Memo: U.S., Britain bent on war in Iraq

Key points in the memo, confirmed by The New York Times and NBC News: Bush said it was “unlikely there would be internecine warfare between the different religious and ethnic groups.” Blair agreed.

This memo is clearly a forgery. Anybody with half a brain knows that Bush would not have used the term “internecine warfare.” He would have used terminology more befitting of the leader of the free world. Something like, “Big guns go boom.”

Blair asked about “aftermath planning.” Condoleezza Rice, then Bush?s national security adviser, said that “a great deal of work was now in hand.”

Here we have a misunderstanding based on the language barrier between American English and British English.

Blair was apparently asking about planning for the “aftermath” of the invasion. But Rice obviously misunderstood him to be talking about “after math planning,” which she believed to be a reference to dealing with the President after his daily math lesson.

“No, Mr. President, two plus two does not equal five … No sir, not even in Texas … Yes, I know your daddy was the President, but that doesn’t mean — … You don’t have to kick me, sir … Mr. President, holding your breath like that is not going to change the simple mathematical fact that two plus two does not — … Well, I don’t think Executive Orders were really designed for that purpose, sir … Of course. I’ll inform the Department Of Mathematics of your decision. Thank you, Mr. President.”