Memo Reveals U.S. Plan to Provoke an Invasion of Iraq

The Observer has the story:

The memo, written on 31 January 2003, almost two months before the invasion and seen by the Observer, confirms that as the two men became increasingly aware U.N. inspectors would fail to find weapons of mass destruction (WMD) they had to contemplate alternative scenarios that might trigger a second resolution legitimising military action.

Bush told Blair the U.S. had drawn up a provocative plan "to fly U2 reconnaissance aircraft painted in U.N. colours over Iraq with fighter cover". Bush said that if Saddam fired at the planes this would put the Iraqi leader in breach of U.N. resolutions.