Downing Street Memo

According to the Downing Street Memo, July 23, 2002:
There was a perceptible shift in attitude. Military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy... There was little discussion in Washington of the aftermath of the military action...

No decisions had been taken, but [Geoff Hoon - Defense Secretary] thought the most likely timing in US minds for military action to begin was January, with the timeline beginning 30 days before the US Congressional elections...

It seemed clear that Bush had made up his mind to take military action, even if the timing was not yet decided. But the case was thin. Saddam was not threatening his neighbours, and his WMD capability was less than that of Libya, North Korea or Iran.

Neither the US or England dispute the validity of the Memo, which was first published by the London Times on May 1st, 2005.

War criminals. Pure and simple.