Interesting finding from the UK inquiry

From the Center for American Progress in an email:

Former British ambassador to the United Nations Jeremy Greenstock "told an inquiry Friday that attempts to win international authorization for the invasion [of Iraq] were deliberately undermined by the United States." The inquiry, which began last Tuesday at the behest of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, is to be the "the most thorough investigation yet into the decisions that led up to the [Iraq] war and governed Britain’s involvement." Greenstock — who later served as envoy to Iraq — said that while he was trying to gain U.N. approval for the war, the Bush administration was "decidedly unhelpful to what I was trying to do." "The United States was little troubled by Britain’s hopes of forming an international consensus to justify military action," Greenstock testified. Echoing earlier testimony from former UK Ambassador to Washington Sir Christopher Meyer, Greenstock "said that serious preparations for the war had begun in early 2002" and Blair and President Bush had agreed "in blood" to the military adventure in April of that year, a year before Parliament approved Britain’s involvement. He added that the U.S. was unwilling even to consider delaying the Iraq invasion until October 2003, which would have allowed U.N. weapons inspectors more time to search for evidence of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Greenstock’s testimony is the latest in a series of disturbing issues brought to light by the hearings. The UK’s intelligence chief at the time told the inquiry that his country’s intelligence services concluded 10 days prior to the beginning of the war that Saddam Hussein did not have access to WMD, contradicting what British and American officials said publicly. Testimony from the former British attorney general Lord Goldsmith also showed that Blair was informed in a July 2002 letter that the Iraq War would be illegal under international law. Blair responded by banning Goldsmith from future cabinet meetings and ignoring his verdict on the legality of the war.