lennart
14-09-03, 17:00
Straw 'begged Blair' not to join Iraq war
BRIAN BRADY
TONY Blair found himself embroiled in a fresh Iraq crisis last night after it was claimed Foreign Secretary Jack Straw made a desperate last-minute plea for him to call off the war.
Just days before the fighting started, Straw begged the Prime Minister not to send British troops into action, according to a new book on the affair.
(...)
Meanwhile, in Britain, Tony Blair was last night facing a deepening crisis following the disclosure of the contents of the letter sent to him by the Foreign Secretary.
Straw is said to have written a confidential ‘personal minute’ to Blair saying the UK should offer the Americans "political and moral support" in their campaign against Saddam Hussein, but not military backing.
Straw is said to have argued that the United Nations’ refusal to back the invasion would make it damaging for Britain to take part. The Foreign Secretary reportedly urged Blair to tell President George Bush that British troops would help clear up the mess and keep the peace once the war was over, but would play no part in Saddam’s overthrow.
But the shocked Prime Minister rejected Straw’s plea point-blank, telling him there was no going back and making him promise to keep quiet, according to the book by political journalist John Kampfner, entitled Blair’s War.
Kampfner, political editor of the New Statesman, wrote: "He (Blair) asked him to clarify whether or not he would support the war, now that it was definitely going to happen.
"Straw said he would. They agreed to put the issue behind them. Having expressed his reservations and seen them rejected, Straw fell firmly into line, arguing the case for war with as much vigour as anyone else."
And the book claims: "For all his public assertions that the intelligence was rock-solid, Blair had his doubts throughout." Kampfner’s book details a series of further allegations, including that:
•Blair had secretly agreed to go to war as early as April 2002, when he had a summit with George Bush at the President’s ranch in Crawford, Texas.
•Intelligence reports told the Prime Minister the threat of Saddam producing and using weapons of mass destruction was actually diminishing in the run-up to the conflict.
•The 45-minute claim about Saddam’s missiles "was a red herring designed to scare", and Blair knew it.
•Downing Street was kept in the dark when Bush finally ordered US forces into action.
The latest revelation about the decisions taken in the run-up to war comes as Blair struggles to maintain his authority amid the inquiry into the death of weapons scientist David Kelly. A parliamentary report into the build-up to war last week revealed Blair had overruled the advice of his own intelligence experts, who warned the collapse of Saddam’s regime could increase the threat of global terrorism.
Last night neither the Foreign Office nor No 10 would make any comment on the sensational claims, both saying only: "We have nothing to say about that." (Dit betekent dat het waar is, anders hadden ze het ontkent)
If true, the allegations in Kampfner’s book would suggest that doubts about the wisdom of committing troops to action in Iraq reached to the very innermost circles around Blair.
Straw is one of Blair’s most loyal Cabinet allies and was one of the staunchest supporters of the war in public, regularly appearing before the cameras to argue that it was right.
The Hutton Inquiry into Kelly’s death has already hastened the departure of Blair’s spin-doctor Alastair Campbell, and his Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon is expected to follow him as soon as the final report is delivered.
The revelations come as new Cabinet Office documents cast further doubt on Blair’s claims about the extent of Saddam’s arsenal. Newly-released intelligence reports show that his categorical assertion that Iraq continued to produce chemical and biological weapons up until the outbreak of war was only based on a single source and described as "too strong" by senior intelligence figures.
http://www.news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=1017992003
BRIAN BRADY
TONY Blair found himself embroiled in a fresh Iraq crisis last night after it was claimed Foreign Secretary Jack Straw made a desperate last-minute plea for him to call off the war.
Just days before the fighting started, Straw begged the Prime Minister not to send British troops into action, according to a new book on the affair.
(...)
Meanwhile, in Britain, Tony Blair was last night facing a deepening crisis following the disclosure of the contents of the letter sent to him by the Foreign Secretary.
Straw is said to have written a confidential ‘personal minute’ to Blair saying the UK should offer the Americans "political and moral support" in their campaign against Saddam Hussein, but not military backing.
Straw is said to have argued that the United Nations’ refusal to back the invasion would make it damaging for Britain to take part. The Foreign Secretary reportedly urged Blair to tell President George Bush that British troops would help clear up the mess and keep the peace once the war was over, but would play no part in Saddam’s overthrow.
But the shocked Prime Minister rejected Straw’s plea point-blank, telling him there was no going back and making him promise to keep quiet, according to the book by political journalist John Kampfner, entitled Blair’s War.
Kampfner, political editor of the New Statesman, wrote: "He (Blair) asked him to clarify whether or not he would support the war, now that it was definitely going to happen.
"Straw said he would. They agreed to put the issue behind them. Having expressed his reservations and seen them rejected, Straw fell firmly into line, arguing the case for war with as much vigour as anyone else."
And the book claims: "For all his public assertions that the intelligence was rock-solid, Blair had his doubts throughout." Kampfner’s book details a series of further allegations, including that:
•Blair had secretly agreed to go to war as early as April 2002, when he had a summit with George Bush at the President’s ranch in Crawford, Texas.
•Intelligence reports told the Prime Minister the threat of Saddam producing and using weapons of mass destruction was actually diminishing in the run-up to the conflict.
•The 45-minute claim about Saddam’s missiles "was a red herring designed to scare", and Blair knew it.
•Downing Street was kept in the dark when Bush finally ordered US forces into action.
The latest revelation about the decisions taken in the run-up to war comes as Blair struggles to maintain his authority amid the inquiry into the death of weapons scientist David Kelly. A parliamentary report into the build-up to war last week revealed Blair had overruled the advice of his own intelligence experts, who warned the collapse of Saddam’s regime could increase the threat of global terrorism.
Last night neither the Foreign Office nor No 10 would make any comment on the sensational claims, both saying only: "We have nothing to say about that." (Dit betekent dat het waar is, anders hadden ze het ontkent)
If true, the allegations in Kampfner’s book would suggest that doubts about the wisdom of committing troops to action in Iraq reached to the very innermost circles around Blair.
Straw is one of Blair’s most loyal Cabinet allies and was one of the staunchest supporters of the war in public, regularly appearing before the cameras to argue that it was right.
The Hutton Inquiry into Kelly’s death has already hastened the departure of Blair’s spin-doctor Alastair Campbell, and his Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon is expected to follow him as soon as the final report is delivered.
The revelations come as new Cabinet Office documents cast further doubt on Blair’s claims about the extent of Saddam’s arsenal. Newly-released intelligence reports show that his categorical assertion that Iraq continued to produce chemical and biological weapons up until the outbreak of war was only based on a single source and described as "too strong" by senior intelligence figures.
http://www.news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=1017992003