The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
5.
In response
to the request following the meeting on 23 July for full details
of
the
proposed military campaign and possible UK contributions, the MOD
advised
No.10 on
26 July:
•
US military
planning was still evolving and the Chiefs of Staff were not
yet
able to
judge whether the US had a winning concept.
•
Three
possible options for a UK contribution were identified but
no
recommendation
was made about which option should be selected.
The advice
was sent to Mr Blair on 31 July, as one of several background
papers
he had
commissioned at his meeting on 23 July for summer
reading.
6.
Mr Blair
was advised that no decision was needed at that stage.
7.
The three
options identified by the MOD remained the broad framework
for
discussions
until the end of 2002.
8.
The record of
Mr Blair’s meeting on 23 July stated that the UK should work
on the
assumption
that it would take part in any military action against Iraq and
that Admiral
Sir Michael
Boyce, Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS), could tell the US that the
UK was
considering
a range of options.1
9.
Adm Boyce was
asked to send Mr Blair full details of the proposed military
campaign,
and options
for a UK contribution, by 30 July or earlier if they were
available.2
10.
The MOD advice
on options for a UK contribution to US‑led military
operations
in Iraq was
provided in a letter to Mr Matthew Rycroft, Mr Blair’s
Private Secretary for
Foreign
Affairs, on 26 July.3
11.
The MOD
advised that US military planning was “in full swing but it was
still
evolving”.
The concept was for an attack launched by forces deployed in Kuwait
and
from other
Gulf States and from ships in the Gulf and elsewhere. The plan was
“neither
fully
developed nor finalised”. The Chiefs of Staff were “not yet able to
judge whether
this is
a winning concept”. Greater clarity would be needed “before any UK
option could
be
recommended”.
1
Minute
Rycroft to Manning, 23 July 2002, ‘Iraq: Prime Minister’s Meeting,
23 July’.
2
Letter
Rycroft to McDonald, 23 July 2002, ‘Iraq Prime Minister’s Meeting,
23 July: Follow Up’.
3
Letter
Watkins to Rycroft, 26 July 2002, ‘Iraq’.
94