3.2 |
Development of UK strategy and options, January to April 2002 –
“axis of evil” to Crawford
In an
article in The
Washington Post on 16 June
2002, Mr Bob Woodward wrote that
President
Bush had signed an intelligence order earlier in the year
“directing the CIA
to
undertake a comprehensive, covert program to topple Saddam Hussein,
including
authority
to use lethal force to capture the Iraqi
President”.210
The order
was:
“… an
expansion of a previous Presidential Finding designed to oust
[Saddam]
Hussein”.
The Finding
directed the CIA to “use all available tools,
including:
•
Increased
support to Iraqi opposition groups and forces inside and outside
Iraq
including
money, weapons, equipment, training and intelligence
information.
•
Expanded
efforts to collect intelligence within the Iraqi government,
military,
security
service and overall population where pockets of intense
anti-Hussein
sentiment
have been detected.
•
Possible use
of CIA and U.S. Special Forces teams, similar to those
that
have been
successfully deployed in Afghanistan since the Sept. 11
terrorist
attacks.
Such forces would be authorized to kill Hussein if they were
acting
in self-defense.”
552.
Secretary
Powell told President Bush that Mr Blair:
•
would want
to present the strategic, tactical and public affairs lines
he
believed
would strengthen support for the US and UK; “common cause”
in
relation to
the war on terrorism and Iraq; and
•
recognised
he would pay a political price for supporting the US on
Iraq
and wanted
to minimise that. UK voters would be looking for signs that
the
UK and US
were “equity partners in the special relationship”.
553.
Secretary
Powell told President Bush that Mr Blair would want to
discuss
“Afghanistan;
Iraq; the Middle East; Russia and NATO enlargement; and trade
and
554.
Secretary
Powell wrote that Mr Blair:
“…
continues to stand by you and the US as we move forward on the war
on
terrorism
and Iraq. He will present to you the strategic, tactical and public
affairs
lines that
he believes will strengthen global support for our common cause.
[…]
210
The
Washington Post, 16 June
2002, President
Broadens Anti-Hussein Order.
211
Memorandum
Powell to Bush, 28 March 2002, ‘Your Meeting with United Kingdom
Prime Minister
Tony Blair,
April 5-7, 2002 at Crawford’.
487