British memos: Iraq war sounds like mere 'grudge'

British memos: Iraq war sounds like mere 'grudge': "June 19, 2005

LONDON -- When Prime Minister Tony Blair's chief foreign policy adviser dined with Condoleezza Rice six months after Sept. 11, the U.S. national security adviser didn't want to discuss Osama bin Laden or al-Qaida.
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*''U.S. scrambling to establish a link between Iraq and al-Qaida is so far frankly unconvincing,'' Ricketts says in the memo. ''For Iraq, 'regime change' does not stack up. It sounds like a grudge between Bush and Saddam.''

The documents confirm Blair was genuinely concerned about Saddam's alleged weapons of mass destruction, but also indicate he was determined to go to war as America's top ally, even though his government thought a preemptive attack may be illegal under international law."