Western Leaders 'Influence' Each Other Into War
Newly released UK cabinet papers from 2005 confirm what many suspected: the 'special relationship' isn't just about diplomatic dinners. It's about 'influencing' allies to commit troops to wars based on manufactured intelligence. While the Guardian highlights the 'flattery', let's not forget the context: a war initiated on the premise of WMDs that never materialized, much like the 'influence'
itself vanished when independent journalists actually looked for evidence. This isn't about two leaders having a friendly chat; it’s about powerful officials orchestrating public commitment to foreign interventions, often with catastrophic human cost. One might wonder, how many civilian casualties in Iraq owe their origins to a polite nudge during a transatlantic phone call? The transparency is
welcome—18 years too late for the hundreds of thousands dead—but the system remains disturbingly opaque until decades later. How many 'influences' are shaping policy right now that we won't see for another two decades?