The Report of the Iraq Inquiry

656. On 18 March, Sir David Manning wrote to Dr Rice, formally confirming the UK’s

agreement to US use of Diego Garcia and RAF Fairford for “operations to enforce

compliance by Iraq with the obligations on weapons of mass destruction laid down

in UNSCR 1441 and previous relevant resolutions”.231

657. The CDS Directive to Lt Gen Reith, the UK Commander Joint Operations for

Operation TELIC, was issued at 2300 on 18 March. Operations would not begin before

1800 the following day.232

658. At the first Ad Hoc Meeting on Iraq on 19 March, Mr Scarlett provided an update

on the intelligence picture “highlighting Iraqi military deployments and the poor morale

of Iraqi forces”.233

659. Adm Boyce stated that the “British forces were balanced and ready for action”;

and that the “US military were well advanced in their preparations for immediate

humanitarian relief”.

660. The minutes of the Chiefs of Staff meeting on 19 March reported that military

planners were looking at accelerating the plan “in anticipation of an early collapse of

the Iraqi 51st Division in the South”.234

661. Adm Boyce also informed the Chiefs of Staff that he had signed and issued the

Execute Directive for Op TELIC, the military operation against Iraq, to Lt Gen Reith

earlier that day.235

662. The Directive set out: the situation and legal basis for operations; the UK

Government’s political, strategic and military objectives; the concept of operations and

detailed instructions for the mission.236

663. The details in respect of combat operations are set out in Section 8.

664. The provisions on IHL and on targeting and Rules of Engagement are addressed

later in this Section.

665. The instructions for the post-conflict phase are described in Section 6.5.

231 Letter Manning to Rice, 18 March 2003, [untitled].

232 Letter Watkins to Manning, 18 March 2003, ‘Iraq: Military Operations’.

233 Minutes, 19 March 2003, Ad Hoc Meeting on Iraq.

234 Minutes, 19 March 2003, Chiefs of Staff meeting.

235 Minutes, 19 March 2003, Chiefs of Staff meeting.

236 Directive CDS to CJO, 18 March 2003, ‘Chief of Defence Staff Execute Directive to the Joint

Commander Operation TELIC, Edition 2’.

492