Sir Christopher Meyer brings harsh allegations against Bush administration...
According to Sir Christopher Meyer, the former British ambassador to Washington, US President George Bush first asked Tony Blair to support the removal of Saddam Hussein from power at a private White House dinner nine days after the terror attacks of September 11, 2001
Meyer was at the dinner when Blair became the first foreign leader to visit the United States after September 11. Blair told Bush he should not get distracted from the war on terror's initial goal - dealing with the Taliban and al-Qaida in Afghanistan - the former ambassador said.
Bush, claims Meyer, replied by saying: "I agree with you, Tony. We must deal with this first. But when we have dealt with Afghanistan, we must come back to Iraq." Regime change was already US policy.
It was clear, Meyer says, "that when we did come back to Iraq it wouldn't be to discuss smarter sanctions."
Meyer also says Blair always believed it was unlikely that Saddam would be removed from power or give up his weapons of mass destruction without a war.
