Britain’s former international development chief says she warned then Prime Minister Tony Blair that the U.S. and its allies were unprepared to deal with the aftermath of invading Iraq.
Clare Short headed the Department for International Development before the war. On Tuesday she released to Britain’s Iraq Inquiry a classified letter she sent to Mr. Blair two weeks before the March 2003 invasion.
It warned that reconstruction efforts would be illegal without an explicit U.N. resolution. Ms. Short also said the U.S. and its allies were ill-prepared for post-invasion humanitarian needs. She said the U.S. Office for Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance was “understaffed, under-resourced and under-prepared.”
Ms. Short resigned in May 2003 to protest the handling of the war.
