Reply #12: Re: "wrongfoot"

[evermind]

I think it means to catch them off guard, in the wrong stance, as in boxing. Specifically, the plan seems to have been to encourage Saddam to deny access to inspectors so that they could then justify the war on a technical breach of the UN resolution requiring access for the inspectors.

My memory is a little hazy, but I believe ultimatums were issued and ridiculous amounts of access requested for the inspection team in the run-up to the US invasion.

My interpretation is that this was a British plan, adopted by Bush as a condition for bringing Blairco on side.

In the Downing Street memo itself, there's a paragraph reading:

The Prime Minister said that it would make a big difference politically and legally if Saddam refused to allow in the UN inspectors ... If the political context were right, people would support regime change. The two key issues were whether the military plan worked and whether we had the political strategy to give the military plan the space to work.

Now you could read that bolded part as Blair saying "suppose Saddam, acting as a free agent, were to refuse access...", but in the context of the two other memos I've quoted, a more likely reading is "If we can get Saddam to refuse access...".

This gives the lie to the whole Bush/Blair position of "we tried our darndest to negotiate a peaceful settlement" because it suggests deliberate manipulation of the UN inspection process in a way calculated to provide political and legal justification for war. (IMHO)