Proof Bush lied us into war

The Downing Street memo has been heavily covered by others. I will lay out what I think is the clearest case against Bush. The report states:

C reported on his recent talks in Washington. There was a perceptible shift in attitude. Military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy.

That was July 23, 2002. But in public, Bush continued to insist that no decision to go to war had been made. And on Oct. 7, Bush made the case for Congress to authorize military action:

Approving this resolution does not mean that military action is imminent or unavoidable. The resolution will tell the United Nations, and all nations, that America speaks with one voice and is determined to make the demands of the civilized world mean something. Congress will also be sending a message to the dictator in Iraq: that his only chance -- his only choice is full compliance, and the time remaining for that choice is limited.

If Bush had said that he had already decided to go to war, the resolution might have failed. For example, Kerry would not have voted for it. Bush's lies played a key role.

Withholding the cost of the Medicare drug prescription program was bad enough. But if the Downing Street memo is correct--and Bush hasn't said it isn't--Bush lied to get Congress to go to war. If Bush lied about that, he will lie about anything.
 

UPDATE (Wednesday, June 8, 2005): Bush has denied that he had made the decision to go to war at the time the Downing Memo was written. "There's nothing farther from the truth."

I include this denial for completeness, but I honestly don't see a reason to give it any weight. You may recall that in the third presidential debate Bush denied saying that the wasn't very concerned about bin Laden, even though he made the statement in a nationally televised press conference. Bush's statements about his past are not reliable.