LONDON // Letters from former British prime minister Tony Blair reveal he was prepared to do “whatever” necessary to support American president George W Bush in plans to remove Saddam Hussein.
In a six-page memo to Mr Bush dated July 28, 2002 and marked “secret personal”. Mr Blair said removing the Iraqi dictator from power was “the right thing to do” and that the vital question was “not when, but how?” The prime minister also admitted that support for war in Iraq was not as strong in the UK or Europe as it was in the US. At the time he was telling the British public and parliament that no decision to go to war had been taken.
But to Mr Bush he wrote:” Opinion in the US is quite simply on a different planet from opinion here in Europe or in the Arab world. In Britain right now I couldn’t be sure of support from Parliament, [Labour] party, public or even some of the cabinet. And this is Britain. In Europe generally, people just don’t have the same sense of urgency post 9/11 as people in the US”
However he assured the US president, “I will be with you whatever.” Eight months later, British troops invaded Iraq along with American forces.
The inquiry report quotes a top Blair aide as saying that he and another adviser had tried to get the prime minister to drop the sweeping promise, but Mr Blair ignored their recommendations.
In 2011, Britain’s top civil servant tried to block publication of the letters on the grounds that such a move could badly damage Anglo-American relations. Mr Blair’s critics have often accused him of being over-subservient to Washington, to the point of sending British troops off to a war that was hugely unpopular at home. In 2011, Britain’s top civil servant, Sir Gus O’Donnell, tried to block publication of the letters The publication of the note does nothing to dispel that image.
Mr Blair pointed out that planning would be more difficult than in previous joint operations involving the US and UK. “But this is the moment to assess bluntly the difficulties. The planning on this and the strategy are the toughest yet. This is not Kosovo. This is not Afghanistan. It is not even the Gulf War.”
Blair tries to convince a reluctant Bush that the best way to build support would be to take the issue to the UN Security Council. He suggests that by going to the U.N., they could give Saddam a deadline to let UN weapons inspectors in without any conditions.
“He would probably screw it up and not meet the deadline, and if he came forward after the deadline, we would just refuse to deal,” Blair wrote.
He appears confident that the British public can be persuaded to back a decision to go to war if they are made aware of how dangerous Saddam Hussein is.
“If we recapitulate all the WMD (weapons of mass destruction) evidence; add his attempts to secure nuclear capability; and, as seems possible, add on Al Qaeda link, it will be hugely persuasive over here,” he wrote.
However, no weapons of mass destruction have ever been found in Iraq, neither before nor after the US-led invasion.
No weapons of mass destruction were found inside Iraq.
On Wednesday, Sir John Chilcot’s damning report did not spare Mr Blair of the blame for committing Britain to war when it was “not the last resort” and there were still diplomatic solutions to try. By the time British combat forces finally left Iraq in 2009, the conflict had killed 179 British troops, almost 4,500 American personnel and more than 100,000 Iraqis.
At a lengthy and emotional press conference after the publication of the Chilcot report on Wednesday, Mr Blair insisted “There was no secret commitment to war” but accepted full responsibility for the decision “without exception and without excuse.”
His voice almost breaking and close to tears, Mr Blair said, “I express more sorrow, regret and apology than you may ever know or can believe. I feel deeply and sincerely — and in a way no words can properly convey — the grief and suffering of those who lost loved ones.”
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