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| Iraq war inquiry |
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Key British diplomat testifies
Saturday, November 28, 2009
LONDON: Britain’s top diplomat at the United Nations in the build up to the 2003 Iraq war told an inquiry on Friday that attempts to win international authorisation for the invasion were deliberately undermined by the United States.
Jeremy Greenstock testified before Britain’s inquiry into the war that President George W Bush had no real interest in winning a UN resolution, which Britain and others had hoped would provide global backing for the conflict.
The ex-diplomat, who later served in Iraq as Britain’s envoy after the invasion, said that serious preparations for the war had begun in early 2002 and that the United States was little troubled by Britain’s hopes of forming an international consensus to justify military action.
“The United States was not proactively supportive of the UK’s efforts and seemed to be preparing for conflict whatever the UK decided to do,’’ Greenstock wrote in a written statement to the inquiry.
He said the U.S. stance was “decidedly unhelpful to what I was trying to do in New York.’’
The investigation is the most sweeping probe yet into the war and will seek evidence from former Prime Minister Tony Blair, military officials and spy agency chiefs.
The comprehensive study won’t apportion blame, or establish criminal or civil liability _ but offer recommendations in the hope that mistakes won’t be repeated in the future.
Green stock said that British officials worried about Bush’s private assurances to Blair. Bush insisted he supported work to try to win the support of key allies, including France, Russia and Germany.
Attempts to agree on a resolution failed in March 2003 -days before the invasion of Iraq began.
“President Bush’s words on this subject in public were rather less warm and specific than those he had used with the prime minister in private,’’ Greenstock wrote in the statement.
Greenstock told the inquiry that the UN process also was dented because the Bush administration failed to use sympathy for the United States in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to develop stronger relationships with international partners.
``It was the policy of the Bush administration to seek allies only when they needed allies for a particular piece of policy. If they could do it on their own, they would do it on their own, ‘’Greenstock testified to the panel.
He told the five-person inquiry panel that _ with plans for the invasion accelerating in late 2002 - he had threatened to resign his post if no international backing was agreed.
Christopher Meyer, Britain’s former ambassador to the US, told the inquiry Thursday that he believed Bush and Blair had used a meeting at Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas, in April 2002, to sign in blood’’ an agreement to take military action on Iraq - a year before Parliament approved Britain’s involvement.
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ISSN 1563-9479 
