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Another memo

geni

Anti-homeopathy illuminati member
geni
Joined
Oct 14, 2003
Messages
28,209
resh claims about the build-up to Iraq war

The disclosures come in the new edition of "Lawless World" by Phillipe Sands, professor of international law at University College London.

The most controversial evidence in the book revolves around the minutes of a meeting between the two leaders - at which professor Sands also alleges that president Bush proposed a plan to try to provoke Iraq into war. The idea was to paint and American U2 spy plane in UN colours and fly it over Iraq in the hope that it would be shot at.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/programmes/worldtoday/news/story/2006/02/060203_sands.shtml
 
That is a fairly stupid plan. It is hard to believe that someone who weaseled themselves into office would come up with something like that.

Then again. . .
 
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Mycroft said:
If Iraq was shooting at spy planes, it shouldn't matter if it was a UN or a US plane, either would be an equal provocation. If Iraq wasn't shooting at spy planes, then they wouldn't shoot at it no matter how it was painted.
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We know Iraq was shooting at spy planes.
 
It should also be pointed out that the US had approval from the UN to fly missions under their flag. Iraq painted or fired on coalition aircraft on a daily basis.
 
Mycroft said:
Call me cynical, but this doesn't pass the sniff test.

If Iraq was shooting at spy planes, it shouldn't matter if it was a UN or a US plane, either would be an equal provocation. If Iraq wasn't shooting at spy planes, then they wouldn't shoot at it no matter how it was painted.

It doesn't make any sense.
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Agree.
Spy planes fly at something like 50,000 feet. Doesn't matter what color they are painted, you can't see the markings at that altitude.
 
Mycroft said:
Okay, so why would Iraq shooting as US painted spy planes be different from Iraq shooting at UN painted spy planes?
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Because the US would be able to tell the world "See, they attacked all of us, including you", rather than just saying "See, they attacked us".

The real difference isn't that great, but the emotional difference could be not insignificant. A lot more people are willing to attack someone that attacked them first than are willing to attack someone that attacked someone else (especially if that someone else isn't particularly popular).
 
Cylinder said:
. Iraq painted or fired on coalition aircraft on a daily basis.
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I, for one, am absolutely outraged that the Iraqis were painting our aircraft every single day! :mad:


ETA: I realize that you probably mean "tracked by radar" when you wrote that, but the visual of Iraqi agents sneaking into air bases w/ a can of paint was too good to pass up!
 
Leif Roar said:
*shrugs* Even assuming this was true, so what? A lot of stupid, illegal, unethical and generally thoughtless ideas are thrown up at brainstormings and idea meetings.
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But this thread is a good example of why I never subscribed to the "just say any idea that pops into your head, no matter how stupid it may seem" theory of brainstorming all my teachers taught me.
 
Tuesday, 28 August, 2001

Iraq celebrates 'downing' US plane

Iraq has been celebrating the downing of a US spy plane.
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Iraq says it shot down a US reconnaissance aircraft flying over the south of the country on Monday, while the Pentagon admits that one of its unmanned Predator planes is missing.
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In late July, US defence officials said Iraq had narrowly missed hitting the far more advanced high-altitude U-2 spy plane with a modified Russian-built anti-aircraft missile.
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In 1998 President Saddam Hussein offered a prize of $5,000 to the Iraqi military unit that shoots down an allied warplane and $2,500 for the capture of a US or British pilot.
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From Ankara, the US military confirmed it had bombed northern Iraq on Monday, in response to their planes being fired upon by Iraq.

Western planes patrol two "no-fly zones" in northern and southern Iraq and regularly come under fire from Iraqi defences.
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"Gentlemen, we need a volunteer to be shot down over Iraq. The line starts over here."








"Anyone? Hello? Just step right up. Right over here."










"Bueller? Bueller?"
 
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