OK, Saddam must go – but let’s be wary of Baby Bush and the Gang

IF BRITAIN did not support the United States in the circumstances, then the Americans would become more unilateralist and, thus, more uncontrollable than ever... that was one of the arguments put forward

There were grounds for such an assessment when the British abandoned their efforts to get the UN Security Council to adopt a further resolution with a final ultimatum to Saddam to comply fully with Resolution 1441. At that point the British proposal would not have got the necessary majority, so it was withdrawn.

One of the first American representatives interviewed declared that the counting of votes was only a secondary consideration.