View source for Bush–Blair 2003 Iraq memo

{{Short description|Secret US/UK memo relating to Iraq invasion (2003)}}{{Refimprove|date=October 2010}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2018}}
[[File:President_George_W._Bush_and_British_Prime_Minister_Tony_Blair_address_the_media.jpg|thumb|[[Tony Blair]] and [[George W. Bush]] addressing the media after privately discussing the Iraq War]]
The '''Bush–Blair 2003 Iraq memo''' or '''Manning memo''' is a secret [[Memorandum|memo]] of a two-hour meeting between [[American President]] [[George W. Bush]] and [[British Prime Minister]] [[Tony Blair]] that took place on 31 January 2003 at the [[White House]]. The memo purportedly shows at that point, the administrations of Bush and Blair had already decided that the [[invasion of Iraq]] would take place two months later. The memo was written by Blair's chief foreign policy adviser, [[David Manning]], who participated in the meeting.

The memo has become controversial for its content, which includes discussing ways to provoke [[Saddam Hussein]] into a confrontation, with Bush floating the idea of painting a [[U-2 spyplane]] in [[United Nations]] (UN) colors and letting it fly low over [[Ba'athist Iraq|Iraq]] to provoke Iraq into shooting it down, thus providing a pretext for the subsequent invasion. 

It also shows Bush and Blair were making a secret deal to carry out the invasion regardless of whether [[Iraq and weapons of mass destruction|weapons of mass destruction]] were discovered by UN weapons inspectors, in direct contradiction to statements made by Blair to [[British Parliament]] afterwards that Saddam would be given a final chance to disarm.

According to the memo, Bush is paraphrased as saying:<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4849744.stm |title=Bush-Blair Iraq war memo revealed|work=[[BBC News]]|date=March 27, 2003}}</ref>
{{quote|The start date for the military campaign was now pencilled in for 10 March. This was when the bombing would begin.}}

Bush also said to Blair that he "thought it unlikely that there would be [[wikt:internecine|internecine]] warfare between the different religious and ethnic groups" in Iraq after the war. Five pages long, and classified as ''extremely sensitive'', the existence of the memo was first alleged by [[Philippe Sands]] in his book ''[[Lawless World]]'' (2005). It was then obtained by American [[newspaper]] ''[[The New York Times]]'', which confirmed its authenticity.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/27/international/europe/27memo.html |title=Bush Was Set on Path to War, Memo by British Adviser Says |first=Don |last=Van Natta Jr. |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=March 27, 2006}}</ref>

UK [[Liberal Democrats (UK)|Liberal Democrat party]] leader [[Menzies Campbell]] said, with regard to the memo: "If these allegations are accurate, the Prime Minister and President Bush were determined to go to war with or without a second UN resolution, and Britain was signed up to do so by the end of January 2003."<ref>{{cite news|title=Blair 'backed Iraq war while seeking UN resolution'|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/blair-backed-iraq-war-while-seeking-un-resolution-1.770568|accessdate=February 10, 2018|newspaper=[[The Irish Times]]|date=February 2, 2006}}</ref>

==See also==
{{wikinews|Further details about Bush-Blair memo stopped}}
*[[Bush-Aznar memo]]
*[[Casus belli]]
*[[Downing Street memo]]
*[[2004 Iraq document leak]]
*[[September Dossier]]
*[[Iraq Dossier]]
*[[Butler Review]]
*[[Iraq Inquiry]]
*[[Yellowcake forgery]]
*[[Plame affair]]
*[[Propaganda]]
*[[Dr. David Kelly]]
*[[Operation Rockingham]]
*[[Hussein Kamel al-Majid]] and his Testimony for [[UNSCOM]] 8-22-1995.
*[[Iraqi aluminum tubes]]
*[[Project for the New American Century]]
*[[Wolfowitz Doctrine]]
*[[Bush Doctrine]]
*[[Scott Ritter]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/news/archives/2006/02/02/the_white_house_meeting_that_took_us_to_war.html The White House meeting that took us to war] By Oliver King, [[Guardian Unlimited]], February 2, 2006
*[http://politics.guardian.co.uk/iraq/story/0,,1700881,00.html Blair-Bush deal before Iraq war revealed in secret memo] by Richard Norton-Taylor, [[The Guardian]], February 3, 2006
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20080517060940/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0%2C%2C3-2023128%2C00.html Bush 'tried to lure Saddam into war using UN aircraft'] by Rosemary Bennett and Michael Evans, [[The Times]], February 3, 2006
*[http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/programmes/worldtoday/news/story/2006/02/060203_sands.shtml Fresh claims about the build-up to Iraq war] by [[BBC World Service]], February 3, 2006
*[https://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/27/international/europe/27memo.html Bush Was Set on Path to War, Memo by British Adviser Says] by Don Van Natta Jr., ''New York Times'', March 27, 2006

{{George W. Bush}}
{{Presidency of George W. Bush}}
{{Tony Blair}}
{{Iraq War}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bush-Blair 2003 Iraq Memo}}

[[Category:2003 in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:2003 in the United States]]
[[Category:Causes and prelude of the Iraq War]]
[[Category:George W. Bush administration controversies]]
[[Category:Memoranda]]
[[Category:Political scandals in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Presidency of George W. Bush]]
[[Category:Iraq War documents]]
[[Category:Premiership of Tony Blair]]
[[Category:United Kingdom–United States relations]]
[[Category:Labour Party (UK) scandals]]