This article from the BBC makes it abundantly clear why Mister T.Blair had his tongue up Mister G.W.Bush’s ringpiece with regards to the situation with Iraq.
Simply put, the US and the UK propose that they form a body known, in wonderfully bad espionage novel style, as The Authority (I wonder should that be pronounced Thee Awe-thority?), and between the two of them decide what to do with revenue from all sales of Iraqi oil.
There you have it.
The US wants all the barrels it can get because it drinks the stuff and the UK wants all the barrels it can get because half of the UK’s income comes from the beautiful double taxation scheme it has on petroleum products.
I’m wondering why Tony didn’t just say to the public: “look, it’s simple - I’m happy to stay out of this ‘war’ in Iraq as long as you’re happy to pay three times the current price for your cigarettes and beer. OK good? Ok fine.”