White House plays down Bush war decision claims

THE White House was in damage-limitation mode over Iraq yesterday after claims that President George W Bush was committed to war while publicly claiming to be pursuing a diplomatic solution.

A new book, by Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward, claims Mr Bush made the final decision to go to war in January 2003, when the United Nations route was still being followed.

Mr Bush made the decision during a conversation with national security adviser Condoleezza Rice at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, the book claims.

But Ms Rice hit back, saying in a television interview that Mr Bush told her in January 2003 that while he believed war might be the only option, he had not made up his mind.

“It was not a decision to go to war. That decision he made in March,” she told CBS.

Mr Woodward was one of the reporters who exposed the Watergate scandal in the 1970s, bringing down President Richard Nixon.

He also claims that initial plans to attack Iraq were made in November 2001, fuelling speculation that the Bush administration was obsessed with ousting Saddam Hussein.

Meanwhile, in an interview to publicise the book, Mr Woodward alleged that the Saudi Government had promised to bring down oil prices ahead of November’s presidential election to help Mr Bush’s re-election chances.

Mr Woodward also claims in his book that the Saudi Ambassador to the United States was briefed on the plan to invade Iraq even before Secretary of State Colin Powell.