A book about the war in Iraq written by the British “UK ambassador to the UN during the build-up to the 2003 war and the Prime Minister’s special envoy to Iraq in its aftermath” has been censored by Prime Minister Tony Blair, according to a report in The Observer by Martin Bright and Peter Beaumont. The report says the book, The Costs of War, is by Sir Jeremy Greenstock, “a career diplomat of impeccable integrity.” Greenstock is said to have depicted the war as driven by the U.S. and as “politically illegitimate,” and supposedly says U.N. negotiations attempting to avoid it “never rose over the level of awkward diversion for the US administration.” “Greenstock is also thought to be scathing about [Coalition Provisional Authority] Paul Bremer and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice,” says the report. Government officials are said to be “deeply shocked” and have demanded Greenstock “removes substantial passages” in order to “avoid further embarrassing disclosures over the conduct of the war and its aftermath from a highly credible source.” A follow-up report in The Guardian by David Hencke notess “The book is understood to reveal embarrassing conversations between [Greenstock], Mr Blair and the foreign secretary during the UN negotiations.” But Hencke reports that “Downing Street disowned any involvement in the censoring of the book yesterday” as per The Observer’s reports that “Tony Blair had wanted to block publication.” The update says foreign secretary Jack Straw is the one “blocking passages” from the book. Either way, says Hencke, “the decision to demand changes is surprising given the number of critical books that have been published about the Iraq war, including an extremely critical account from Clare Short, the former international development secretary, who wasscathing about the role of some of her political colleagues,” and another from Sir Christopher Meyer, “chairman of the Press Complaints Commission and British ambassador to Washington from 1997 to 2003.” Meanwhile, says Hencke, “Reports that Downing Street was blocking another book by a former press officer, Lance Price, were also denied by Number 10 yesterday.”