If you’re not a blogger you probably have heard only vague hints about the Downing Street Memorandum, a secret document circulated to top British officials summarizing a meeting in which they discussed how to legally justify an Iraq war that President Bush and Prime Minister Blair had already agreed to undertake – back in July 2002. As you are no doubt aware, the White House claimed that taking the case for war to the United Nations was an attempt to avert the conflict by allowing Saddam Hussein a chance to comply with new resolutions reiterating calls for inspections. Many at the time argued that the new demands on Saddam were impossible to carry out, and this document confirms the intention by the governments to craft demands to which Saddam could not possibly accede, thus allowing the war a legal basis.

Many have claimed for a long time that the American peple were lied to. This memo is perhaps the most damning claim yet to surface that, not only is this true, but there was an effort at the highest levels of government to subvert international law and move forward with a policy-driven war that was not supported by facts.

No major United States media outlet has reported on the DSM. Many in America, including 89 members of Congress and over half a million citizens who signed an online petition, wonder just what is going on here.