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U.K.memo said to question postwar plan
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-06-12 11:46
A staff paper prepared for British Prime Minister Tony Blair eight months
before the invasion of Iraq concluded that U.S. military officials were not
planning adequately for a postwar occupation, The Washington Post reported.
"A post-war occupation of Iraq could lead to a protracted and costly
nation-building exercise," authorities of the briefing memo wrote, according to
the Post. "As already made clear, the U.S. military plans are virtually silent
on this point. Washington could look to us to share a disproportionate share of
the burden."
The eight-page memo was written in advance of a July 23, 2002, meeting at
Blair's Downing Street offices, the Post said in Sunday editions.
It said the memo and other internal British government documents were
originally obtained by Michael Smith of the London Sunday Times and that
excerpts made available to Post were confirmed as authentic by British sources
who sought anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter.
The Post said the introduction to the memo — "Iraq: Conditions for Military
Action" — said U.S. "military planning for action against Iraq is proceeding
apace," but that "little thought" has been given to, among other things, "the
aftermath and how to shape it."
The July 21 memo was produced by Blair's staff in preparation for a meeting
with his national security team two days later that has become controversial
since last month's disclosure of official notes summarizing the session.
According to those minutes — known as the Downing Street Memo — British
officials who had just returned from Washington said the Bush administration
believed war was inevitable and was determined to use intelligence about weapons
of mass destruction to justify the ouster of Saddam Hussein.
Blair denied at a news conference with President Bush last week that
intelligence was manipulated to justify the war.
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