TV review: The Iraq War

Last night's first part, Regime Change, explained how the road towards war developed and ultimately became unstoppable.

Leading figures from both sides were featured giving behind the scenes insights into what was going on from the defeat of the Taliban in Afghanistan until the coalition's invasion of Iraq in March 2003.

The documentary featured plenty of archive footage and talking heads interviews offering first-hand accounts of how the United States sought to justify a war to topple Saddam Hussain.

The illuminating programme revealed that at first after the 9/11 terror attacks the US hoped to get Iraq to commit to join the war on terror against Al- Qaida, but Saddam's position that the sanctions on Iraq after the first Gulf War also amounted to terrorism led to them being told to 'forget it.'

Once the Taliban were deposed then the Americans driven by then Republican Vice President Dick Cheney were determined to see the next biggest threat – Saddam and Iraq – dealt with.

War was not the first option with the initial hope being that a coup d'etat could be engineered to get rid of Saddam, but as Cheney candidly admitted it quickly became clear that was not going to be successful and more direct action would be needed.

To justify war intelligence was needed and the proof that Saddam's regime still possessed weapons of mass destruction which it could could supply to Al-Qaida.

There was horrifying footage of the aftermath of Saddam's nerve gas attacks on his Kurdish opponents to illustrate the reality of the threat.

The documentary explained how Britain under then then Labour Government of Tony Blair came to be the key ally of the US in the build up to war despite then Foreign Secretary Jack Straw's warnings that involvement in military action with the aim of regime change would be unlawful in international law.

Meanwhile in Iraq the leadership believed the Americans were not serious about seeking to remove Saddam.

Former US Secretary of State Colin Powell explained how Cheney's supporters were in fact steam-rollering the country to war and his efforts to build a coalition and get President George W Bush to seek a United Nations resolution to force Saddam to allow weapons inspectors back into Iraq.

The documentary shed some new light on the secret US intelligence efforts to get proof of the existence of WMD including the bizarre belief that Iraqi foreign minister Naji Sabri wearing a suit that had come from the CIA indicated his confirmation that his country had them.

The pressure that Blair was under in the UK was also explained as the opposition to war grew and the need for firm evidence grew.

Sadly the programme makers did not explain exactly how the infamous UK intelligence dossier came to be compiled leading to Blair's astonishing claim that Iraq had chemical and biological weapons that could be activated within 45 minutes.

As events unfurled it became clear that despite the international anti-war effort there was going to be no stopping military action.

The documentary had one last surprise as it was revealed that just hours before the deadline with 200,000 coalition troops ready to invade there was a last hope of removing Saddam without a full war as the CIA tracked the Iraqi president down to one of his palaces. Bush authorised a missile strike, but as with so much in the saga the intelligence was wrong.

In the second part next Wednesday, the story of how the US/British coalition quickly won the war but then lost the peace is detailed.

John Corser