From OffGuardian (no link available from this computer). The Chilcot Report was released On Wednesday, and a hard copy can be yours for just £767 (though I would suggest reading it free online here), and while there will doubtless be many and varied autopsies of the evidence and documents, this early observation is an interesting one.

An eagle-eyed reader brought the following documents to our attention, as they contain many sections that hint war with Syria may have been on the NATO/US agenda as far back as October 2001.

First there is this, from a letter dated 11th of October 2001 (all emphasis ours):

…The uncertainty caused by Phase 2 seeming to extend to Iraq, Syria etc because it seems to confirm the UBL [Osama Bin Laden] propaganda this is the West vs Arab[sic]. 

Tony Blair, letter to GW Bush, 11/10/01

This quote suggests that Syria and “etc.” (Lebanon or Iran, at a guess) were already in the crosshairs. Interestingly, it is followed by:

Incidentally, the leaders all warned about treating Syria like Iraq.

It’s safe to say the warnings of these “leaders” (their names are all redacted), were not heeded by the subsequent administrations.

Then there is this, from Downing Street Chief of Staff Jonathan Powell, dated November 15th 2001:

…urgent pressure on Syria and Iran to crack down on terrorists as a quid pro quo for a warmer relationship with the West and getting a Middle East peace process going – with the unstated threat that risk becoming the next target for military action if they do not co-operate…

And then this from a memo entitled “The War against Terrorism: The Second Phase”, dated December 4th 2001:

If toppling Saddam is a prime objective, it is far easier to do it with Syria and Iran in favour or acquiescing rather than hitting all three at once. I favour giving these two a chance at a different relationship…

This quote is interesting, because while it sets out that the British position seems to be in favour of a “different relationship”, the fact that it references “hitting all three at once” very strongly implies that such a recourse was suggested (probably by the US).

While there is nothing absolutely concrete here, there is certainly enough to smoke to suggest a little fire. It definitely adds a little weight to the famous claim of the Gen. Wesley Clark that the Project for a New American Century planned to “take out 7 countries in 5 years“.

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Gus: Actually, this "crusade" is the west against Shiites and anyone else who does not genuflect in front of the mighty dollar. The Sunnis are "our" friends... They get away with murder. The Project for a New American Century created by two Neocons, see The Joker and The Penguin, has been sponsored by our own Rupert Murdoch. Without Rupert, the Americans would have found it quite harder to sell their little warfare. Uncle Rupe made it easier to promote governments' bullshit. He promoted Howard and Tony Abbott, reluctantly promoted Turnbull. You have to give it to Rupert, he still does fire both barrels of the bullshit gun, slowly preparing the ground for the next confrontation with Russia. He helps maintain the megalomaniacs allied with psychos and sociopaths in power. 

Uncle Rupe is a modern version of Goebbels — but more sophisticated, more powerful and more devious. 

On May 6, 2002, then-Undersecretary of State John R. Bolton gave a speech entitled "Beyond the Axis of Evil". In it he added three more nations to be grouped with the already mentioned rogue states: Cuba, Libya, and Syria. The criteria for inclusion in this grouping were: "state sponsors of terrorism that are pursuing or who have the potential to pursue weapons of mass destruction (WMD) or have the capability to do so in violation of their treaty obligations."

We know the rest... It is crappy history in the making... 

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So after the cock up of Iraq, what do we do?... More cockups. They keep the war machine occupied... Cockups help test new weapons in real combat situation.

Meanwhile Saudi Arabia and Qatar are sponsoring Sunni wahhabi terrorism which represents at least 50 per cent (some analysts say 90 to 99 per cent) of terrorism on this planet and we let them get away with it. The rest can be divided such: 40 per cent of terrorism and political destructionism is US sponsored (drone bombings and cash to "moderate rebels" wherever they are and whatever this means — Ukraine, Syria, Brazil, you name it) to maintain the empire with oil. We can assume 4.5 per cent of terrorism is Israeli sponsored and the leftover equally divided between Palestinians, Chechnians, Taliban (Sunni allied), Pakistanis, North Korean, Tamils and smaller "independent" outfits in Africa and South America. In this collection, Cuba would make about 0.01 per cent if so.

And of course, as well as Uncle Rupe, the rest of our MMMM (mediocre mass media de mierda) lets our psychopath in power get away with it.

Time to tell them to go and effoff.