State Department blocks report on path to Iraq War

A British investigation into the U.K.'s process into the disastrous fray has been delayed by U.S.

Published November 14, 2013 7:33PM (EST)

The U.S. State Department has obstructed the publication of a highly anticipated report, which addresses the U.K.'s process into the Iraq war.

According to Britain's Independent newspaper:

Although the [British] Cabinet Office has been under fire for stalling the progress of the four-year Iraq Inquiry by Sir John Chilcot, senior diplomatic sources in the US and Whitehall indicated that it is officials in the White House and the US Department of State who have refused to sanction any declassification of critical pre- and post-war communications between George W Bush and Tony Blair.

U.S. authorities are thus de facto blocking the publication of evidence about war-making decisions, including highly controversial Bush-Blair interchanges that are understood to be peppered with dubious reasoning for deploying troops. As the Independent noted:

The protected documents relating to the Bush-Blair exchanges are said to provide crucial evidence for already-written passages that are highly critical of the covert way in which Mr Blair committed British troops to the U.S.-led invasion.


By Natasha Lennard

Natasha Lennard is an assistant news editor at Salon, covering non-electoral politics, general news and rabble-rousing. Follow her on Twitter @natashalennard, email nlennard@salon.com.

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Related Topics ------------------------------------------

Chilcot Report George W. Bush Iraq Iraq War Middle East Tony Blair U.k. War