Fury over Blair Iraq ‘deceit’
‘Smoking gun’ memo reveals: He backed Bush 12 months before conflict Vowed to be spin doctor to sell case for war Now relatives of dead troops attack ‘deceit and treachery’
FURY erupted yesterday after a leaked White House memo revealed Tony Blair supported the US over the Iraq war a year before the conflict began when he had claimed he was advocating a diplomatic solution.
Families of soldiers killed in the war accused the former Prime Minister of ‘deceit’ as politicians said the explosive email proves Mr Blair had made up his mind to support the war ‘come what may’.
In the memo, then US Secretary of State Colin Powell told President George Bush Mr Blair would ‘follow our lead’ on Iraq, even though British voters were ‘unconvinced that military action is warranted’.
There was also renewed speculation that Mr Blair could one day face legal retribution for taking Britain to war alongside the US on a false premise.
The memo was part of a cache of emails ex-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been forced to publish by the US courts.
FAMILIES of troops killed in Iraq last night reacted with fury to revelations that Tony Blair supported the US over the 2003 war a year before the first bombs fell. A leaked White House memo from March 2002 tells George Bush that ‘Blair will be with us’ a full 12 months ahead of the conflict.
Relatives of those who died in action last night hit out at the ‘treachery’ and ‘deceit’ used by the former PM – who had told voters at the time that he was seeking a diplomatic solution with Baghdad.
And politicians said the bombshell email now proves that Blair had made up his mind to support the US in the war ‘come what may’ and that it is now ‘game, set and match’ in the case against the former Labour leader.
There was also renewed speculation that Blair could one day face legal retribution for taking Britain to war alongside the US on a false premise.
Former shadow Home Secretary David Davis said the classified memo from US Secretary of State Colin Powell was a ‘smoking gun’ that proved Blair had lied about his intentions over the disastrous conflict in Iraq.
Former Liberal Democrat leader Menzies Campbell described the White House revelations as ‘shocking, but sadly not surprising’, adding: ‘ All the indications now are that Tony Blair had made up his mind to support the United States come what may.
‘It certainly puts into focus the things he said in the House of Commons later suggesting that there was still time for Saddam Hussein to capitulate and avoid war.
‘If the Iraq Inquiry has seen these emails then it is game, set and match.’
Former SNP leader Alex Salmond added: ‘The net is now closing around the former Prime Minister.
‘The illegal invasion of Iraq has been unequivocally proven as a fraud and a massive deception by Tony Blair and the then UK Labour government.’
The secret memo was written a week before Blair held talks with Bush at his ranch in Crawford, Texas. It reveals that Blair offered to act as a glorified spin doctor for the US President by devising ‘public affairs lines that he believes will strengthen support for our common cause’.
Sir Christopher Meyer, former British ambassador to the US, who was excluded from the key war meetings at the Crawford summit, told the Iraq Inquiry he had never been able to establish ‘what degree of convergence was, if you like, signed in blood at the Crawford ranch.’
But the new revelation suggests that Blair had already told the US he was ready to take the UK to war regardless. It flies in the face of the former PM’s claim that he was advocating a diplomatic solution, declaring that military action could be avoided if Saddam Hussein handed over what turned out to be non- existent ‘ weapons of mass destruction’.
In the memo, Colin Powell told Bush that Blair would ‘follow our lead’ on Iraq, even though British voters were ‘unconvinced that military action is warranted’.
Blair also wanted to present ideas for making a ‘credible public case on current Iraqi threats to international peace’, wrote Mr Powell. He urged the US President to flatter the Labour leader’s ego by making him appear like a ‘true equity partner’ with America.
He went on: ‘Blair continues to stand by you and the US as we move forward on the war on terrorism and on Iraq. Blair knows he may have to pay a political price for supporting us on Iraq, and wants to minimise it. Nonetheless he will stick with us on the big issues.’
The memo came to light as part of a cache of thousands of secret emails held on a private server that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been forced to publish by the US courts.
It chimes with reports of a note that Blair is reported to have sent to Bush in July 2002, which is said to have begun: ‘You know, George, whatever you decide to do, I’m with you.’
A spokesman for Blair yesterday insisted the newly-released memo was ‘consistent with what Mr Blair was saying publicly at the time and with his evidence to the Chilcot Inquiry.’ But David Davis described the document as ‘one of the most astonishing I have ever read’. He said: ‘It proves in explicit terms what many of us have believed all along – Tony Blair effectively agreed to act as a frontman for American foreign policy in advance of any decision by the House of Commons or the British Cabinet.
‘Judging from this memorandum, Blair signed up for the Iraq War even before the Americans themselves did. Blair was telling MPs and voters back home that he was still pursuing a diplomatic solution while Colin Powell was telling President Bush that he could rely on Blair’s full support, if the President inflated Blair’s image on the global stage. ‘This may well be the Iraq “smoking gun” we have all been looking for.’ Former Labour MP Andrew MacKinlay said the memo showed that both MPs and the public had been ‘duped’ by Mr Blair.
He told LBC Radio: ‘Obviously I feel both deeply ashamed and very stupid having trusted a British prime minister, but it was a British prime minister.
‘Even allowing for exaggeration or inaccuracies in intelligence I never thought it would be 100 per cent untrue. But it was, and myself and the British people, all of us, were duped.’
Relatives of some of the 179 British troops killed in Iraq also reacted with anger. Elsie Manning, 71, whose daughter Sharron Elliott was killed in action in 2006, said: ‘This just proves it, the Americans said “j ump”, and Blair – the devious, conniving treacherous soand-so – replied “how high?”. ‘And he put those kids’ lives at risk and many of them, including my daughter, were killed.’
Reg Keys, whose 20-year-old son Thomas was killed during a mob ambush in June 2003, said: ‘This is further confirmation of Blair’s deceit – it’s quite clear he had agreed with Bush to take Britain to war long before going to Parliament or the UN for approval.
‘He had committed Britain to war and by that point his task was to try and sell it to the British people – that’s when the whole machine of spin and deceit was cranked up to make out that Iraq was a threat to the stability of the West.
‘Hopefully this will help bring him to account one day. He misled Parliament and the public and he’s just walked away.’
‘Signed in blood at the ranch’ ‘A front man for US policy’