Report: Blair Knew Bush Had No Postwar Plan

In the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, Tony Blair committed British troops to the effort despite knowing of serious deficiencies in US preparations for the aftermath, a TV documentary set to air this week reveals. He pushed ahead even after President Bush offered him an out, the Observer reports, saying Britain could aid the campaign "some other way."

A top adviser who is now the ambassador to the US recalls that Blair, who leaves office next week, sent him to Washington a year before the March 2003 invasion. David Manning returned with a stinging evaluation of the Bush administration: "They may agree that failure isn't an option, but this does not mean that they will avoid it."