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The British government has questioned US control of its military operations in Iraq 13 months after the start of the war, according to newly revealed documents, highlighting the Blair government’s frustrations with its main ally.
The documents, made public by the Cabinet Office Tuesday contained internal briefings prepared for then-Prime Minister Tony Blair that raised concerns about the United States’ mastery of its invasion tactics.
“The Prime Minister may wish to question Bush on the existence of appropriate political oversight of military operations,” the documents state.
The briefings, which preceded a meeting with President George W. Bush on April 16, 2004, also showed that Britain believed that “too many military officers [were] speaking tough to an American audience.”
The revelations lay bare the British government’s growing frustrations with the United States after the start of the First Battle of Fallujah on April 4, which ended in victory for Iraqi insurgents.
Blair’s decision to join the US-led invasion of Iraq damaged his popularity ratings and led to mounting pressure within the party for him to resign. In 2007, Blair resigned as Labor leader after 10 years as prime minister.
A separate document from the British embassy in Washington sent to Number 10 after the first week of battle revealed that the then US deputy secretary of state, Richard Armitage, had told the British ambassador that Bush had wanted ” kick ass” in Fallujah. .
But, he adds, “faced with a dose of reality” that his actions could bring down the Iraqi government, Bush was forced to back down.
The newspaper said that Armitage believed that Bush “always thought he was on some kind of mission from God in Iraq” and expressed his view that the United States was “gradually losing on the battlefield” and that there was “no coherent strategy” in the operations.
He then urged the British to reason with Bush that the United Nations must play an important role in establishing a political process in the country.
Before his meeting with Bush, Blair was briefed by officials that Fallujah “did not display American planning at its best”, with “clumsy” American tactics and their “public statements”. [having] raises the temperature”, aggravating the situation.
The British hoped to secure private agreement at the meeting that the American approach “needs to be more measured” because it “was losing political capital” for both governments.
The documents also reveal that British officials believed that the management of the American coalition had “never been good” since the start of the war.
The newspapers noted that the United States believed that the governments of Poland, Spain and Ukraine had “given up.” The British also expressed their own frustrations with Ukraine due to a lack of support for the war effort.
The “coalition of the willing” was formed in early 2003, before the decision to invade Iraq on March 20. At its peak, it included 49 countries.
These documents come ahead of the political transition planned for June 30, during which the Iraqi interim government took control of the country from the established governing body.
The conflict finally ended in 2011 after a long insurgency by militant groups following the fall of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein in 2003.
The Cabinet Office and Armitage declined to comment.
