UK's Iraq war inquiry has revealed that ex-premier Tony Blair had assured George Bush of backing 'regime change' in Iraq, 11 months before the 2003 invasion.
As the independent inquiry over Britain's role in the Iraq war entered its second week, Blair's former foreign policy adviser Sir David Manning went to testify about the lead-up to the war.
Recalling a meeting between the two leaders at Crawford, Bush's Texas ranch, in April 2002, Manning said that the US wanted regime change in Iraq more than disarming Saddam Hussein's government.
He told the panel on Monday that the then prime minister had told the US president that Britain could only back action against Iraq if the issue went to the United Nations first.
However Blair was "absolutely prepared to say he was willing to contemplate regime change if [UN-backed measures] did not work", Manning emphasized.
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