Tony Blair’s government anticipated “serious challenges” in Iraq a year after invading, with mounting concern inside Whitehall at Washington’s handling of the campaign.
Newly released Downing Street files reveal that Nigel Sheinwald, Blair’s foreign policy and defence adviser, complained in April 2004 about America’s “clumsy … handling” of the conflict.
He highlighted a “lack of coordination with coalition partners”, “inadequate risk management”, and “disproportionate … military tactics”.
A key concern centred on the bombardment of Fallujah, which “looked on Iraqi TV screens to be a form of collective punishment”.
President Bush’s deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage further told UK ambassador David Manning that “the US was gradually losing on the battlefield”.
Armitage added: “Bush still thought he was on some sort of mission from God”.
There were nonetheless promising commercial prospects for Britain in Iraq.
Blair was briefed on how UK oil and gas, water, and power firms would “play a significant role” in the reconstruction effort.
Guantanamo detainees held for six months without daylight
The declassified files also offer details about the treatment of British detainees in Guantanamo Bay, the US government’s detention camp in Cuba.
By April 2004, there were four remaining UK citizens held at Guantanamo, with British officials “not now able to say that [the] US [is] treating detainees humanely”.
The UK government wanted to “press for [an] early resolution”, but not principally out of concern for the detainees’ welfare.
A legal challenge had been brought by lawyers for three of the UK prisoners, Feroz Abbasi, Moazzam Begg, and Martin Mubanga, which would “expose […] confidential UK/US exchanges”.
“A serious challenge would cause potential political embarrassment to HMG [Her Majesty’s Government]”, Blair was briefed ahead of a meeting with Bush in Washington.
The UK prime minister was thus advised to press Bush on ensuring the prisoners were “tried fairly in accordance with international standards or returned to the UK”.
Adding to the urgency of the situation were concerns about Abbasi and Begg not having “had access to daylight for six months”, with the US government doing little to placate these concerns.
The British embassy in Washington was also pressing the US Department of Defense “for a report on its investigation into Begg’s allegation of abuse whilst detained in Bagram”.
Bagram was a US prison camp in Afghanistan, where thousands of people were held without trial during the “war on terror”, many of whom were tortured.
Despite reminders, however, the British embassy in Washington had “not received a formal response”.
