Why Bush and Blair Chose War (Ep 3/6)

Description

Why did the US and UK decide to invade Iraq? Was it really about weapons of mass destruction or something bigger? And why did Tony Blair commit to standing by George W. Bush “no matter what”? Following the attacks of September 11 attacks, the world changed overnight. But the decision to go to war with Iraq wasn’t as simple as it seemed. In this episode, David and Gordon explore: The Bush administration’s push for regime change The role of key figures like George W. Bush and Tony Blair The growing focus on WMD as justification And how intelligence became central to the case for war This is the moment Iraq became the target. 00:00 Why did Bush and Blair go to war with Iraq? 01:51 AD 02:59 The Bush administration’s view of Saddam 03:52 Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Powell 07:23 George Tenet and the CIA’s role 09:11 The neocons and regime change 10:21 The CIA’s Iraq operations before 9/11 11:17 How 9/11 changed America’s risk tolerance 12:15 Why Iraq was discussed days after 9/11 13:49 Britain pushes for Afghanistan first 14:59 Why Iraq returned to the agenda 15:28 The different motives for removing Saddam 18:00 Was Iraq really linked to al-Qaeda? 20:09 WMD as the link between Iraq and 9/11 28:45 Why WMD became the public justification 31:32 AD 32:36 Tony Blair’s role in the road to war 35:24 Richard Dearlove and MI6 enter the story 37:06 Blair’s “extremely clever plan” 38:13 Intelligence as a back channel of influence 39:24 The Downing Street memo 41:48 Why Britain wanted to be involved 42:17 Jack Straw warns the case is thin 43:38 Why the UK needed a legal argument 44:59 Blair’s “I will be with you whatever” note 47:16 Could Britain have stayed out? 48:28 The debate over the UN route 49:15 Blair and Bush at Camp David 50:56 Bush agrees to go through the UN 51:53 Selling the case for war 52:47 How intelligence became the marketing strategy ------------------- ➡️ Join the Declassified Club to go deeper into the world of espionage with exclusive Q&As, interviews with top intelligence insiders, regular livestre