Now America loses Blair’s ‘I’ll back Iraq war’ letter to Bush
Mystery of missing note that told US President: ‘Whatever you do, I’m with you’
A PERSONAL letter written by Tony Blair to George Bush backing his plan to wage war on Iraq has reportedly ‘gone missing’ from the official Presidential library – as pressure grows on the former Prime Minister to sanction the release of the private notes he wrote to Mr Bush.
The letter, which is said to begin with the words: ‘You know, George, whatever you decide to do, I’m with you’, was last night described by a senior figure involved in the diplomatic negotiations at the time as ‘absolutely critical’ to the public’s understanding of the war – because it reveals the extent to which Mr Blair gave Mr Bush a ‘blank cheque’.
Mr Blair’s refusal to authorise the publication of 25 personal letters and 130 official records of conversations with Mr Bush has led to a long delay in the publication of Sir John Chilcot’s official report into the war. Sir John held his last public hearings in 2011.
On Friday, David Cameron made public his frustration, saying the report should be published by the end of the year.
Mr Blair, backed by Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood – a key member of his inner cir- cle during the build-up to the 2003 conflict – has argued that the sensitive documents should remain classified.
But Mr Cameron has now effectively told Sir Jeremy to
‘Completely pivotal to our understanding’
reach a compromise under which a ‘sensible’ proportion of the correspondence is released.
The development comes as lawyers for the American government are deciding whether to release any of the documentation under US freedom of information laws. Since Janu- ary – nine years after the conclusion of Bush’s first term in office – the letters have technically been available to researchers who ask for them, if they are cleared by a vetting committee of lawyers.
But the lawyers have indicated to researchers based in the UK that the only correspondence they have not been able to find is the ‘I’m with you’ letter, sent by Mr Blair in July 2002, nine months before the outbreak of war.
The letter, which was handdelivered by Mr Blair’s foreign policy adviser Sir David Manning to US national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, has been referred to indirectly in political memoirs covering the period. When Mr Blair was questioned by the Chilcot Inquiry in 2011, he denied the specific wording of ‘I’m with you whatever’ – but admitted he thought it would have been ‘profoundly wrong’ not to honour commitments he had previously given to the US President.
Mr Blair’s critics suspect he has been hoping to delay the Chilcot report – which is likely to prove personally damning as well as awkward for the Labour Party – until after next year’s General Election.
Sources say the letters were ‘pretty much one way’ with Bush ‘failing to respond in a similarly personal manner’.
Last night, a British-based source involved in the effort to obtain the release of the letters told The Mail on Sunday: ‘The lawyers are taking months to evaluate the letters and decide whether to release them.
‘However, they claim not to have been able to locate the ‘‘with you whatever’’ letter.’
One senior figure involved in the 2002 negotiations between London and Washington told this newspaper: ‘There is absolutely no point in having this inquiry if the letters are kept secret. They are completely pivotal to our understanding.
‘And the ‘‘I’ll be with you’’ letter is the most critical of all – it gave the green light.’
Mr Blair’s office did not respond to requests for comment.