U.S. blocks report telling how UK went to war with Iraq

The United States is behind the delaying a key report’s release showing how the UK went to war with Iraq, London-based daily The Independent reported on Wednesday.

White House and State Department officials are behind the blocking of the four-year Chilcot inquiry, which the UK’s Cabinet Office has been criticized for halting.

The newspaper saw drafts of the report earlier this year which challenged the official story of the UK’s entry into the Iraq war, mainly related to exchanges with then-PM Tony Blair and former president George W. Bush.

A diplomatic source quoted by the independent said that the U.S. is “highly possessive when documents relate to the presence of the President or anyone close to him,” according to the daily.

While Blair is involved in talks with Bush in the report, the U.S. government believes that “this is not Tony Blair’s or the UK government’s property to disclose,” the source added.

Without permission from Washington, current PM David Cameron will face a politically embarrassing situation from blocking evidence on the U.S. government’s orders not to be including in the Chilcot inquiry.

The inquiry’s authors are facing difficult choices because of both the U.S. and UK government’s wish to not disturb the “special relationship” between the two countries.

The end report is intended to examine how Blair’s government made decisions about the Iraq war of 2003 and the lessons that can learned for any British government in the future.