Pledges of Death: Iraq War Conspiracy Revealed

The report accuses ministers of a selective use of intelligence reports, and says Prime Minister Jan-Peter Balkenende "gave little or no leadership to debates over the Iraq question", which was steered by the foreign minister at the time, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer.

The Netherlands gave political support to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, but had no military role.
The Dutch parliament opposed the decision to back the invasion but parliament is likely now to consider whether the prime minister misled parliament, and whether to launch a formal parliamentary inquiry.

This comes at a time when President Barrack Obama plans to ask Congress for an additional $33 billion to fight unpopular wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, on top of a record request for $708 billion for the Defense Department next year, according to The Associated Press.

The extra $33 billion in 2010 would mostly go toward the expansion of the war in Afghanistan. Obama ordered an extra 30,000 troops for that war as part of an overhaul of the war strategy late last year.

Military officials have suggested that the 2011 request would top $700 billion for the first time

This comes as a British inquiry into the war on Iraq revealed that Tony Blair promised George Bush that Britain would support military action by the United States to overthrow Saddam Hussein in a series of secret notes written a year before the invasion of Iraq, the Times reported yesterday.

The content of the notes was revealed yesterday by Mr Blair's former spokesman, Alastair Campbell. The most dramatic revelation was that Alastair said that Mr Blair sent notes to President Bush so sensitive that they were not shown in advance even to senior members of the Cabinet.