MPs criticise MoD Iraq preparations
An influential committee of MPs has attacked the Ministry of Defence for the “alarming shortage” of vital equipment and medical facilities in Iraq.
The House of Commons defence select committee report into the war and its aftermath states that British military commanders were hampered by insufficient intelligence and hurried deployment.
The cross-party committee concluded that shortages of key protective equipment would have meant “severe” consequences if UK troops had come under chemical attack.
MPs stated that the Iraq operation was an overall military success, but warned that the MoD “clearly underestimated the impact on morale of failing to provide service personnel with the clothing and boots which they required and expected”.
The MPs were particularly concerned about shortages of critical equipment, such as protective suits, armoured vehicle filters and Combopens, used for inoculations in the event of a gas attack, caused by problems in supply and tracking of equipment.
The report attacks the MoD for failing to provide MPs with relevant information, preventing adequate scrutiny and accuses ministers of “misjudgement” in failing to plan enough before the war for rebuilding Iraq.
The committee argued that, in the days immediately after the conflict, it was a mistake not to have protected key buildings and infrastructure other than oil wells, including munitions dumps, and claimed that the “potential goodwill of the Iraqi people was squandered” by failing to curb lawlessness swiftly enough.
The report dismisses the government’s claim that it could not plan for a post-conflict Iraq as it would have been too sensitive to imply that a decision had been taken to go to war.
“Mistakes were made in identifying potential local leaders, and without better intelligence and _ understanding of Iraqi society, such mistakes were probably inevitable,” the MPs concluded.
Conservative shadow defence Nicholas Soames claimed that political indecision had caused delays on kit orders and added that it was “disgraceful that commanders were forced to take avoidable risks in putting their men into action”.
Meanwhile, a new BBC poll suggests that just 48 per cent of Britons now believe military action was right, with 43 per cent opposed and nine per cent undecided.
The ICM survey for Newsnight also found that less than a third (29 per cent) of people in the UK think Tony Blair told the truth about weapons of mass destruction, while 40 per cent claim that he exaggerated but did not lie and 22 per cent insist that he lied.
