Iraq inquiry releases secret MoD memo
Updated on 13 January 2010
The Ministry of Defence's top civil servant wrote that UN support for the Iraq war was "devoutly to be desired", according to a secret document released by the Iraqi Inquiry.
The Chilcot Inquiry heard how the MoD permanent secretary Sir Kevin Tebbit had written to the country's top civil servant Sir Andrew Turnbull warning that "the call to action from President Bush could come at quite short notice and that we need to be prepared to handle the legalities so we can deliver on our side".
In the letter dated 5 March 2003, Sir Kevin outlined four theoretical ways in which the UN could be involved, adding "Clearly full UN cover is devoutly to be desired, and not just for the military operation itself."
"Handling 'day after' issues would also be much harder without UN cover, not least because we could be liable to discharge wide-ranging responsibilities towards the people of 'our' area in Iraq under the Geneva Conventions, without the essential assistance of UN and NGO bodies," he wrote.
Legal advice "changed"
Lord Turnbull, who was the most senior civil servant from 2002 to 2005, today told the Iraq inquiry there were important differences between the final legal opinion on invading Iraq, and an earlier version given in private to Tony Blair by the attorney general Lord Goldsmith.
"It was not, in my view, a summary of what had been produced 10 days earlier. It was materially different in some respects because of the passage of time. Certain things had changed," he said.
Lord Turnbull also said he believed Mr Blair had been a "regime changer" in respect of Iraq, but had been obliged to try and go down the "UN route".
Letter released
The inquiry also released a de-classified letter from the Department for International Development, which was sent the day after the then Development Secretary Clare Short described Tony Blair as “reckless” in a BBC interview.
She'd threatened to resign from the government if the UK went to war without UN backing.
"If there is not UN authority for military action or the reconstruction of the country, I will not uphold a breach of international law or this undermining of the UN," she told the Westminster Hour.
But on 11 March, DFID's permanent secretary Suma Chakrabati wrote to Lord Turnbull saying, "Clare fully supports the government's objectives on Iraq, shown by her voting with the government two weeks ago.
"She has consistently said, in public and in private, that a UN-endorsed process is essential and that the UK must be willing to take military action to enforce the authority of the United Nations."
However, Mr Chakrabati outlined Ms Short's concerns, including the need for a tranparent legal process.
"I know DFID is not alone in wanting to see written advice from the attorney general and/or ministerial discussion about the legality of military action without the second [security council resolution]," he wrote.
"It would be strongly desirable for the legal opinion, to cover the range of possible voting outcomes, to be put to ministers before the end of the week."
Mr Chakrabati also suggested "more frequent and systematic discussion of these issues between senior ministers" would be "helpful".
The former Downing Street press chief Alastair Campbell told the Chilcot inquiry yesterday that Clare Short was excluded from key meetings due to fears she might leak things she did not agree with.
