Sir David also disclosed that President Bush and Mr Blair first discussed a possible link between Saddam and the 2001 terrorist attacks on the US just three days after 9\/11.<\/font><\/strong> Asked when Britain first decided to take part in military action, Sir David said: “The first time the Prime Minister asked for military options was in June 2002…<\/p>\n He said in September 2002 the Ministry of Defence was asked to attend a planning conference with their US counterparts in Florida, when Mr Blair said Britain would be willing to provide the second military “package”, but by October, following further discussions between Mr Blair and defence chiefs, “there was an acceptance that if it came to military action we would be willing to move to package three”… <\/p>\n
As the Iraq Inquiry entered its second week, Sir David was asked when President Bush first linked Iraq to 9\/11. He said: “As far as I’m aware the first time the president mentioned Iraq to the Prime Minister was on September 14 in a telephone call and he said he thought there might be evidence that there was some connection between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda.<\/font><\/strong><\/p>\n “The Prime Minister’s response was that the evidence would have to be very compelling indeed to justify taking any action against Iraq.” By April 2002, however, following a meeting between the President and the Prime Minister, Mr Blair had begun talking about “regime change” in Iraq. Last week Sir Christopher Meyer, former ambassador to Washington, suggested Mr Blair and Mr Bush might have “signed in blood” an agreement to topple Saddam during that meeting at the President’s ranch in Crawford, Texas, but Sir David insisted there was “no war plan” at that stage. <\/p>\n
He said: “The president did set up a small cell in Central Command in Florida and he had asked Central Command to do some planning and think through the various options.” By August 2002 “the message was that either the regime must change through the UN or it would be changed through military action. “The President said that if Saddam Hussein implemented the UN resolutions [on weapons of mass destruction] we would have succeeded in changing the regime. He said, in a rather colourful phrase, we would have crated the guy”…<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
So, on the eve of Obama’s announcing a "Surge" in Afghanistan," we’re being bombarded with little pieces of the truth from eight years ago – Senator Kerry’s Report on Tora Bora and the UK Chilcot inquiry on Iraq. Here, we have Bush talking about Saddam Hussein’s al Qaeda ties to Tony Blair three days after 9\/11. Recall Rumsfeld’s notes on the afternoon of 9\/11 [with my annotations]:<\/div>\n
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