London, Apr 15: Prime Minister Tony Blair wanted to be sure that the US administration considered terrorism a priority when he met with President George W Bush nine days after the Sept 11 attacks, the former British ambassador to Washington said today. Any suggestion that, immediately after the Sept 20, 2001 dinner, Blair knew that Bush planned on going to war with Iraq was an "extravagant interpretation" of the facts, said former envoy Sir Christopher Meyer, who was present at the White House meeting.

"The important thing for Tony Blair at that first meeting was to be sure that the us administration was going to give a top priority to dealing with al-Qaida, (Osama bin Laden) and indeed the Taliban if necessary, and other things including possibly Iraq would be a second order priority," Meyer told British Broadcasting Corp. Radio. "And that is I think what he did achieve at the dinner with President Bush on the 20th of September. "So the notion that already 10, 11 days after 9/11 that he, Blair, knew that President Bush was going to go to war with Iraq and that he, Tony Blair, was signed up for it is an extravagant interpretation of the facts at that time," Meyer added.
Earlier this month, a magazine quoted Meyer as saying that bush made clear at the dinner with Blair that he wanted to confront Iraq.

Bureau Report