Britain: Many of the British ministers who visited Washington in the run-up to the Iraq war were political pygmies who failed to win the respect of their US counterparts, according to the former British ambassador to Washington, Sir Christopher Meyer.
In his memoirs, DC Confidential, serialised in the Guardian newspaper today, Sir Christopher is scathing about leading British cabinet ministers such as the foreign secretary, Jack Straw, the former defence secretary Geoff Hoon and the deputy prime minister, John Prescott.
He expresses despair about ministers with direct responsibility for preparations for the Iraq war, saying that Mr Straw was intimidated and tongue-tied in the presence of administration officials.
He also singles out the prime minister's special envoy to the Middle East and Labour fundraiser, Lord Levy, for particular criticism, describing him as having pretensions to be "a latter-day Kissinger".
He says that some ministers were respected in Washington, such as the chancellor, Gordon Brown, and the current defence secretary, John Reid. But such capable ministers "stood out like Masai warriors in a crowd of pygmies".
The first extracts from the book, published in the Guardian, forced Tony Blair on to the defensive at his monthly press conference yesterday.
Responding to claims that he could have delayed the war and secured Iraq's long-term future, he shifted the blame to the French for allegedly blocking a second UN resolution.
Mr Blair said he had strenuously sought a second resolution "that would have given us more time".
He repeated London's and Washington's long-held belief that the resolution was scuppered by France's threat to use its UN veto.
"That is the reason why in the end you had to make a choice, and there was no other way," the prime minister added. However, in his book Sir Christopher asserts that French diplomats told him privately at the time that a deal could have been reached.
He argues that Labour's long spell in opposition left Mr Blair reliant on a "coterie of personal advisers" and says that this "may explain the hesitancy and nervousness of some ministers on business in Washington".
He says that Labour's first foreign secretary, Robin Cook, was "a man more to be admired than liked" but adds that his successor, Mr Straw, was "someone more to be liked than admired". He says "it took Mr Straw a long time to find his feet, in sharp contrast to Mr Cook".- (Guardian Service)
Reuters adds: Four US soldiers were among at least 15 people killed in a bloody day of suicide car bombings in and around Baghdad yesterday as a major offensive against Sunni Arab insurgents took place near Iraq's border with Syria.
The four soldiers from Task Force Baghdad were killed when a car bomber attacked their checkpoint on a road south of Baghdad, the military said in a statement.
The military also confirmed a US soldier had been killed and two more wounded by a bomb while on patrol near Tikrit on Sunday. Another suicide car bomber killed six Iraqi policemen and three civilians in Baghdad's Dora district. That attack was the worst since 29 people died near a Shia mosque in Musayyib, south of Baghdad, last week. At least two more Iraqi soldiers were killed and 13 injured when they were hit by a suicide car bomber as they guarded oil pipelines north of Baghdad.