Description:

Bush George W. 1946 -

George W. Bush and Tony Blair signed event card, shortly after 9/11.

Dinner menu card for an event honoring "The Right Honorable / The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland / and Mrs. Blair", 4.75" x 7". Boldly signed in black felt tip by both Tony Blair as "Tony Blair", and President Bush as "George Bush". Gilt edged and dated "Saturday April 6, 2002". Verso blank. Fine condition, with great provenance.

An important card signed by two important political figures, dated just about a year before the start of the war in Iraq, which was to become a turning point for both men, and one which Prime Minister Blair never recovered from. This dinner event honoring P. M. Blair was scheduled only 7 months after 9/11, when a river of dread was covering the US and the UK and both Blair and Bush held the conviction that the world had changed irrevocably. The two men met regularly and Americans were on a fast track to fight terrorism. In the end Blair's commitment to Bush was too strong. He came to believe that skepticism would be a kind of betrayal.

Since he believed absolutely in the existence of Saddam's weapons of mass destruction - mistakenly - he convinced himself that too much delay would be a display of weakness. No one could change his mind.

According to the "Whatever memo" written by Blair to Bush only a few months after this 2002 Dinner event, Prime Minster Blair wrote to Bush:

"I will be with you, whatever...

Getting rid of Saddam is the right thing to do. He is a potential threat. He could be contained. But containment as we found with Al Qaida is always risky. His departure would free up the region. And his regime is probably, with the possible exception of North Korea, the most brutal and inhumane in the world.

The first question is: In removing him, do you want/need a coalition? The US could do it alone, with UK support. The danger is, as ever with these things, unintended consequences.

Suppose it got militarily tricky. Suppose Iraq suffered unexpected civilian casualties. Suppose the Arab street finally erupted. Suppose Saddam felt sufficiently politically strong, if militarily weak in conventional terms, to let off WMD [weapons of mass destruction]. suppose that, without any coalition, the Iraqis feel ambivalent about being invaded and real Iraqis, not Saddam's special guard, decide to offer resistance.

If we win quickly, everyone will be our friend. If we don't and they haven't been bound in beforehand, recriminations will start fast."

We all know how this ended, as recriminations and discourse abounded, Blair's ultimate result was his resignation and Bush and his administration had to answer to a hearing regarding that Hussein never had modern useable weapons of mass destruction. This foreboding signed card represents the calm sea before the storm, while the two men were actively discussing a strategic alliance.

Provenance: Ex Samuel Sutton, who served as the personal valet of both George W. Bush and Barack Obama.

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