Bush crusade to crush 'evil'

President George W Bush was bent on the overthrow of Saddam Hussein as part of a mission to rid the world of "evil-doers", Britain's ambassador to the US warned Tony Blair just two months before the invasion of Iraq.

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The warning came in January 2003 when Tony Blair flew to Camp David to urge the president to allow more time for diplomacy with the Iraqi dictator.

However, files released to the National Archives show Britain's ambassador, Sir Christopher Meyer, warned it had become "politically impossible" to draw back from war unless the tyrant surrendered or "disappeared from the scene".