A hearing on the UK’s involvement in the Iraq War has reportedly revealed that the U.S. was discussing plans — less than a month after the Bush administration took office — to invade Iraq, and the UK government reportedly ‘distanced itself’ from talk of removing Saddam Hussein in early 2001 despite concerns about his threat.
According to testimony from officials, the British government was aware of Washington’s drum beats of war with Iraq immediately after the inauguration of former President George W. Bush, long before the attacks of 9/11. Britain was opposed to military involvement at that time.
The decision to deploy British troops — which was later met with charges that then-Prime Minister Tony Blair, who will be a future witness in the hearings, had misled the country into believing that Iraq was holding weapons of mass destruction — faced strong public opposition in the UK.
Hundreds of pages of reports obtained by the Sunday Telegraph reportedly reveal that Tony Blair covered up British military plans for a full Iraq invasion throughout 2002. Blair lied to parliament and the public when he said that Britain’s objective was ‘disarmament, not regime change.’