By Marie Woolf
The Independent UK
Sunday 16 October 2005

George Bush told the Prime Minister two months before the invasion of Iraq
that Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Iran and North Korea may also be dealt with over
weapons of mass destruction, a top secret Downing Street memo shows.

The US President told Tony Blair, in a secret telephone conversation in
January 2003 that he "wanted to go beyond Iraq".

He implied that the military action against Saddam Hussein was only a first
step in the battle against WMD proliferation in a series of countries.

Mr Bush said he "wanted to go beyond Iraq in dealing with WMD
proliferation", says the letter on Downing Street paper, marked secret and
personal.

No 10 said yesterday it would "not comment on leaked documents". But the
revelation that Mr Bush was considering tackling other countries over WMD before
the Iraq war has shocked MPs. Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have been close allies
of the US in the war against terror and have not been considered targets in
relation to WMD.

The confidential memo recording the President's explosive remarks was
written by Michael Rycroft, then the Prime Minister's private secretary and
foreign policy adviser. He sent the two-page letter recording the conversation
between the two leaders on 30 January 2003 to Simon McDonald, who was then
private secretary to Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary.

Mr Rycroft said it "must only be shown to those with a real need to know
".

The revelation that Mr Bush told the Prime Minister Iraq should be seen as
a first step comes in the American edition of Lawless World, a book by the
leading international lawyer Philippe Sands QC, who is also a professor of law
at University College London and senior barrister at Matrix chambers, which he
shares with Cherie Blair.

"The conversation seems to indicate that Iraq was not seen as an isolated
issue but as a first step in relation to a broader project," he said. "What is
interesting is the mention of Saudi Arabia, which to the best of my knowledge
had not at that time been identified particularly as a country with WMD. An
alternative view is that the mention of Saudi Arabia indicates that the true
objectives were not related exclusively to WMD."

The inclusion of
Pakistan, also a key US ally, is also surprising, although there has in the past
been concern about nuclear proliferation in that country.

Sir Menzies Campbell, the Liberal Democrats' foreign affairs spokesman,
said the timing of the conversation was significant since it took place when
Britain and the US were still trying to get a second UN resolution to make the
legal case for the Iraq war watertight.

"If this letter accurately reflects the conversation between the President
and the Prime Minister it will cause consternation, particularly in Saudi
Arabia. American policy in the Middle East for decades has been based on support
for Israel and an alliance with Saudi Arabia," he said. "If this was more than
loose talk and represented a genuine policy intention it constitutes a radical
change in American foreign policy."

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/article319993.ece