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Blair was worried by the prospect of giving evidence in public and under oath about his private plans with Bush over the war.
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CAIRO — Britain’s former prime minister Tony Blair has asked his successor to hold the inquiry into the Iraq war behind closed doors, fearing that he would have a public trial if the lies and secrets of his collusion in the invasion were revealed, The Observer reported on Sunday, June 21.
"Blair urged Gordon Brown to hold the independent inquiry into the Iraq war in secret because he feared that he would be subjected to a 'show trial' if it were opened to the public,” the weekly said.
Blair, who resisted pressure for a full public Iraq inquiry while in office, was worried by the prospect of giving evidence in public and under oath about his private plans with then US president George W. Bush.
Blair did not approach Brown in person.
"Instead, messages on the issue were relayed through others to Sir Gus O'Donnell, the cabinet secretary, who conveyed them to the prime minister in the days leading up to the announcement of the inquiry last week,” said the newspaper.
Brown’s government was quick to dismiss that the decision to hold the probe in private was prompted by Blair.
"We have always been clear that we consulted a number of people before announcing the commencement of the inquiry, including former government figures. We are not going to get into the nature of those discussions,” a government spokesman said
A spokesman for Blair also denied his involvement.
"This was a decision for the current prime minister, not for Tony Blair."
Already under fire from MPs, politicians and right groups, Brown said last week it would be up to inquiry chairman Sir John Chilcot to decide which sessions could be public.
Provoking War
A classified memo leaked to the Observer shows Bush-Blair plans to “provoke” a war with Iraq.
The memo, written on January 2003 almost two months before the invasion by Blair's foreign policy adviser Sir David Manning, confirms that as the two leaders had put alternative scenarios that might trigger a UN resolution legitimizing the war.
Bush told Blair the US had drawn up a provocative plan "to fly U2 reconnaissance aircraft painted in UN colors over Iraq with fighter cover".
Bush said that if Saddam Hussein fired at the planes this would put the Iraqi leader in breach of UN resolutions.
The five-page memo reveals that Bush, however, had confirmed that even without a UN mandate, the US would invade Iraq.
The memo quotes Blair saying he was "solidly with the president".
Without UN authorization, Anglo-American troops invaded Iraq in March 2003 on claims of stockpiling weapons of mass destruction.
But six years after the invasion, no trace of WMDs has been found.
Joining the unpopular Iraq war haunted Blair, who stepped down in June 2007 after 10 years in office.
He had been seen as Bush's poodle, backing his Iraq invasion despite opposition from European allies and fierce political attacks at home.
Former US president Jimmy Carter had criticized Blair for being "so compliant and subservient" to Bush, insisting he could have influenced Bush's war decision.
Former officials and international law experts said the “shocking” memo provides two men's frames of mind as they considered the invasion and its aftermath.
"Documents like this raise issues of national embarrassment, not national security,” Philippe Sands, QC, a professor of law at University College London, told the Observer.
Sands, who is expected to give evidence to the inquiry, says such revelation makes it crucial that the inquiry be held in public.
"It's important that the inquiry is not a whitewash as these inquiries often are," insists Lord Guthrie, a former chief of the defense staff under Blair.
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