More Downing Street memo stuff --> Regime change "does not stack up"

[AuntieEmma[$]]

From a memo dated March 22, 2002 from Peter Ricketts, British foreign office political director, to Jack Straw, Britain's foreign secretary, on advice given on Iraq to Blair.:

''US scrambling to establish a link between Iraq and Al Qaida is so far frankly unconvincing. To get public and Parliamentary support for military operations, we have to be convincing that the threat is so serious/imminent that it is worth sending out troops to die for; it is qualitatively different from the threat posed by other proliferators who are closer to achieving nuclear capability (including Iran)."

''The second problem is the END STATE. Military operations need clear and compelling military objectives. For Kosovo, it was: Serbs out, Kosovars back, peace-keepers in. For Afghanistan, destroying the Taliban and Al Qaida military capability. For Iraq, ''regime change" does not stack up. It sounds like a grudge between Bush and Saddam."

http://www.boston.com/news/world/eur..._street_memos/