Blair and Bush 'conspired to go to war(claims new edition of book)

[cal04]

Blair and Bush 'conspired to go to war regardless of United Nations'
PM knew President was only going through the diplomatic motions, claims new edition of book

Tony Blair knew that George Bush was only "going through the motions" of offering support for a second UN resolution in the run-up to the Iraq war, it was claimed last night. According to reports in The Mail on Sunday, the Prime Minister and the US President decided to go to war regardless of whether they obtained UN backing. The allegations will undermine claims that the final decision to go to war was not made until MPs voted in the Commons a day before military action.

It will also bolster claims that the President and Mr Blair decided to go to war months before military action began. An updated edition of a book by Philippe Sands QC, a leading human rights barrister and Professor of Law at London University, to be published in Britain this week, is expected to strengthen claims that President Bush decided to go to war with or without UN backing, and that he had Mr Blair's support. The book is expected to produce fresh evidence that President Bush only went through the motions of giving a wholehearted endorsement to Mr Blair's attempts to gain full UN approval for military action.

At a meeting between Mr Blair and Mr Bush at the White House on 31 January 2003, Mr Blair urged the President to try to obtain a second UN resolution giving specific backing for the war. Mr Bush gave qualified support for going down the UN route. But, according to The Mail on Sunday, President Bush was only going through the motions - and, the paper adds: "Mr Blair not only knew it, but went along with it."

Sir Christopher Meyer, Britain's former ambassador to Washington, had claimed in his memoirs that Britain failed to use its influence to hold back the American march to war against Iraq. In his book, he describes that meeting between the President and Tony Blair.

more
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/article341740.ece

[McCamy Taylor]

1. Sadly, no one in the US or UK will even bat an eye.

[saigon68]

11. Blair was just a small, littlewater boy on the sidelines of the "BIG GAME"

[BlueEyedSon]

2. I *KNEW* it!!!! nt

[peacetalksforall]

3. Dot by dot, dots are getting filled in. Who would have guessed the

Mr. Blair would end up being a male Thatcher. Perhaps she was a pussy-cat compared to Blair. He and Bush must really like red.

[cantstandbush]

4. But they will bat an eye if the Bush/Blair terrorists go at Iran.

Why should any nation trust the US or UK? I do believe that Fatah is now infiltrated with US/UK/Israeli operatives to keep things stirred up just to blame it on Hamas. I can't believe that the US is championing Fatah after all that has gone down when they were in power.

The west will lie, cheat, steal, assassinate, to get their way and they are good at brainwashing the masses into believing their propaganda.

The whole world is fucked up!

[primavera]

12. I'm not so sure

Did you see that poll last week in which a majority of the American public favored military intervention in Iran if they persist in their nuclear program? What's extraordinary is that the margin of support (60 something%) is exactly the same margin of people who are pissed off at the direction the administration's taken vis a vis Iraq. Just incredible. Apparently 60% of our countrymen are simply too stupid to live.

[LynnTheDem]

5. disgruntled former employee!!!

Purple Heart bandaid!!! (no that doesn't make sense, but I'm doing a rightwingnut MFing freeper impersonation here)

[Lexingtonian]

6. sort of interesting

This isn't entirely news.

The real question about this all now is not how they did it, but in some larger sense their true reason Why.

[rodeodance]

7. no not new--but more and more people are talking.

[MsMagnificent]

8. Blair the enabler

Bush wouldn't have DARED to go into Iraq without Blair.

But this is not news -- it's exactly what the Downing Street Memo said.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

9. "Conspired to go...?"

They did go to war without UN backing.

[deminks]

10. An additional link

http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=375453&in_page_id=1770&ct=5

A White House leak revealing astonishing details of how Tony Blair and George Bush lied about the Iraq war is set to cause a worldwide political storm.

A new book exposes how the two men connived to dupe the United Nations and blows the lid off Mr Blair's claim that he was a restraining influence on Mr Bush.

The revelations make a nonsense of Mr Blair's claim that the final decision was not made until MPs voted in the Commons 24 hours before the war - and could revive the risk of him being charged with war crimes or impeached by Parliament itself.

If the poodle falls, will the chimp master follow?

[Joe Chi Minh]

13. Quote of the week about Blair,

by David Cameron, latest Toryleader:

"This is someone who came into politics to soak the rich and ban the bomb, and
ever since, he has been sucking up to the rich and dropping bombs....".

[seafan]

14. More pertinent details from another source:

The book, Lawless World by leading human rights lawyer Professor Philippe Sands, claims that Blair knew that Bush was only "going through the motions" of offering support for a second UN resolution in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq in March 2003.

It also makes serious allegations concerning the conduct of Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, the Head of the Judiciary Lord Falconer and Attorney General Lord Goldsmith over the government's legal advice on the war.

According to The Mail on Sunday, the allegations undermine claims that the final decision to go to war was not made by parliament when MPs voted a day before military action was launched by bolstering claims that the US and UK leaders decided months before.

snip

The updated version of Lawless World follows recent charges against two British men under the Official Secrets Act after a leaked memo of another conversation between Bush and Blair, said the US President raised the possibility of bombing Al-Jazeera TV.

The book also alleges that the British government boasted that disgraced newspaper tycoon Conrad Black was being used by Bush's allies in America as a channel for pro-war propaganda in the UK via his Daily Telegraph newspaper, which he previously owned.

http://www.irna.ir/en/news/view/menu-234/0601299933143045.htm