Iraq uncovered

Dilip Hiro's earlier books on the Iran-Iraq war and the 1991 Gulf war, among another dozen or so books on the Middle East, provide excellent chronological accounts that mix political detail with graphic exposure of the horrors wrought by military conflict.

It was inevitable that, sooner or later, he would produce a book on the 2003 Iraq war.

A principal virtue of Secrets and Lies is that it keeps so many of the critical issues alive.

The Bush-Blair axis has a great interest in diverting attention from the 2003 aggression, insisting that we "move on" and forget all the lies and crimes committed in the name of Christian virtue.

The book quotes George Bush speaking to Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian prime minister, on June 4 2003.

"God told me to strike at al-Qaida and I struck them and then He instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did."

Bible study in Bush's White House is, "if not compulsory, not quite uncompulsory." It is also useful to remember that Blair has said that he would be judged by his "maker" - effectively putting himself beyond human accountability - for the deaths and mutilations that he has caused in Iraq.

The war against Iraq began with hostile US-Kuwaiti economic measures before the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and has continued ever since.

There were cruise missiles attacks on Iraq in 1991, 1993, 1996, 1998 and 2003 and a more or less continuous US bombing campaign throughout the entire period.

Hiro emphasises that the 2003 war began months before the invasion with an intensified bombing campaign - at a time when Bush and Blair were publicly declaring that no decision had been taken about war.

Hiro reminds us of a September 2002 poll in Britain in which 37 per cent put George Bush as "the greatest danger to world peace" - only six points behind Saddam.

Hiro cites some of the requirements of security council resolution 1441 but does not properly emphasise that the unanimous signatories overtly declared that SCR 1441 was not an authorisation for war - which the US and Britain then blatantly ignored when a second war-enabling resolution could not be achieved.

One of the 1441 requirements which Hiro explores well is the demand that Iraq provide a detailed dossier on its past and present WMD programmes.

Iraq fully complied, producing 11,790 pages of material - which the US illicitly acquired and censored before it reached the security council.

The 10 non-permanent members of the council were only allowed to see the abridged version, containing less than a third of the original.

Once again, with no protest from Britain, the US had abused the United Nations in the interest of its own agenda - war.

Hans Blix and Mohamed el Baradei, the heads of the UN weapons inspections teams, reported that, "overall, Iraq had co-operated well, giving them access to all sites," but this compliance with 1441 could not be allowed to interfere with the Bush-Blair war schedule.

The anti-Iraq propaganda was intensified by Washington and London in preparation for the 2003 aggression.

Colin Powell, then US secretary of state, gave a long statement on February 5 2003 to the security council, describing Iraq's alleged crimes in disguising its WMD programmes.

In one of the best parts of the book, Hiro provides a detailed 13-page catalogue of the lies and falsehoods contained in the Powell statement.

By the time of the Powell "peroration," it was widely perceived that the US and Britain were blatantly lying to the international community, using transparent propaganda about WMD as a pretext for an aggressive war of a type already prohibited in international law and by the UN charter and condemned in the Nuremberg Declaration.

Hiro notes that British Attorney General Lord Goldsmith declared that the planned war would be legal, contradicting the judgement of UN secretary general Kofi Annan.

However, Hiro does not consider adequately the differences in tone between Goldsmith's initial lengthy highly qualified assessment, which Blair tried to suppress, and his subsequent unambiguous "green light" for British aggression.

Goldsmith's about-face, in the interest of serving his lying political master, was one of the many disreputable aspects of the entire affair.

A graphic account is included of what Bush's "shock and awe" strategy actually entailed in the bombing onslaught on Baghdad.

There were anti-war protests throughout the world, not only in Arab and Muslim countries.

The US and British governments ignored the demonstrations, just as they had ignored all the massive pre-war protests.

Former managing director of Kissinger Associates Jay Garner was installed as the US civil administrator in Baghdad and was soon found to be worse than useless.

He was replaced by Paul Bremer, who set about issuing executive orders to privatise the Iraqi economy.

Hiro continues the horrific tale through the destruction of Fallujah and the re-election of Bush in late 2004, noting the praise offered by TV evangelist Pat Robertson. "God's blessing is on Bush. It is the blessing of heaven on the emperor."

This is an eminently worthwhile book, providing a detailed and accessible profile of yet another Western onslaught on the Iraqi nation.

Even more horrific details have become since Hiro drafted his text.

In Fallujah, according to the head of the city's compensation committee Dr Hafid al-Dulaimi, the US forces destroyed 36,000 houses, 8,400 shops, 60 nurseries and schools and 65 mosques and religious sanctuaries.

In July 2005, controller general of the US Government Accountability Office David Walker blasted the Pentagon for its "atrocious financial management" for being unable to account for the $1 billion being spent every week on the Iraq war.

At the same time, it was reported that the Iraqi security forces, set up by the US and Britain, were torturing detainees, pulling out their fingernails, burning them with hot irons and giving them electric shocks - adding to all the horrific accounts from Abu Ghraib.

In September, Human Rights Watch revealed that US soldiers of the elite 82nd Airborne Division were systematically torturing Iraqi detainees, beating their heads with baseball bats and burning their eyes and skin with chemicals.

In the testimony of US soldiers, "smoking" was given a new meaning - the physical abuse of prisoners until they lost consciousness. The entire business is appalling.

Now, after the Labour Party conference, when Blair is manifestly concerned with his legacy, we should recall how he will be most accurately remembered in history - as a liar, a Bush sycophant, a war criminal and a mass murderer, closing his eyes to torture and bringing terrorism to London.

GEOFF SIMONS