AP: Blair to Bush - "Don't get distracted by Iraq"

[fryguy]

(please pardon if discussion already exists on this....I just noticed it and didn't see anything on DU yet...)

Just in time for condi's testimony:

President Bush made clear at a dinner with Prime Minister Tony Blair nine days after the Sept. 11 attacks that he wanted to confront Iraq, the former British ambassador to the United States reportedly told a magazine.

The president raised Iraq at a White House meeting on Sept. 20, 2001, Christopher Meyer, the former envoy, told Vanity Fair. The magazine, published in New York, released an advance copy of its story to The Associated Press on Sunday.

"Rumors were already flying that Bush would use 9/11 as a pretext to attack Iraq," Meyer, who attended the dinner, reportedly said. "On the one hand, Blair came with a very strong message – don't get distracted; the priorities were al-Qaeda, Afghanistan, the Taliban."

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http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/iraq/20040404-1539-britain-bushiraq.html