The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
83.
The 18 March
Directive remained in force until superseded by version three
on
84.
The US took
the decision to accelerate offensive operations late on 19
March.
85.
The ultimatum
calling for Saddam Hussein to leave Iraq issued by President
Bush
on 17 March
expired at 0100 GMT on 20 March.
86.
In her memoir,
Dr Rice wrote that covert operations with “British, Polish,
Australian
and US
Special Forces” were due to begin on the night of 19/20
March.50
87.
The main
ground attack was scheduled to begin at 2130 on 20
March.51
The
air
campaign to
suppress enemy defences and attack strategic targets was to be
launched
at 2100 on
21 March.
88.
At the first
Ad Hoc Meeting on Iraq on 19 March, Mr John Scarlett, Chairman
of
the Joint
Intelligence Committee (JIC), provided an update on the
intelligence picture
“highlighting
Iraqi military deployments and the poor morale of Iraqi
forces”.52
89.
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”.
90.
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”.53
91.
A joint minute
from Mr Straw and Mr Hoon to Mr Blair, about the UK
military
contribution
to a post-conflict Iraq, is addressed in Section
6.5.54
92.
President Bush
wrote in his memoir that he convened “the entire National
Security
Council” on
the morning of 19 March where he “gave the order to launch
Operation
93.
Mr Blair
made a televised “address to the nation” that evening, setting out
why UK
forces were
taking part in military action in Iraq.56
The details
are set out in Section 3.8.
49
Minute CDS
to CJO, 30 July 2003, ‘Chief of the Defence Staff Executive
Directive to the Joint
Commander
Operation TELIC Edition 3’.
50
Rice
C. No Higher
Honour: A Memoir of My Years in Washington. Simon
& Schuster, 2011.
51
Franks T
& McConnell M. American
Soldier. HarperCollins,
2004.
52
Minutes, 19
March 2003, Ad Hoc Meeting on Iraq.
53
Minutes, 19
March 2003, Chiefs of Staff meeting.
54
Minute
Straw and Hoon to Blair, 19 March 2003, ‘Iraq: Military
Contribution to post-conflict Iraq’.
55
Bush
GW. Decision
Points. Virgin
Books, 2010.
56
The
National Archives, 19 March 2003, Prime
Minister’s Address to the Nation.
18