Their special plane was one of just a couple allowed to land in the capital, where the air space had been closed down tight. Later, over drinks at the British Embassy, Richard Dearlove, head of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), Eliza Manningham Buller director of MI5 (internal security), and Francis Richards, head of the Government Communications Headquarters told London's ambassador in Washington, Christopher Meyer, of U.S. intelligence fears of further attacks by the terrorist group al-Qaida, including the possibility of "trucks carrying 'dirty' nuclear devices," as Meyer reported.

Mayer relates this episode in his recently published memoirs, "DC Confidential." Critics have focused on his petulance at Prime Minister Tony Blair's lack of appreciation of his crucial role in managing the relationship with the Bush administration during the Iraq war. But there's more to it than that. His story of the days following 9/11 is a fascinating insider's account of the developments that shaped Blair's close alliance with the Bush administration.

The deeply emotional official British response to the terrorist attacks made an enormous impression on a shaken and disoriented White House. Queen Elizabeth's message that "Grief is the price we pay for love" struck home. Then, during the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace on Sept 13, the band played "The Star Spangled Banner."

This was something without precedent. Condoleezza Rice, at the time Bush's national security adviser, would confide to Mayer later that when she saw the Changing of the Guard ceremony on television, she wept for the first time since 9/11.

Blair topped it off with a brilliant speech to the British Labor Party conference, telling Americans, "We were with you at the first. We will stay with you to the last." After that, Mayer says, "Blair's and Britain's reputation was rocketing." However, he observes that, "Americans tend to hear things literally. (Blair's) became a line with consequences."

At Bush's request, he and Blair conferred by telephone. Already, the Bush administration thought there could be a connection with Iraq, Mayer wrote. But Blair told Bush that Britain was strongly skeptical about an Iraqi involvement in 9/11, and there was no compelling evidence to suggest it. He urged Bush to concentrate on Afghanistan.

Blair followed up the call by sending Bush a paper -- largely written by himself -- "setting out an international strategy for tackling al-Qaida and terrorism," Mayer recalls. The document formed the basis for a joint approach to the battle against terrorism. Blair touched considerations that were to become common currency, such as the importance of international, not unilateral, action, mobilizing public opinion, and steering clear of a clash of civilizations between Islam and Christianity.

Mayer's book has drawn praise for his frankness. Others have attacked him for violating the unwritten vow of silence of senior British officials, and airing the government's dirty linen. His criticism of Blair's coterie of advisers at No. 10 Downing Street is surgery without anesthesia.

Mayer was not against the war himself, but he also faults Blair for not making the best use of his influence with Bush to persuade him to pursue alternative avenues to war in his obsessive pursuit of Saddam Hussein. But Mayer deals cleverly with sensitive issues, and the illusion of revelations is generally stronger than the reality.

If the main dish could have been better prepared, some of the side dishes are delicious. For example, it turns out that former British Prime Minister John Major was in Washington when the 9/11 attacks occurred.

As chairman of the European operations of the Carlyle Group -- a powerful American private equity firm -- he was attending its annual shareholders meeting, scheduled for that day. Christopher Mayer notes that the meeting was attended by "a Mr. Bin Laden, one of Osama's many siblings and a major Carlyle investor."

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