Britain must not go to war without UN's backing, say senior officers

The Times
February 04, 2003
By Michael Evans, Defence Editor

British troops should not go to war with Iraq without the full backing of Parliament, the country and the United Nations, a senior retired commander told The Times yesterday.

The comments signal an increasing concern among the military on both sides of the Atlantic as Washington prepares, with the release tomorrow of declassified intelligence, to boost global support.

Colin Powell, the US Secretary of State, is due to make Washington’s case at the United Nations, proving that President Saddam Hussein is a threat to world peace and is in pursuit of weapons of mass destruction.

Serving officers are not allowed to give their personal views about an imminent operation. However, senior retired officers who keep in regular touch with the Ministry of Defence about upcoming operations are not barred from making public comments.

General Sir Roger Wheeler, who was Chief of the General Staff from 1997 to 2000, said yesterday that he and many other recently retired officers would find a war without a second resolution from the UN Security Council, unaccceptable. "If we are going to war, we need the backing of the international community and the country and that means a second resolution," he said.

"I remember how the dockers in Southampton and the shipbuilders in Glasgow were right behind Mrs Thatcher during the Falklands War (in 1982) when you wouldn’t normally expect them to support a Thatcher Government."

Sir Roger said that he backed the view expressed by General Sir Jack Deverell, Commander-in-Chief Allied Forces Northern Europe, who told BBC radio last week that he would not like to go to war without the country’s support.

A recent Gallup poll indicated that only 10 per cent of those questioned supported a unilateral attack on Iraq without a UN mandate and 41 per cent were opposed to war in any circumstances; although 39 per cent favoured UN-backed action.

Other retired generals, British and American, have expressed strong reservations. Last week General Norman Schwarzkopf, the American commander of the US-led coalition in the 1991 war, called for the UN weapons inspectors to be given more time to find conclusive evidence.

Major-General Patrick Cordingley, who led 7th Armoured Brigade in the 1991 Gulf War and is now retired, said that Tony Blair had failed to make a conclusive case for war.

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