"A post-war occupation of Iraq could lead to a protracted and costly nation-building exercise," authorities of the briefing memo wrote, according to the Post. "As already made clear, the U.S. military plans are virtually silent on this point. Washington could look to us to share a disproportionate share of the burden."
The output of this meeting is the becoming-more-infamous-by-the-day "Downing Street Memo".
The Washington Post has more of the same: Memo: U.S. Lacked Full Postwar Iraq Plan
The July 21 memo was produced by Blair's staff in preparation for a meeting with his national security team two days later that has become controversial on both sides of the Atlantic since last month's disclosure of official notes summarizing the session.
You know what? I remember actually thinking to myself, all this time ago, that if the Brits were in with us on this (the invasion into Afghanistan), we must not be being too great an ass, internationally speaking.
But I had a certain amount of faith in Colin Powell's credibility back then, too.
BBA | After Downing Street
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