscmidt, too.

After someone else did. They're always late to the party. :eyes:

[central scrutinizer]

26. The Packwood thing was egregious

They were sitting on the story of Packwood's sexual predation and waited until just after the election to release it. Otherwise, Les AuCoin would be Senator today and we wouldn't have to be represented by Gordon "lynching is OK by me" Smith

[stevedeshazer]

29. Exactly right

I think AuCoin would have been a good Senator.

[me b zola]

15. Woohoo

We stopped buying the Oregonian a while back, but I'm more than happy to buy this one:) Were you at the protest march on the anniversery of the beginning of the war? We stopped for several minutes in front of the Oregonian and yelled for them to stop telling lies!!

I just sent hubbie up to the store to buy a copy, I'm going to save it.

Thanks for sharing the news!!!:toast:

[Generator]

19. It's on the bottom of the page but it's still the front page!

Also, this kills me- page A4 has a BIG picture of Clinton laughing with Bush Sr. and Jr.

"Ex-presidents push aside family feud"-hmmmm

Page A5 More Abu Gharib photos due for release by Pentagon.

Oh that's been extended until July 22nd. So now I know. They need time to get them all ready and conceal their identites but it does really sound like they will be released.

Sounds like there's more to come to rock little emperor's world.

And NOW Generator will stop reading the paper on DU.

[realFedUp]

18. The point of the memos is the "intelligence" was to be fixed

to fit the PNAC plan. Bush Inc. lied to the
world and American people, deceived the Congress
and spent billions on no bid contracts.

[A Brand New World]

20. Yes, I really wish it was like this in Ohio. I get two different local

papers and neither one has had even the least little mention of the hearing held on Thursday. I thought there would surely be something today, but no. It's like it didn't even occur. I guess AP still doesn't recognize it as a legitimate story.

[oregonjen]

22. All I can say is.....

:toast: :bounce:

[Karenina]

24. The British are absolute masters

at "understatement." Your *media may claim their title! ;-)

[Karenina]

25. The British are absolute masters

at "understatement." Your *media may claim their title! ;-)

[Viva_La_Revolution]

27. Thanks Generator!

Folks this is AWESOME!!

[hnsez]

28. COPY OF ENTIRE FRONT PAGE HERE!!!!!!!

http://www.oregonlive.com/oregonian/ftp/Sunday-A1.pdf