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US gave date of war to Britain 5 months in advance, court papers reveal
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| DaveSZ |
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/po...sp?story=576429
US gave date of war to Britain in advance, court papers reveal
By Colin Brown, Deputy Political Editor
27 October 2004
Secret plans for the war in Iraq were passed to British Army chiefs by US defence planners five months before the invasion was launched, a court martial heard yesterday.
The revelation strengthened suspicions that Tony Blair gave his agreement to President George Bush to go to war while the diplomatic efforts to force Saddam Hussein to comply with UN resolutions were continuing.
Alan Simpson, the leader of Labour Against the War, said the documents were "dynamite", if genuine, and showed that Clare Short was right to assert in her book, serialised in The Independent, that Mr Blair had "knowingly misled" Parliament.
The plans were revealed during the court martial of L/Cpl Ian Blaymire, 23, from Leeds, who is charged with the manslaughter of a comrade while serving in Iraq. Sgt John Nightingale, 32, a reservist from Guiseley, West Yorkshire, died after being shot in the chest on 23 September last year.
The court, at Catterick Garrison, North Yorkshire, heard that contingency plans were drawn up by Lt Col Christopher Warren, staff officer at Land Command, Salisbury, Wiltshire, who was responsible for operational training.
Lt Col Warren said US planners had passed on dates for which the invasion was planned. The hearing was told Army chiefs wanted the training for the Army to start at the beginning of December 2002. However, due to "sensitivities" the training was delayed.
The court heard the training for the TA began two months late and for the regular Army one month late. Lt Col Warren was asked what the sensitivities were. He replied: "Because in December there was a world interest. If the UK had mobilised while all this was going on that would have shown an intent before the political process had been allowed to run its course."
The hearing was adjourned. |
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| speedracer_mec |
| God forbid the military make plans. |
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| Q5echo |
maybe i'm missing something here, but is the PM supposed to let the Parliament know he is in reciept of war plans?
did he alone decide to ally with the U.S.?
was Parliament caught off guard by this?
seriously, i don't know.
i do know that it's not a crime to continue negotiations through the UN, knowing full well, the decision to go to war under the assumption that Saddam would not comply with UN1441 were legitamate.
we correctly had contingencies in place already if the security council was not unanimous with the use of force. France, Russia and China said specifically they wouldn't. |
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| Cal |
| quote: | Originally posted by Q5echo
maybe i'm missing something here, but is the PM supposed to let the Parliament know he is in reciept of war plans?
did he alone decide to ally with the U.S.?
was Parliament caught off guard by this?
seriously, i don't know.
i do know that it's not a crime to continue negotiations through the UN, knowing full well, the decision to go to war under the assumption that Saddam would not comply with UN1441 were legitamate.
we correctly had contingencies in place already if the security council was not unanimous with the use of force. France, Russia and China said specifically they wouldn't. |
Good thing too, because anymore waiting would have allowed Saddam to fire those WMDs at the states. But this way, the US military captured the WMDs just in time! RIIIIIIGHT?
:haha:
Wow, I feel sorry for you, guy |
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| Q5echo |
| quote: | Originally posted by Cal
Wow, I feel sorry for you, guy |
aww.. your not gonna cry now, because we invaded Iraq, are you boy? |
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| biznology |
ahh the thugging, competitive nature of Americans warms my heart~!
this is pretty serious as living in Europe as the conflict began it seemed sudden. i guess it may have not been| |
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| imokruok |
| quote: | Originally posted by speedracer_mec
God forbid the military make plans. |
No kidding. The title of the post is completely wrong. There's a big difference between giving a date, and the making of plans with tentative implentation. The Dept. of Defense has more plans for war than you would believe, and it would be criminally negligent if they didn't have such plans. |
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| Cal |
| quote: | Originally posted by Q5echo
aww.. your not gonna cry now, because we invaded Iraq, are you boy? |
boy?! ahahaha, yeah thats right i get all the time thanks
And the only time im going to cry is when you get the next osama 747 up your ass, jethro |
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| NiteKiD |
whats there to cry about? over 1000 American deaths? Shucks, they were MEN. Don't be a BOI.
over 10,000 dead civilians? HELL NO! theyre all jihadists and hate America.
REMEMBER THEY KILLED 3000 OF US IN THE WORLD TRADE CENTERS. |
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