Blair's war

The extent to which we had the British people and Parliament were deceived over the decision to go to war in Iraq is revealed further this morning with a news item in The Observer. The paper tells us that Tony Blair agreed to commit British troops to battle in Iraq in the full knowledge that Washington had failed to make adequate preparations for the postwar reconstruction of the country:

In a devastating account of the chaotic preparations for the war, which comes as Blair enters his final full week in Downing Street, key No 10 aides and friends of Blair have revealed the Prime Minister repeatedly and unsuccessfully raised his concerns with the White House.

He also agreed to commit troops to the conflict even though President George Bush had personally said Britain could help 'some other way'.

The disclosures, in a two-part Channel 4 documentary about Blair's decade in Downing Street, will raise questions about Blair's public assurances at the time of the war in 2003 that he was satisfied with the post-war planning. In one of the most significant interviews in the programme, Peter Mandelson says that the Prime Minister knew the preparations were inadequate but said he was powerless to do more.

At the time of the debate on the war the need for an exit strategy was a very live issue. Our suspicions have now been confirmed that not only were we misled on the existence of weapons of mass destruction but also on the preparations for war and its aftermath.