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Top British ex-diplomat blasts US invasion of Iraq
By Agence France Presse
07/17/05 "AFP" - - One of Britain's most senior former diplomats has branded the US invasion of Iraq "politically illegitimate" in an incendiary new book that the government has moved to block, a British newspaper reported.
Sir Jeremy Greenstock, who was British ambassador to the United Nations during the run-up to the 2003 invasion, makes the comments in a book entitled "The Cost of War", excerpts of which were quoted in Sunday's The Observer.
UN negotiations "never rose over the level of awkward diversion for the US administration", he charges in an extract published in the paper.
While "honourable decisions" were made to remove former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, the opportunities of the post-conflict period were wasted by "poor policy analysis and narrow-minded execution," he charges.
The Observer claims that the book is being held up by Prime Minister Tony Blair's office and the Foreign Office, which it says have asked Greenstock to strike out a number of passages.
Officials are said to have been "deeply shocked" by his candid accounts of talks with Blair and Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and of deliberations at the UN Security Council, the paper reports.
Greenstock, who was Blair's special representative to Iraq in the aftermath of the war, has apparently been asked to remove all these sections.
"Some people are really surprised that someone like Sir Jeremy has done this," an unidentified source told the paper.
"In particular the way he has quoted private conversations with the prime minister."
A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: "Civil service regulations which apply to all members of the diplomatic service require that any retired officials must obtain clearance in respect of any publication in relation to their service.
"Sir Jeremy Greenstock's proposed book is being dealt with under this procedure."
Copyright © 2005 Agence France Presse.
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