Deputizing in war: British policies and predicaments in Iraq, 200307

This article explores UK involvement in the war in Iraq since the invasion of 2003. It explores three different dimensions of UK involvement: British control over the four southern governorates, the role of UK policy-makers and advisors in Green Zone politics, and British policies on the international stage in support of their stance in and towards Iraq. It does so by placing British foreign policy under the Blair government in the context of the overall objective of serving as a transatlantic bridge, a position that is central to how British foreign policy-makers operate but which has become increasingly incoherent in light of the severe differences between the United States and the major continental European states over the invasion of Iraq. The effect of British involvement, however, has not been neutralized by this incoherence; in fact, in crucial dimensions, it has added to the process of Iraq's fragmentation.