Guardian: FO accused of censoring insider book on Iraq war

[quaoar]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1530814,00.html

David Hencke, Westminster correspondent
Monday July 18, 2005
The Guardian

Jack Straw, the foreign secretary, is blocking passages from a fly-on-the-wall account by Sir Jeremy Greenstock, Britain's former ambassador to the UN, on the run-up to the war in Iraq.
Downing Street disowned any involvement in the censoring of the book yesterday after reports in the Observer and the Mail on Sunday that Tony Blair had wanted to block publication.

No 10 put the responsibility on the Foreign Office and Whitehall procedures to vet civil servants' memoirs for the removal of parts of the book, The Cost of War.

< snip >

In one, Sir Jeremy calls America's decision to go to war "politically illegitimate" and says that negotiations in the United Nations "never rose above the level of awkward diversion for the US administration".

The book is understood to reveal embarrassing conversations between him, Mr Blair and the foreign secretary during the UN negotiations.

[Judi Lynn]

1. It would be great to think Sir Jeremy Greenstock and associates

can devise a way to get this book out, ANYWAY. It shouldn't be possible for them to simply block the book.

It would definitely sell out instantly.

[mom cat]

2. Especially after this article was released!

[AngryAmish]

3. Britain bans many books

Their censorship rules are a lot different than ours.

[krkaufman]

4. Another article on the same issue; from The Observer

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/politics/story/0,6903,1530311,00.html

No 10 blocks envoy's book on Iraq

Martin Bright and Peter Beaumont
Sunday July 17, 2005
The Observer