LONDON -- The U.N. secretary general recently reaffirmed that the war in Iraq was illegal in the absence of a second U.N. resolution. Last week, Prime Minister Tony Blair admitted at the Labour Party Conference that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction and that the intelligence alleging the existence of such weapons was wrong.
Moreover, leaked papers, covering advice given to Blair from the foreign secretary and senior diplomats before the invasion was launched, show that there were strong doubts among British diplomats about the future of Iraq after Saddam Hussein was removed.
They noted that there was no tradition of democracy in Iraq and expressed concern about the inadequacies of American planning for government in Iraq after the attack was concluded. The validity of this advice has been more than confirmed by the way affairs in Iraq have gone since U.S. President George W. Bush's triumphalist declaration 1 1/2 years ago that the war was basically over.