Blair-Bush deal before Iraq war revealed in secret memo]

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject:        Blair-Bush deal before Iraq war revealed in secret memo
Date:   Fri, 03 Feb 2006 12:18:04 +0000
From:   Brian Randell <Brian.Randell () newcastle ac uk>
To:     dave () farber net



Dave:

The front page of today's (UK) Guardian is 
dominated by a single article, prompted by yet 
another leaked memo of a conversation between 
Tony Blair and George Bush before the Allied 
invasion of Iraq.

Cheers

Brian

-----

Full story at:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,1701214,00.html


Blair-Bush deal before Iraq war revealed in secret memo

PM promised to be 'solidly behind' US invasion with or without UN backing

Richard Norton-Taylor
Friday February 3, 2006

Tony Blair told President George Bush that he was 
"solidly" behind US plans to invade Iraq before 
he sought advice about the invasion's legality 
and despite the absence of a second UN 
resolution, according to a new account of the 
build-up to the war published today.

A memo of a two-hour meeting between the two 
leaders at the White House on January 31 2003 - 
nearly two months before the invasion - reveals 
that Mr Bush made it clear the US intended to 
invade whether or not there was a second UN 
resolution and even if UN inspectors found no 
evidence of a banned Iraqi weapons programme.

"The diplomatic strategy had to be arranged 
around the military planning", the president told 
Mr Blair. The prime minister is said to have 
raised no objection. He is quoted as saying he 
was "solidly with the president and ready to do 
whatever it took to disarm Saddam".

The disclosures come in a new edition of Lawless 
World, by Phillipe Sands, a QC and professor of 
international law at University College, London. 
Professor Sands last year exposed the doubts 
shared by Foreign Office lawyers about the 
legality of the invasion in disclosures which 
eventually forced the prime minister to publish 
the full legal advice given to him by the 
attorney general, Lord Goldsmith.

The memo seen by Prof Sands reveals:

· Mr Bush told Mr Blair that the US was so 
worried about the failure to find hard evidence 
against Saddam that it thought of "flying U2 
reconnaissance aircraft planes with fighter cover 
over Iraq, painted in UN colours". Mr Bush added: 
"If Saddam fired on them, he would be in breach 
[of UN resolutions]".

· Mr Bush even expressed the hope that a defector 
would be extracted from Iraq and give a "public 
presentation about Saddam's WMD". He is also said 
to have referred Mr Blair to a "small 
possibility" that Saddam would be "assassinated".

· Mr Blair told the US president that a second UN 
resolution would be an "insurance policy", 
providing "international cover, including with 
the Arabs" if anything went wrong with the 
military campaign, or if Saddam increased the 
stakes by burning oil wells, killing children, or 
fomenting internal divisions within Iraq.

· Mr Bush told the prime minister that he 
"thought it unlikely that there would be 
internecine warfare between the different 
religious and ethnic groups". Mr Blair did not 
demur, according to the book.

The revelation that Mr Blair had supported the US 
president's plans to go to war with Iraq even in 
the absence of a second UN resolution contrasts 
with the assurances the prime minister gave 
parliament shortly after. On February 25 2003 - 
three weeks after his trip to Washington - Mr 
Blair told the Commons that the government was 
giving "Saddam one further, final chance to 
disarm voluntarily".
. . .
Sir Menzies Campbell, the Liberal Democrat acting 
leader, said last night: "The fact that 
consideration was apparently given to using 
American military aircraft in UN colours in the 
hope of provoking Saddam Hussein is a graphic 
illustration of the rush to war. It would also 
appear to be the case that the diplomatic efforts 
in New York after the meeting of January 31 were 
simply going through the motions.

"The prime minister's offer of February 25 to 
Saddam Hussein was about as empty as it could 
get. He has a lot of explaining to do."
. . .
--
School of Computing Science, University of Newcastle, Newcastle upon Tyne,
NE1 7RU, UK
EMAIL = Brian.Randell () ncl ac uk   PHONE = +44 191 222 7923
FAX = +44 191 222 8232  URL = http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/~brian.randell/


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