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From The Sunday Times January 17, 2010

Revealed: Jack Straw�s secret warning to Tony Blair on IraqMichael Smith
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A �SECRET and personal� letter from Jack Straw, the then foreign secretary, to Tony Blair reveals damning doubts at the heart of government about Blair�s plans for Iraq a year before war started.

The letter, a copy of which is published for the first time today, warned the prime minister that the case for military action in Iraq was of dubious legality and would be no guarantee of a better future for Iraq even if Saddam Hussein were removed.

It was sent 10 days before Blair met George Bush, then the US president, in Crawford, Texas, in April 2002. The document clearly implies that Blair was already planning for military action even though he continued to insist to the British public for almost another year that no decision had been made.

The letter will be a key piece of evidence at the Chilcot inquiry into the Iraq war when it questions Straw this week.

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The document begins in a way that now appears eerily prophetic: �The rewards from your visit to Crawford will be few ... there is at present no majority inside the PLP [parliamentary Labour party] for any military action against Iraq.�

Straw said Iraq posed no greater threat to the UK than it had done previously. The letter said there was �no credible evidence� linking Iraq to Al-Qaeda and that the �threat from Iraq has not worsened as a result of 11 September�.

Implying Blair was already seeking an excuse for war, it warned of two legal �elephant traps�. It states �regime change per se is no justification for military action� and �the weight of legal advice here is that a fresh [UN] mandate may well be required�.

BLAIRNOTFAIR

[catman]

Ranks up there with the 'Downing Street Memo'.