The United Kingdom（Period 1 Welcome to the Unit）
in feb., foot-and-mouth disease broke out among british livestock, prompting other nations to ban british meat imports and forcing the slaughter of thousands of cattle, pigs, and sheep in an effort to stem the highly contagious disease.the episode cost farmers and the tourist industry billions of dollars.
in june , blair won a second landslide victory, with the labour party capturing 413 seats in parliament.
britain became the staunchest ally of the u.s.after the sept.11 attacks.british troops joined the u.s.in the bombing campaign against afghanistan in oct., after the taliban-led government refused to turn over the prime suspect in the terrorist attacks, osama bin laden.
blair again proved himself to be the strongest international supporter of the u.s.in sept., when he became president bush’s major ally in calling for a war against iraq.blair maintained that military action was justified because iraq was developing weapons of mass destruction that were a direct threat to its enemies.he continued to support the bush administration’s hawkish policies despite significant opposition in his own party and the british public.in march , a london times newspaper poll indicated that only 19% of respondents approved of military action without a un mandate.as the inevitability of the u.s.strike on iraq grew nearer, blair announced that he would join the u.s.in fighting iraq with or without a second un resolution.three of his ministers resigned as a result.britain entered the war on march 20, supplying 45 000 troops.
in the aftermath of the war, blair came under fire from government officials for allegedly exaggerating iraq’s possession of weapons of mass destruction.in july blair announced that “history would forgive” the uk and u.s.“if we are wrong” and that the end to the “inhuman carnage and suffering” caused by saddam hussein was justification enough for the war.the arguments about the war grew so vociferous between the blair government and the bbc that a prominent weapons scientist, david kelly, who was caught in the middle, committed suicide.in jan., the hutton report exonerated the blair administration of any misconduct concerning the weapons inspections and concluded that it had not“sexed-up”the intelligence dossier, an accusation put forth by bbc reporter andrew gilligan.the report strongly criticized the bbc for its “defective” editorial policies, and as a consequence, the bbc’s top management resigned.
in july , the butler report on pre-iraq war british intelligence was released.it echoed the findings of the u.s.senate intelligence committee of the week before that the intelligence had vastly exaggerated saddam hussein’s threat.the famous claim that iraq’s chemical and biological weapons “are deployable within 45 minutes of an order to use them”was especially singled out as highly misleading.but like the u.s.report, it cleared the government of any role in manipulating the intelligence.