From the Chilcot inquiry, the British public inquiry into their involvement in the war in Iraq: “One of [Prime Minister Tony] Blair’s notes is believed to relate to a two-hour White House meeting with [President] Bush on 31 January 2003. A memo written by Sir David Manning, Blair’s chief foreign policy adviser and stamped ‘extremely sensitive’ records that the US president was determined to invade Iraq without a new UN resolution. Extracts of it were subsequently leaked. ‘Our diplomatic strategy had to be arranged around the military planning,’ wrote Manning. ‘The start date for the military campaign was now pencilled in for 10 March [2003]… This was when the bombing would begin.’ According to the memo, ‘the prime minister said he was solidly with the president and ready to do whatever it took to disarm Saddam.’ ”
– Richard Norton-Taylor, “Tony Blair Had Way Out of Iraq Invasion, Chilcot Inquiry Told,” The Guardian, Jan. 20, 2011