Diane mentioned in a blog post yesterday that the Spanish newspaper El Pais claims to have a transcript of a pre-war meeting between George W. Bush and then-Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar. The transcript, El Pais says, shows Bush was determined to invade Iraq regardless of what happened at the U.N. and in the international diplomatic community.
According to a fuller treatment in the Washington Post today, Bush said a lot more than that.
First of all, Bush was apparently uninterested in a report out of Egypt that Saddam Hussein would accept exile rather than see Iraq invaded. “Saddam Hussein signaled that he was willing to go into exile as long as he could take with him $1 billion and information on weapons of mass destruction,” says the Post. Bush was not impressed. No indications are given that the administration discussed the possibility.
Also, Bush had nothing but disregard and disgust for foreign leaders that opposed the invasion. Then-French President Jacques Chirac “sees himself as Mr. Arab,” said Bush. Others could be, and should be, strongarmed into support. Then-Chilean President Ricardo Lagos “ought to know that the Free Trade Agreement with Chile is waiting for Senate confirmation and that a negative attitude on this could endanger ratification,” Bush warned. “Angola is getting money from the Millennium Account, and those agreements could also be in danger if they don’t show themselves to be favorable. And [Russian President Vladimir] Putin ought to know that his attitude is endangering relations” with Washington. Bush does not come off as a man who seeks war as a “last resort,” as he said publicly so many times before the invasion.
El Pais is a leading Spanish newspaper. It opposed the war. There has been no independent verification that the transcript, which was allegedly prepared by Spain’s ambassador to the United States, is legit. According to the Post, El Pais will not reveal how it obtained the transcript.
