Hoon unaware of Blair's 'promise' to US
Geoff Hoon appears at Iraq inquiry
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By Alistair Potter. |  |
Tuesday, 19, Jan 2010 05:36
By Richard James.
Former defence secretary Geoff Hoon has claimed Tony Blair failed to brief him on the crucial talks held with George Bush at the US president's ranch in Texas in the build-up to the invasion of Iraq.
The meeting has long been cited as the moment when Mr Blair allegedly told his American counterpart Britain was committed to military action to help remove Saddam Hussein.
Mr Hoon, who served as defence secretary from 2001 to 2005, told the inquiry into the war today he was initially worried the armed forces would struggle to deal with the military campaign and said it had been a "big ask" by Washington to expect Britain to be part of the land invasion while continuing operations in Afghanistan.
Appearing at the inquiry as the first member of Mr Blair's Cabinet at the time of the invasion in 2003, Mr Hoon said he was unaware of the alleged secret notes passed between the former prime minister and Mr Bush.
"I did not see those more private communications," he told the inquiry, headed by Sir John Chilcot.
"The prime minister was a great note writer and it would not surprise me at all that there were private notes that he would send to the president, moreover that he would have had private conversations with the president that I would not necessarily have been privy to."
The former defence secretary denied military intervention in Iraq had been inevitable and refuted the claim the UK had given its full backing to the campaign from the get go.
"I never assumed that we were in a position of unconditionally resorting to military action actually right up until the vote in the House of Commons," he declared.
Prior to his appearance at the inquiry in central London this morning it was revealed the former attorney general Lord Goldsmith had warned Mr Hoon a year before the invasion of the considerable difficulties with military action.
In previously unpublished letters, Lord Goldsmith told Mr Hoon that he was "not aware of the existence of material indicating the existence of an imminent threat from Iraq which would justify military action without the support of a [United Nations] security council authorisation".
Lord Goldsmith though later advised the government the invasion was legal.
When questioned earlier today on the intelligence used to justify the war in Iraq, Mr Hoon said he had no doubts that Baghdad had weapons of mass destruction but claimed he had reservations of the controversial claim they could be launched in 45 minutes.
Answering questions from the five-member panel throughout the day, the former defence secretary told the inquiry the planning for the aftermath of Saddam Hussein's toppling was not the disaster as portrayed by many, but conceding it hadn't taken place as he would have liked.
Justice secretary Jack Straw, who served as foreign secretary from 2001 to 2006, is due to follow Mr Hoon at the inquiry and will give evidence on Thursday.
Mr Blair will make his long-awaited appearance on January 29th.