Bush-Blair memo
Encyclopedia
The Bush–Blair 2003 Iraq memo or Manning memo was a secret memo of a meeting between American
President
George W. Bush
and British
Prime Minister
Tony Blair
that took place on January 31, 2003 in the White House
. It purportedly showed that the Bush administration had already decided on the US invasion of Iraq at that point.
The memo was written by Blair's chief foreign adviser at the time, David Manning
, who participated at the meeting.
It also shows George Bush and Tony Blair making a secret deal to carry out said invasion regardless of whether weapons of mass destruction
were discovered by UN weapons inspectors, in direct contradiction with statements Blair made to Parliament afterwards that Saddam would be given a final chance to disarm.
In the memo, Bush is paraphrased as saying:
Bush said to Blair that he "thought it unlikely that there would be internecine warfare between the different religious and ethnic groups" in Iraq after the war.
Five pages long and classified as extremely sensitive, the existence of the memo was first alleged by Philippe Sands
in his book Lawless World
. It was then obtained by American newspaper
The New York Times
, who confirmed its authenticity.
UK Liberal Democrat
leader Sir Menzies Campbell
said, 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 UN resolution, and Britain was signed up to do so by the end of January 2003." It was also discussed on BBC World program Dateline London
by a panel of commentators in the early morning of February 6, 2006, the commentators seemed to agree that the memo just confirmed what they already believed to be the case.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
and British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Prime Minister
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
that took place on January 31, 2003 in the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
. It purportedly showed that the Bush administration had already decided on the US invasion of Iraq at that point.
The memo was written by Blair's chief foreign adviser at the time, David Manning
David Manning
Sir David Geoffrey Manning, GCMG, CVO is a former British diplomat, who was the British Ambassador to the United States from 2003 to 2007. He authored the so-called "Manning Memo" summarising the details of a January 2003 meeting between American president George W. Bush and British prime minister...
, who participated at the meeting.
It also shows George Bush and Tony Blair making a secret deal to carry out said invasion regardless of whether weapons of mass destruction
Weapons of mass destruction
A weapon of mass destruction is a weapon that can kill and bring significant harm to a large number of humans and/or cause great damage to man-made structures , natural structures , or the biosphere in general...
were discovered by UN weapons inspectors, in direct contradiction with statements Blair made to Parliament afterwards that Saddam would be given a final chance to disarm.
In the memo, Bush is paraphrased as saying:
Bush said to Blair that he "thought it unlikely that there would be internecine warfare between the different religious and ethnic groups" in Iraq after the war.
Five pages long and classified as extremely sensitive, the existence of the memo was first alleged by Philippe Sands
Philippe Sands
Philippe Sands, QC is a British lawyer at Matrix Chambers, and is Professor of International law at University College London. Sands is notable for writing a book, Lawless World, in which he accused US President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair of conspiring to invade Iraq in violation...
in his book Lawless World
Lawless World (book)
Lawless World: America and the Making and Breaking of Global Rules is a book by Philippe Sands. It was published by Viking Adult in October 2005.Sands is a professor of international law at University College London....
. It was then obtained by American newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, who confirmed its authenticity.
UK Liberal Democrat
Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...
leader Sir Menzies Campbell
Menzies Campbell
Sir Walter Menzies "Ming" Campbell, CBE, QC, MP is a British Liberal Democrat politician and advocate, and a retired sprinter. He is the Member of Parliament for North East Fife, and was the Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 2 March 2006 until 15 October 2007.Campbell held the British record...
said, 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 UN resolution, and Britain was signed up to do so by the end of January 2003." It was also discussed on BBC World program Dateline London
Dateline London
Dateline London is a weekly news discussion programme shown on both BBC News and BBC World News. The programme, presented by Gavin Esler, with Nik Gowing and Lyse Doucet acting as relief presenters, features a roundtable panel of foreign and British journalists who discuss the week's top news...
by a panel of commentators in the early morning of February 6, 2006, the commentators seemed to agree that the memo just confirmed what they already believed to be the case.
See also
- Bush-Aznar memoBush-Aznar memoThe Bush–Aznar memo is reportedly a documentation of a February 22, 2003 conversation in Crawford, Texas between US president George W. Bush, Prime Minister of Spain José María Aznar, National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, Daniel Fried, Alberto Carnero, and Javier Rupérez, the Spanish...
- Casus belliCasus belliis a Latin expression meaning the justification for acts of war. means "incident", "rupture" or indeed "case", while means bellic...
- Downing Street memoDowning Street memoThe "Downing Street memo" , sometimes described by critics of the Iraq War as the "smoking gun memo", is the note of a secret 23 July 2002, meeting of senior British Labour government, defence and intelligence figures discussing the build-up to the war, which included direct reference to classified...
- False FlagFalse flagFalse flag operations are covert operations designed to deceive the public in such a way that the operations appear as though they are being carried out by other entities. The name is derived from the military concept of flying false colors; that is flying the flag of a country other than one's own...
- Iraq document leak 18 September 2004Iraq document leak 18 September 2004On 18 September 2004 the British Daily Telegraph ran two articles titled "" and by reporter Michael Smith, revealing the contents of six leaked British government documents – labelled "secret" or "confidential" – concerning the lead-up to the war in Iraq.The documents achieved...
External links
- The White House meeting that took us to war By Oliver King, Guardian UnlimitedGuardian Unlimitedguardian.co.uk, formerly known as Guardian Unlimited, is a British website owned by the Guardian Media Group. Georgina Henry is the editor...
, February 2, 2006 - Blair-Bush deal before Iraq war revealed in secret memo by Richard Norton-Taylor, The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, February 3, 2006 - Bush 'tried to lure Saddam into war using UN aircraft' by Rosemary Bennett and Michael Evans, The TimesThe TimesThe Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, February 3, 2006 - Fresh claims about the build-up to Iraq war by BBC World ServiceBBC World ServiceThe BBC World Service is the world's largest international broadcaster, broadcasting in 27 languages to many parts of the world via analogue and digital shortwave, internet streaming and podcasting, satellite, FM and MW relays...
, February 3, 2006 - Bush Was Set on Path to War, Memo by British Adviser Says by Don Van Natta Jr., New York Times, March 27, 2006