http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091127/ap_on_re_eu/eu_britain_iraq_inquiry
UK diplomat: US was 'hell bent' on Iraq invasion
By DAVID STRINGER, Associated Press Writer David Stringer, Associated Press
Writer Fri Nov 27, 11:26 am ET
LONDON The United States was hell bent on a 2003 military invasion of
Iraq and actively undermined efforts by Britain to win international
authorization for the war, a former British diplomat told an inquiry Friday.
Jeremy Greenstock, British ambassador to the United Nations from 1998 to
2003, said that President George W. Bush had no real interest in attempts to
agree on a U.N. resolution to provide explicit backing for the conflict.
The ex-diplomat, who served as Britain's envoy in Iraq after the invasion,
said serious preparations for the war had begun in early 2002 and took on an
unstoppable momentum.
As diplomats frantically attempted in early 2003 to agree upon a U.N.
resolution approving a military offensive, Bush's key aides grew impatient
criticizing the process as an unnecessary distraction, he said.
Grumbling from Washington included noises about 'this is a waste of time,
what we need is regime change, why are we bothering with this, we must sweep
this aside and do what's going to have to be done anyway and deal with
this with the use of force,' Greenstock testified before the inquiry into
the Iraq war.
Several nations had hoped to stall the invasion of Iraq to allow U.N.
weapons inspectors more time to search for evidence that Iraq had weapons of
mass destruction the key justification for the war. No such weapons were
ever found.
Yet Bush's inner circle cared little about what international allies thought
and refused to halt plans to invade in March 2003, Greenstock said. He said
even Blair was unable to persuade Bush, winning only a brief hiatus of two
weeks.
The momentum for earlier action in the United States was much too strong
for us to counter, Greenstock said in a written statement to the inquiry,
provided alongside his live testimony.
Britain's inquiry is the most exhaustive study yet into the war and will
seek evidence from former Prime Minister Tony Blair, military officials and
spy agency chiefs. It won't apportion blame or establish criminal or civil
liability. But it will offer recommendations by late 2010 on how to prevent
mistakes from being repeated in the future.
Greenstock told the five-person inquiry panel that the failure to win U.N.
approval for the war had seriously undermined the legitimacy of the
conflict.
He said, in his opinion, the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq was legal a view
rejected by critics who say it violated international law but was of
questionable legitimacy.
It did not have the democratically observable backing of the great majority
of member states, or even perhaps of the majority of people inside the
U.K., he said.
In London, an anti-war rally in 2003 drew an estimated 2 million
demonstrators the largest street protest in a generation.
Greenstock told the panel he had his own doubts, and had threatened to
resign if no international backing was agreed upon. His threat came before a
Nov. 2002 resolution that offered Iraq a final opportunity to disarm and
demanded access for weapons inspectors.
Efforts to agree on a sterner resolution authorizing military action
foundered because the international community believed the U.S. was hell
bent on the use of force regardless of world opinion, Greenstock said.
The United States was not proactively supportive of the U.K.'s efforts and
seemed to be preparing for conflict whatever the U.K. decided to do,
Greenstock wrote in his statement.
Christopher Meyer, Britain's former ambassador to the U.S., 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. That was a year before Parliament approved
Britain's involvement.
Greenstock said following the Crawford meeting, he realized Britain was
being drawn into quite a different discussion. But, like Meyer, he said the
talks were secretive and the conversation between the two leaders was not
disclosed to officials.
___
On the Net::
Iraq inquiry
http://www.iraqinquiry.org.uk/http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ap/ap_on_re_eu/storytext/eu_britain_iraq_inquiry/34229000/SIG=1103f3dq6/*http:/www.iraqinquiry.org.uk/
Greenstock's statement
http://www.iraqinquiry.org.uk/media/38479/sirjeremygreenstock-statement.pdfhttp://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ap/ap_on_re_eu/storytext/eu_britain_iraq_inquiry/34229000/SIG=12dhueodq/*http:/www.iraqinquiry.org.uk/media/38479/sirjeremygreenstock-statement.pdf
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