Blair to Bush

Blair to Bush on Iraq in 2002: 'I will be with you, whatever'

By Nick Gass

Nearly a year before the United States orchestrated the invasion of Iraq, British Prime Minister Tony Blair indicated to President George W. Bush in a previously classified memo that he was "with you, whatever."

“I will be with you, whatever. But this is the moment to assess bluntly the difficulties," Blair wrote to Bush in a memo on July 28, 2002, as released in a 12-volume report Wednesday as part of the inquiry led by Sir John Chilcot into the run-up and aftermath of the invasion.

The "planning on this and the strategy are the toughest yet," Blair wrote, adding, "This is not Kosovo. This is not Afghanistan. It is not even the Gulf War."

Removing Saddam Hussein from power "is the right thing to do," he wrote, noting that while he could be contained, such a decision "is always risky."

The first question in removing the Iraqi dictator, according to Blair, was whether the United States wanted or desired a coalition. "The US could do it alone, with UK support," he noted, while adding that could have "unintended consequences."

“Suppose it got militarily tricky. Suppose Iraq suffered unexpected civilian casualties," Blair wrote. "Suppose the Arab street finally erupted eg in […] Suppose Saddam felt sufficiently politically strong, if militarily weak in conventional terms, to let off WMD. Suppose that, without any coalition, the Iraqis feel ambivalent about being invaded and real Iraqis, not Saddam's special guard, decide to offer resistance. Suppose, at least, that any difficulties, without a coalition, are magnified and seized on by a hostile international opinion. If we win quickly, everyone will be our friend. If we don’t and they haven't been bound in beforehand, recriminations will start fast."

Blair expressed support for a coalition, "not necessarily military but politically."

Bush and Blair had discussed a potential invasion of Iraq dating back to at least early December 2001, when the two leaders spoke on the telephone. Removing Saddam from power, Blair said, "would be excellent," but there "needed to be a clever strategy for doing this." Blair reiterated later in the conversation that he was not opposed, but that "an extremely clever plan would be required."

The British prime minister expressed concern for ensuring that the second phase of operations in Afghanistan went well, remarking that if it was left a "better country, having supplied humanitarian aid and having given new hope to the people, we will not just have won militarily but morally; and the coalition will back us to do more elsewhere."

"In particular, we shall have given regime change a good name, which will help us in the argument over Iraq," Blair said. "So in my view, the political and diplomatic must always be reinforcing the military.”

Responding to the report, Blair said in a statement through his office Wednesday that its release "should lay to rest allegations of bad faith, lies or deceit."

"Whether people agree or disagree with my decision to take military action against Saddam Hussein; I took it in good faith and in what I believed to be the best interests of the country," the former prime minister said, noting that while although the report does not make a legal finding on the basis for invasion, he acknowledged "serious criticisms" that require "serious answers."

"I will take full responsibility for any mistakes without exception or excuse," he said, adding that he would address the report in greater detail later in the day. "I will at the same time say why, nonetheless, I believe that it was better to remove Saddam Hussein and why I do not believe this is the cause of the terrorism we see today whether in the Middle East or elsewhere in the world."