General told Blair to delay Iraq war over planning 'shambles'

TONY BLAIR was told days before American and British troops entered Iraq in 2003 to delay the invasion because preparations to run the country afterwards were a shambles, the Iraq Inquiry was told yesterday.

Maj Gen Tim Cross said that he had met the then British prime minister in Downing Street: “I was as honest about the position as I could be, essentially briefing that I did not believe postwar planning was anywhere near ready,” he said.

He sharply criticised Clare Short, then the international development secretary, and who opposed the war, for refusing to allow some of her aid experts to work with the British army.

“This was, I am bound to say, unhelpful for me and it was an early indicator that Whitehall was not much more joined up than Washington,” said Gen Cross, who later served as second in command of the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance.

By the time he reached Iraq, he said, the situation on the ground was even worse than he had feared.

“Baghdad was held together by chicken wire and chewing gum,” he told inquiry chairman Sir John Chilcot.

Saying that the Americans should not bear all of the blame for the post-invasion blunders, Gen Cross said: “It has become very common for people to blame the Americans for all of this. I just do not accept that.

“We, the UK and we, Whitehall, should have done far more to get our minds round this issue. There was no minister of cabinet rank reporting back and driving this day to day,” he said, adding that he eventually left Iraq “dog-tired and glad to be getting away”.