Judiciary Committee To Investigate Plot To Paint Plane
In UN Colors And Provoke Shootdown Over Iraq
Conyers conducting examination into intelligence fixing
and forgery
As part of a major examination into the evidence that the Bush
administration forged intelligence documents to justify the invasion
of Iraq, the House Judiciary Committee will also look into various
considerations, plots and attempts to provoke war, including the
idea of goading Saddam Hussein to shoot down a mock UN plane.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers
has announced that he and his staff will investigate the evidence
most recently collated and presented by Pulitzer Prize-winning
journalist Ron Suskind in his book The Way of the World: A
Story of Truth and Hope in an Age of Extremism.
According to a press release earlier this week,
Conyers' office will examine:
"Reported examples of the Bush Administration
considering other deceptive schemes to justify or provoke war
with Iraq, such as the reported consideration of painting a
U.S. aircraft with UN colors in order to provoke Iraq into military
confrontation."
The revelation first appeared
in February 2006 when minutes of George Bush and
Tony Blair's pre-war January 2003 meeting surfaced. Amongst the
clear evidence that the two were planning to begin military action
on March 10th 2003, irrespective of whether the United Nations
had passed a new resolution authorizing the use of force or not,
came the provocation idea.
President Bush said: "The US was thinking of flying U2
reconnaissance aircraft with fighter cover over Iraq, painted
in UN colors. If Saddam fired on them, he would be in breach."
He went on: "It was also possible that a defector could
be brought out who would give a public presentation about Saddam's
WMD, and there was also a small possibility that Saddam would
be assassinated."
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The investigation will primarily focus on the evidence that the
White House ordered the CIA to forge a handwritten letter from
the head of Iraq's intelligence service to Saddam Hussein that
purported to link the Iraqi dictator to the ringleader of the
hijackers Mohammed Atta, as outlined by Suskind in his book.
It will also review the evidence that the Bush Administration
deliberately ignored information from Iraq’s chief intelligence
officer that Saddam Hussein possessed no WMDs and instead forged
intelligence to suggest he had an active weapons program.
In an interview with Democracy
Now! John Conyers called the investigation "the
most critical investigation of the entire Bush administration".
Watch Suskind's appearance along with Conyers on Democracy now:
As part of a major examination into the evidence that the Bush
administration forged intelligence documents to justify the invasion
of Iraq, the House Judiciary Committee will also look into various
considerations, plots and attempts to provoke war, including the
idea of goading Saddam Hussein to shoot down a mock UN plane.
