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Leaked UK documents detail Iraq war chaos

23 November, 2009

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LONDON: Leaked British government documents call into question ex-Prime Minister Tony Blair`s public statements on the buildup to the Iraq war and show plans for the U.S.-led 2003 invasion were being made more than a year earlier, a newspaper reported Sunday.

Britain`s newspaper published details of private statements made by senior British military figures claiming plans were in place months before the March 2003 invasion, but were so badly drafted they left troops poorly equipped and ill-prepared for the conflict.

The documents — transcripts of interviews from an internal defense ministry review of the conflict — disclose that some planning for the Iraq war had begun in February 2002.

Maj. Gen. Graeme Lamb, then head of Britain`s special forces, was quoted as saying he had been "working the war up since early 2002," according to Our Sourcespaper.

In July 2002, Blair told lawmakers at a House of Commons committee session that there were no preparations to invade Iraq.

Critics of the war have long insisted that Blair offered then-President George W. Bush an assurance as early as mid-2002 — before British lawmakers voted in 2003 to approve U.K. involvement — that Britain would join the war.

The leaked documents are likely to be supplied to a public inquiry established by Prime Minister Gordon Brown to scrutinize prewar intelligence and postwar planning, and which will hold its first evidence sessions later this week.

Brown appointed ex-civil servant John Chilcot to lead the panel, which will call Blair and the current and former heads of Britain`s MI6 intelligence agency — John Sawers and John Scarlett — to give testimony in person.

According to the Sunday daily, military leaders used the defense ministry review to criticize government departments over their failure to plan for reconstruction work once Saddam Hussein had been deposed.

"We got absolutely no advice whatsoever. The lack of involvement by the FCO (Britain`s Foreign and Commonwealth Office), the Home Office and the Department for International Development was appalling," Our Sourcespaper quoted Brig. Bill Moore as saying in his statement.

It quoted Lt. Col. M. L. Dunn as reporting that his soldiers "only had five rounds of ammunition each" when the invasion began, and that troops lacked the correct armor and other equipment.

In another statement, Lt. Col. John Power said long-distance radios failed in Iraq`s heat and claimed planning was so haphazard that military officials mistakenly sent a container of skis along with desert equipment.

Our Sourcespaper said the internal review concludes that a swift military victory was won only because Iraq`s forces were so poor. "A more capable enemy would probably have punished (our) shortcomings severely," it quotes a document as saying.

Britain`s role in the Iraq conflict — which triggered massive public protests at home — left 179 British soldiers dead.

"Tony Blair consistently denied to Parliament and public that the U.K. government was preparing for war in Iraq, yet these documents show that planning began as far back as 2002," Alex Salmond, leader of the Scottish Nationalist Party, said Sunday.

The revelations prove Blair took Britain "an illegal and disastrous war on false pretences," Salmond said.

The defense ministry declined to comment Sunday on the leaked documents, but said it "recognizes the importance of identifying and learning lessons from operations."

End.

Reader Comments:

Towards PM Blair J Straw testimony Iraq Enquiry !

I have nothing personal Against Tony Blair. But watching his Rhetoric in TV
Both at Parliament and to BBC TV interview for his impressive “why it will be justified for economic Reason (more than USA Rhetoric) I had given up hope.” Both must have been recorded (that means a copy of each can be retrieved).More over, after this his own
Asset seemed doubled tripled his countries’ leading to Pension of Teachers or
Some body was invested more like in Enron leading to current Dilemma when
For apparent reason 100,000 NATO is stuck insisting having a crusade against
Mujaheddin of 19 children grandchildren multiple wives Osama Bin Ladin.This foreign
Taliban had entered with allied to evict Russians who had mainly Central Asians
Muslims amid his own Hindu Billionaires friends who may have benefited. There
Is no Guarantee but just my shock and recollections.


B_Lal, Hungary - 22 January, 2010

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