British military leaders question mission and ethics
guardian.co.uk
Richard Norton-Taylor
Wednesday February 5, 2003
The Guardian
An undercurrent of profound unease over a war against
Iraq is sweeping through Britain's military
establishment, with senior commanders worried about
confused objectives and the ethics of launching a
pre-emptive strike.
Serious concerns were reflected yesterday by several
well-placed sources close to the Ministry of Defence
who, because of the sensitivity of the issue, insisted
on remaining anonymous. "There is general disquiet not
just about the issue of UN resolutions but about the
ethical dimension," one said. "There is a feeling that
in order to attack there has to be some kind of
aggression in the opposite direction. This would be a
first".
These underlying concerns were reflected last week by
General Sir Jack Deverell, commander-in-chief of
allied forces, Northern Europe, who told the BBC he
would not like to go to war without the support of the
country.
It has also been echoed by a string of former military
officers, including General Sir Roger Wheeler, who was
head of the army until 2000, General Sir Michael Rose,
former UN commander in Bosnia, and Major-General
Patrick Cordingley, commander of the 'Desert Rats'
armoured brigade in the 1991 Gulf war.
Sir Roger said yesterday: "If we are going to war, we
need the backing of the international community and
the country and that means a second [UN] resolution.
The military need to know what the political
objectives are".
A number of well-placed sources pointed to what they
called confused objectives - whether action was in
pursuit of regime change, or the discovery and
destruction of weapons of mass destruction.
"What if there aren't any [such weapons] or you can
never find them?", asked one source close to
Whitehall's military advisers.
Britain's military commanders hope that the Iraqi
regime will "implode" after a massive bombing assault
by the US. "What happens then?" asked another
source."Do you go in, or stand and watch?"
Whatever happens, defence officials admit, the US will
ask British and other European countries to stay on in
Iraq to maintain law and order. "Obviously we will be
in Iraq for several years to come", one senior defence
official said yesterday. However, sources pointed out
that any significant British forces remaining in Iraq
would have serious implications for the defence
budget.
There is growing frustration among the British
military because they still have not been told about
their role in US operational plans.
British intelligence agencies, meanwhile, maintained
yesterday there was no evidence of links between
Saddam Hussein and al-Qaida terrorist networks.
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