Going Beyond Iraq?
This, I'm sure, will have the conspiracy crowd buzzing.
The big surprise in all of this is Bush's talk of war with Saudi Arabia, but people shouldn't let that mislead them about this. Bush has long been outspoken in his desire to confront rogue regimes and terror-sponsoring states wherever they exist. The fact that he would have communicated that sort of thing to a major ally in his foreign policies is hardly surprising and his willingness to discuss confronting a nation with which his administration has had friendly ties is a testament to his resolve.
And, of course, its very easy to take things like this out of context. Our leaders talk about a lot of situations, often approaching tough issues from multiple angles while tracing every possible option and outcome. Discussing war with Saudi Arabia is a very different thing than actually considering it.
The Guardian - George Bush told Tony Blair shortly before the invasion of Iraq that he intended to target other countries, including Saudi Arabia, which, he implied, planned to acquire weapons of mass destruction.
Mr Bush said he "wanted to go beyond Iraq in dealing with WMD proliferation, mentioning in particular Saudi Arabia, Iran, North Korea, and Pakistan," according to a note of a telephone conversation between the two men on January 30 2003.
The note is quoted in the US edition, published next week, of Lawless World, America and the Making and Breaking of Global Rules, by the British international lawyer Philippe Sands. The memo was drawn up by one of the prime minister's foreign policy advisers in Downing Street and passed to the Foreign Office, according to Mr Sands.
The big surprise in all of this is Bush's talk of war with Saudi Arabia, but people shouldn't let that mislead them about this. Bush has long been outspoken in his desire to confront rogue regimes and terror-sponsoring states wherever they exist. The fact that he would have communicated that sort of thing to a major ally in his foreign policies is hardly surprising and his willingness to discuss confronting a nation with which his administration has had friendly ties is a testament to his resolve.
And, of course, its very easy to take things like this out of context. Our leaders talk about a lot of situations, often approaching tough issues from multiple angles while tracing every possible option and outcome. Discussing war with Saudi Arabia is a very different thing than actually considering it.
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