In April 2004, advisers to then-UK Prime Minister Tony Blair privately wondered whether the United States had “adequate political control” over military operations in Iraq, after a senior US official confided that the Then-President George W. Bush believed he was carrying out a “God-given mission” against Iraqi insurgents.
Blair had to “convey some difficult messages” to Bush to take a “more considered approach” following a US military operation to suppress a major uprising in the Iraqi city of Fallujah, according to confidential documents from New Labour’s years in office. , also regarding international politics, published by the National Archives of the United Kingdom.
In a surprisingly candid conversation – transcribed in a document that states: “Please protect this information very carefully” – Richard ‘Rich’ Armitage, then deputy to Secretary of State Colin Powell, told Sir David Manning , then British ambassador in Washington, that Bush needed a “dose of reality” after demanding US forces “take a beating” in Fallujah, where US troops engaged in a bloody battle with Iraqi militiamen after the ambush and murder of four US private military contractors.
Armitage requested that Blair use his influence over Bush on a trip to Washington, scheduled for April 16, 2004, to convince him of the need to address the Fallujah issue as part of a carefully calibrated political process.
The United States launched Operation Vigilant Resolve in Fallujah after the mutilated bodies of American contractors were found hanging from a bridge over the Euphrates River less than a year after the overthrow of dictator Saddam Hussein in May 2003 following the US invasion of Iraq. Initially, Bush had allowed himself to be influenced by the Army generals and wanted to “have a hard time” with the Marines who occupied the city.
But politicians in the coalition’s provisional authority, created after the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime, feared that the US military response could damage the prospects of establishing an independent Iraqi administration.
After facing “a reality check,” Bush backed down, Manning informed the UK prime minister’s office. “Rich summed up the situation by indicating that Bush still thought he was on some kind of divine mission. But recent events had made it ‘quite more measured.'”
Concern about the “clumsy management” of the US
After the overthrow of the Iraqi dictator by the forces of the United States and the United Kingdom, Bush announced in a famous speech the end of military operations in Iraq, accompanied by a banner that read “mission accomplished.” The White House has dismissed as “absurd” reports that Bush privately told a Palestinian delegation in 2003 that God had spoken to him and told him: “George, go fight those terrorists in Afghanistan” and “George, “Go and end the tyranny in Iraq.”
Armitage dismissed claims by the US commanding general in Iraq, General John Abizaid, that he could quell the Fallujah uprising in a matter of days, calling them “absurd” and “politically crass”. Armitage believed that the United States was “gradually losing on the battlefield” and that it was “inevitable” that Washington would have to make the decision to deploy more troops, which would be “a political setback” for Bush.
There was concern in Tony Blair’s office about the US military response. A briefing document, prior to Blair’s visit to Washington in April 2004, stated that the events in Fallujah had “depleted much of the political capital of the US-UK coalition” that invaded Iraq.
“Publicly we will want to underscore our continued commitment in Iraq, but privately we will have to convey some difficult messages to Bush about the need for a more restrained approach by American troops, under proper political oversight, and the need for a clear end to the occupation on July 1,” reads one of the documents. “The prime minister could question Bush about whether there is adequate political control of military operations,” the text adds. “In short, too many military officials speaking to an American audience, with little attention to the effect on an Iraqi or regional audience.”
Blair’s foreign policy adviser, Sir Nigel Sheinwald, outlined Britain’s main concerns in a memo to the prime minister, talking about “clumsy American management,” “disproportionate American military tactics (what they did in Fallujah appeared on Iraqi television as a form of collective punishment)” and “apocalyptic treatment in the media.”
The United States lost 27 soldiers, while some 200 insurgents and 600 Iraqi civilians are believed to have died in Fallujah in that operation. Coalition forces took the city in a second offensive launched in November 2004. American soldiers remained in Iraq until 2011.
Translation by Emma Reverter
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