LONDON, Feb. 3 (Xinhuanet) -- British Prime Minister Tony Blair is alleged to have told U.S. President George W. Bush that he was "solidly" behind America's plans to invade Iraq, despite the absence of a second UN resolution, a British newspaper quoted a memo as saying on Friday.

    According to the memo published on Thursday, Blair said that he was "solidly with the (U.S.) president and ready to do whatever it took to disarm Saddam," and Bush told him that "the diplomatic strategy had to be arranged around the military planning,"

    The memo, quoted by the Guardian, records a two-hour meeting between the two leaders at the White House on Jan. 31, 2003, nearly two months before the invasion,

    In the memo, U.S. President George W. Bush made it clear that his country intended to launch the war against Iraq whether or not there was a second UN resolution and even if UN inspectors found no evidence of a banned Iraqi weapons program.

    The disclosures come in a new edition of Lawless World by Phillipe Sands, a Queen's Counsel (QC) and professor of international law at University College, London. It is to be published on Friday.

    The first edition of the book, published in February 2005, exposed the doubts shared by Foreign Office lawyers about the legality of the invasion, which eventually forced Blair to publish the full legal advice given to him by the attorney general, Lord Goldsmith.

    According to the memo, Bush also said that the U.S. was so worried about the possible failure of finding hard evidence against Saddam that it thought of "flying U2 reconnaissance aircraft planes with fighter cover over Iraq, painted in UN colors".

    "If Saddam fired on them, he would be in breach of UN resolutions," Bush added.

    Blair told the U.S. president that a second UN resolution would be an "insurance policy", providing "international cover, including with the Arabs" if anything went wrong with the military campaign, or if Saddam increased the stakes by burning oil wells, killing children, or fomenting internal divisions within Iraq.

    Downing Street did not deny the existence of the memo, but said, "the prime minister only committed UK forces to Iraq after securing the approval of the House of Commons in a vote on March 18, 2003."

    It further said that the decision to resort to military action to ensure Iraq fulfilled its obligations imposed by successive security council resolutions was taken only after attempts to disarm Iraq had failed.

    "Of course during this time there were frequent discussions between the U.K. and U.S. governments about Iraq. We do not comment on the Prime Minister's conversations with other leaders." added Downing Street. Editem