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Brit, US officials were looking for "smoking gun" to justify Iraq invasion | British and American officials were desperately looking for a "smoking gun" that would justify their imminent invasion of Iraq, an official inquiry has heard. Sky News quoted Sir Christopher Meyer, the former British
ambassador
to the US , as saying the Bush administration's stringent timetable for military
action was too tight and did not allow enough time for UN inspectors to properly
carry out their searches for Saddam Hussein's elusive weapons of mass destruction.
The official inquiry is examining the relationship between former British Prime
Minister Tony Blair and President George W. Bush. The two leaders may have agreed
Saddam should be overthrown in private discussions at the US President's Texas
ranch in April 2002 - 11 months before the war, Sir Christopher said. "By the
time the President and the Prime Minister met at Crawford (Mr Bush's ranch) they
weren't there to talk about containment or sharpening sanctions," Sir Christopher
added. He said the change in stance was illustrated in a speech given by the Prime
Minister a day after the talks. Sir Christopher went on: "To the best of my knowledge,
I might be wrong, this was the first time that Tony Blair had said in public 'regime
change'. Sir Christopher, the UK 's representative in Washington DC between 1997
and 2003, described how US policy changed when Bush became leader in 2001 and
focused more on "regime change" in Iraq . Commission chairman Sir John Chilcot
has already warned that today's session would be detailed and laborious. The former
ambassador is the latest senior figure to appear at the public hearings which
are being chaired by Chilcot. |
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