Rumsfeld saw UK army in Iraq as 'inevitable'
Pentagon planning for invasion of Iraq on presumption of UK support, inquiry into war hears
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Thursday, 03, Dec 2009 05:47
By Matthew Champion.
The Pentagon was planning for the invasion of Iraq on the presumption British troops would be there in support, regardless of events at the UN, the inquiry into the war heard today.
The UK's chief of the defence staff told the inquiry panel that then US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld refused to consider the possibility Britain would not commit troops to the war.
"No matter how many times you said to senior American officers, and indeed Mr Rumsfeld, that we were not committing our forces until we had been through the proper UN process, and had been through parliament as well, there was a complete reluctance to believe that," Admiral Lord Boyce told the panel chaired by Sir John Chilcot.
"It was a case of, 'Yeah, I know you've got to say that, but come the day you'll be there.' [That] was the attitude."
Also appearing before the inquiry, which today hosted its first session from senior defence figures, was Sir Kevin Tebbit, permanent secretary at the Ministry of Defence from 1998 to 2005.
He said the view at the time was that the UK could only influence the outcome of the war by being directly involved.
"Unless and until one had boots on the ground, one did not have serious influence on America," he said.
Sir Kevin added a denial that then chancellor Gordon Brown denied funds for the war effort.
"At no stage did the chancellor of the exchequer withhold the funds," he said.
"The problem was a more basic one about the defence budget as a whole. It was just that the defence budget was too small."
The inquiry will continue to take evidence in public for a series of high profile figures, including military commanders and ministers, over the coming months culminating in the appearance of former prime minister Tony Blair sometime in the new year.