Why did the British government take the country to war in Iraq? The answer has much more to do with calculations about how best to handle America in the aftermath of September 11 2001 than a sober appraisal of what caused those outrages and the pros and cons of military action for Iraq and the Middle East. Yet neither the consequences for the transatlantic relationship nor the fallout in the region were debated in the run-up to war, or since.
Back then perhaps the British government simply did not trust parliament and public to agree with its judgements. Certainly there was a fear that an airing of all the issues would have acknowledged the probability that Washington was unstoppable and thereby damaged the British strategy to make the project legal.
