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Blair ignored Chirac`s warning on Iraq 'disaster'
(ZeeNews.com, February 25, 2007)
A senior aide of Tony Blair has said the British Prime Minister ignored French President Jacques Chirac's warning that an invasion of Iraq would have "disastrous" consequences. . . . Sir Stephen Wall, formerly Blair's chief policy adviser, accused Blair and then-press secretary Alastair Campbell of deliberately misrepresenting France's opposition to the Iraq war to justify the invasion, according to media reports today. . . . Wall, who accompanied Blair to a crucial EU summit in October 2002, said Chirac argued strongly that while Saddam Hussein could be overthrown, the subsequent consequences would be disastrous. . . . Chirac even used the then-infant son of Blair to bolster his argument, saying, "Leo will not thank you if you take Britain into war." . . . "But Blair never paid any attention to what Chirac said. He'd kind of come out rolling his eyes and say Oh dear, dear old Jacques, he doesn't get it, does he?" Wall said. . . . Blair and Campbell reportedly decided to place the blame for a UN deadlock squarely on Chirac, following a breakdown of diplomatic efforts to get a second Security Council resolution that could have delayed an invasion. . . . "I recall the moment," Wall says in the documentary, "because I happened to be in the corridor in number 10 when he and Alastair Campbell were walking down the corridor and they decided effectively to play the anti-French card." . . . "It was clear that Chirac had not ruled out the possibility of future French support for the resolution," Wall said.

posted by LoZo 9:45 AM