Disclosures by Bob Woodward

Bob Woodward's State of Denial: Bush at War, Part III

Bush 'kept Blair in the dark over Iraq'

Prime Minister Blair repeatedly complained to Bush after discovering Britain was being denied access to key information on the grounds that it was a 'foreign' nation.

The attempt to bluff the Prime Minister involved a highly class-ified database called the Secret Internet Protocol Router Network (SIPRNET) which the Pentagon used to store and communicate years of potentially embarrassing intelligence, as well as technical information about combat operations in Iraq. Woodward adds,

The classified information had a caveat - NOFORN - meaning no foreigners were allowed access, a restriction that included even the British troops fighting alongside Americans in Iraq,'

In July 2004, Bush assured Blair he had signed a directive saying the NOFORN rule would no longer apply to the British on military operations.

The Pentagon ignored it, hatching a scheme to hoax the British into believing they were being kept fully informed.