Britain confirms Australia involved in early war planning

4.00pm

LONDON - Britain has confirmed Australia was invited to take part in planning for war shortly after British and US military officials started preparations nine months before Iraq was invaded.

A report in London newspaper the Evening Standard today claimed, according to a leaked Pentagon document, senior British and US commanders met at a "UK and Australia planning conference" in June 2002 in Florida.

Britain's Ministry of Defence could not confirm whether Australia was involved in those talks, but said it was no secret the US and Britain began initial plans in the northern summer of 2002.

"It's no secret contingency discussions were taking place," a ministry spokeswoman said.

"The limited discussions that took place in summer 2002 were between British and US military personnel on contingency planning for possible military attack.

"As for Australian involvement, we have no information on that."

But the spokeswoman confirmed Australia was included in planning in June or July, 2002, a fact which was already on the public record.

"The decision was taken at around that time to bring Australia into the planning discussions as well," the spokeswoman said.

Australia was mentioned in a House of Commons Defence Select Committee Report published in March this year as being involved in early planning.

"The UK National Contingent Commander, Air Marshal Brian Burridge, told us that the planning began in June or July 2002, when the British were invited to participate by the US, in advance of other nations such as Australia and Canada," the report said.

The report also quoted Lieutenant General John Reith, the Chief of Joint Operations, saying: "Clearly, there was a decision, I think in June of last year (2002), by the Americans to bring the UK and Australia in on their planning cycle".

The document used by the Evening Standard is a Pentagon chronology used by US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld in an August 2003 presentation on the "strategic lessons learned from Operation Iraqi Freedom".

The chronology lists a "UK and Australia planning conference" on June 28, 2002, at US Central Command (Centcom) headquarters in Tampa, Florida.

The report highlights British prime minister Tony Blair's denial on July 16 that Britain was preparing for an invasion.

The Evening Standard reported that orders to prepare military operations were given on October 7, 2002, more than a month before UN resolution 1441 which issued Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein with a final warning to disarm.

The paper said full battle plans were issued on October 31, eight days before Resolution 1441 and a month before arms inspectors resumed work in Iraq.

Blair's office in Downing Street said the prime minister had not misled MPs and that planning was sensible in case diplomatic efforts broke down.

"The decision to go to war was not made until after March 2003 following the debate and vote in parliament," a Downing Street spokeswoman said.

"Of course there was work on a range of contingencies, but that doesn't mean that the decision had been taken."

The Evening Standard report was written by journalist Andrew Gilligan, the former BBC radio reporter who made the claim that Blair had "sexed up" his pre-war dossier with a claim that Iraq could deploy weapons in 45 minutes.

- AAP

Herald Feature: Iraq