PNN – The British government today revealed by releasing documents that 14 months after the coalition forces invaded Iraq 22 years ago, London questioned the manner of the US military command.
According to the report of Pakistan News Network, the Financial Times newspaper wrote that these documents, which were published by the Cabinet Office, included internal briefings for Tony Blair, then Prime Minister, and raised concerns about the degree of US involvement in its military operations.
The documents state: The Prime Minister intends to seek clarification from (George) Bush on the existence of appropriate political control over military operations.
A separate document from the British Embassy in Washington, which was sent to the Prime Minister in 2004 and a week after the battle of Fallujah, shows that the US Deputy Secretary of State at the time, Richard Armitage, told the ambassador that Bush wanted to kill some people in Fallujah.
The report further states that Bush was forced to retreat after realizing that his actions might lead to the downfall of the Iraqi government.
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According to this report, Armitage believed that Bush still thought he was on a mission from God in Iraq. According to him, America has gradually failed on the battlefield and there is no coherent strategy for military operations.
He then asked the British to convince Bush that the United Nations should play an important role in creating a political process in Iraq.
Before Blair’s meeting with Bush, British officials informed him that Fallujah had shown that “American planning was not in the best shape” and that the American “scare” tactics and “tension-provoking statements” made the situation worse.
The British hoped to agree in this meeting that the American approach was necessary to be “more measured”, because the “political capital” of both governments was decreasing.
The documents also show that British officials believed that the management of the American coalition had “never been good” since the start of the war.
According to these documents, the US believed that the governments of Poland, Spain and Ukraine were “a disgrace”. The British also expressed their disappointment with Ukraine due to the lack of tangible support for war actions.