When exactly did the United States and Great Britain commit to the invasion of Iraq? New evidence suggests it may have been even earlier than both leaders have admitted to in the past.
A report released by Channel 4 News in Britain indicates that British Prime Minister Tony Blair and President Bush may have decided to invade Iraq months before they have admitted. The press in England is comparing this new report to the 'Downing Street Memo.'
The new report says that Bush and Blair met at the White House on January 31, 2003, two full months before the American-led invasion of Iraq. It was also before the United States and Great Britain even sought a U.N. resolution asking for approval of military action.
The British newspaper 'The Guardian' said, 'Tony Blair told President George Bush that he was 'solidly' behind U.S. plans to invade Iraq before he sought advice about the invasion's legality and despite the absence of a second UN resolution, according to a new account of the build-up to the war.'
According to the article in 'The Guardian,' the Prime Minister's office does not deny the report but simply said, ''The prime minister only committed UK forces to Iraq after securing the approval of the House of Commons in a vote on March 18, 2003.''
'The Guardian' quoted Philipe Sands, the author of a new book called 'Lawless World' which is due to be published shortly. Sands practices law at the same firm as Blair's wife.
According to the reports, the memo quotes Bush as saying that the U.S. would try to get a resolution passed through the U.N. but admits that 'military action would follow anyway.'
Opposition parties in Great Britain were quick to jump on the memo. 'If these allegations are accurate, the prime minister and President Bush were determined to go to war with or without a second U.N. resolution, and Britain was signed up to do so by the end of January 2003,' Sir Menzies Campbell, acting leader of the opposition Liberal Democrat party, said in a statement.
'By then it was clear that there was no credible evidence of weapons of mass destruction -- the stated justification for the moves against Saddam Hussein.'
Campbell added, 'The prime minister has a lot of explaining to do.'
Similar questions are sure to be asked of President Bush in the United States.
