London, January 20: A former defense minister has told Britain’s Iraq Inquiry that the country had always preferred diplomacy to military action in the years building up to the 2003 invasion.
Geoff Hoon gave his testimony on Tuesday as the first former cabinet minister to appear before the Downing Street-appointed committee.
He insisted that Britain had never given “unconditional” support for war, denying that the country was preparing for war almost a year before the then prime minister Tony Blair led the country into war by joining the US-led invasion.
Hoon went on to note that while the United States was intensifying its military preparations, Washington was only relying on aerial and naval support from the UK by October 2002.
He said the final decision to send 45,000 troops and play a “big role” in military operations was made with the prospective that Britain would become an influential player in the post-war Iraq.
Two recently declassified letters between senior officials, published for the first time on Sunday and Tuesday, boldly contradict Hoon’s claims of government’s lack of preparations for war.
Secret correspondence from 2002 reveal that senior government officials felt obliged to warn Blair and Hoon against involvement in a war with Iraq, citing legal problems with invading a country for the sole purpose of ousting its leader.
Attorney General Lord Goldsmith, who gave a legal green light for the invasion, wrote a letter of warning to discourage Hoon from a military action in April 2002.
He clearly stated why the war could later be deemed illegal under the international law, and expressed unease over the lack of a coherent authorization from the United Nations.
“I think you should know that I see considerable difficulties in being satisfied that military action would be justified on the basis of self-defense,” Goldsmith wrote in a letter dated March 28, 2002.
Blair’s argument for the war rested on a now-notorious dossier claiming the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hossein had weapons of mass destruction that could be launched within 45 minutes.
“In particular I am not aware of the existence of material indicating the existence of an imminent threat from Iraq of the sort which would justify military action without support of a Security Council Chapter VII authorization,” Goldsmith added.
Goldsmith’s legal perception radically changed by March 2003, however, when he told the cabinet that the war was legal without a new United Nations resolution, three days before the war began.
On Sunday, the inquiry released a “SECRET and personal” letter from the former foreign secretary Jack Straw to Blair, warning the premier that an invasion would entail legal repercussions.
The letter also portrays government doubts over whether a conflict would improve the country’s future, even if Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein were overthrown.
——–Agencies