Chilcot report: war veteran claims US did not need Britain's help in Iraq

Special relationship: Colonel Mansoor said the US didn't need the UK in Iraq

A US army chief has claimed the Iraq invasion could have been successfully completed without the UK.

Responding to the findings of the Chilcot report, Colonel Peter Mansoor made the shocking claim that the US could have invaded Iraq without British involvement.

Colonel Mansoor served as executive officer to General David Petraeus who led American troops into Iraq in 2007.

Responding to the findings of the Chilcot report, he said on Good Morning Britain that if Tony Blair had refused to offer Britain's assistance, it could have led to the US rethinking their strategy.

He added: “More importantly, it might have given the Bush administration some pause.

“The special relationship between the US and the UK was not about linking arms.”

Colonel Mansoor described the Iraq War as one of the biggest mistakes in American History and praised the British government for launching the inquiry.

Chilcot Protest - In pictures

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He added: “The decision to go on in and topple him brought out a lot of assumptions that weren’t brought out in the force.

“There was not a lot of planning and resources put into it. There need to be more discussions in the council of power.

“There are plenty of countries around the world with WMDs and we don’t go invading them, North Korea, Pakistan. The intelligence was horribly wrong.”

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