NewsMine — war-on-terror — iraq — 2003-invasion — warplan — Viewing Item

Blair delayed 911 iraq attack { April 3 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/2915149.stm He said the prime minister had offered to act as an envoy to try and persuade European leaders to back a US attack. "Blair said: 'If you want to do this you can do this on your own, you have the military strength to go into Iraq and do it, but our advice to you is even a great superpower like the US needs to do this with partners and allies'," Sir Christopher said. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/2915149.stm Last Updated: Thursday, 3 April, 2003, 20:43 GMT 21:43 UK Blair 'delayed US strike on Iraq' US President George Bush was persuaded by UK Prime Minister Tony Blair not to attack Iraq in the immediate aftermath of the 11 September terrorist attacks, it has been claimed. According to a former British ambassador to Washington, the US president had come under intense pressure from some in his own military to attack Saddam Hussein in the days after the 2001 terrorist outrages in the US. But, said Sir Christopher Meyer, when Mr Blair met the US president at his Camp David retreat a few days later he succesfully argued for al-Qaeda and the Taleban regime in Afghanistan to be confronted first. "Tony Blair's view was: 'Whatever you're going to do about Iraq, you should concentrate on the job at hand and the job at hand was get al-Qaeda, give the Taleban an ultimatum'," Sir Christopher said. The former ambassador was speaking on a documentary that will be screened on the PBS network in America on Thursday. Called Blair's War, it looks at the prime minister's attempts to try and maintain an alliance against Saddam Hussein. 'Leave Iraq' He said that after listening to Mr Blair's argument, Mr Bush decided to "leave Iraq for another day". Sir Christopher also said that after the Taleban had been removed from power, Mr Blair told the US leader he would need to exhaust peaceful options before he could attack Iraq. He said the prime minister had offered to act as an envoy to try and persuade European leaders to back a US attack. "Blair said: 'If you want to do this you can do this on your own, you have the military strength to go into Iraq and do it, but our advice to you is even a great superpower like the US needs to do this with partners and allies'," Sir Christopher said. He added that many world leaders were alarmed after Mr Bush announced plans for a pre-emptive strike on Saddam Hussein's regime. Sir Jeremy Greenstock, Britain's current ambassador to the United Nations, has also been interviewed in the programme, and he said diplomats had failed to fix divisions in the Western alliance after the first resolution had been passed. "They were differences which we knew about, looking back, I think that was a mistake of diplomacy that we didn't try and deal with those nuances that turned in to ravines by the end of the game." He said he had been especially surprised that France continued to oppose military action. Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/politics/2915149.stm Published: 2003/04/03 20:43:30 © BBC MMIII

Asking israel for advice Aziz war going well Blair delayed 911 iraq attack { April 3 2003 } Bush blair admit war months Dangerous advise gop split { March 31 2003 } General denies asking more troops { March 30 2003 } Iraqi militia backed by special forces { April 8 2003 } Lessons of lebanon { March 30 2003 } Longer harder than predicted { March 23 2003 } Moab bomb to iraq { April 10 2003 } No coalition control of cities Peter arnett warplan failed { March 30 2003 } Planning more invasions { March 26 2003 } Possible use moab { April 10 2003 } Rolling start Saving civilians lengthens war { March 27 2003 } Tomahawk cruise missiles supply { April 1 2003 } Upbeat forecast questioned { March 29 2003 } War conduct is defended { March 26 2003 } War far from over { March 26 2003 } War gets ugly { March 24 2003 } War plan failed arnett { March 31 2003 } Will become quagmire { March 24 2003 } Files Listed: 23

Correction/submissions

CIA FOIA Archive

National Security Archives

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information, go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purpose of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.