Downing Street II: The Revenge

Remember last fall when John Edwards was debating Cheney and pointed out the 200 billion dollar price tag for Iraq? Remember Cheney's sneering assertion that nothing could be further from the truth? Ahhh, those were the days.

With the cost now set to cross the 300 billion dollar mark, a new document emerges from the UK that reminds us why we're there in the first place: George II's ego.

A memo of a two-hour meeting between the two leaders at the White House on January 31 2003 - nearly two months before the invasion - reveals that 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 memo seen by Prof Sands reveals:

· Mr Bush told Mr Blair that the US was so worried about the failure to find hard evidence against Saddam that it thought of "flying U2 reconnaissance aircraft planes with fighter cover over Iraq, painted in UN colours". Mr Bush added: "If Saddam fired on them, he would be in breach [of UN resolutions]".

· Mr Bush even expressed the hope that a defector would be extracted from Iraq and give a "public presentation about Saddam's WMD". He is also said to have referred Mr Blair to a "small possibility" that Saddam would be "assassinated".

Needless to say, this is a must-read.