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Ex-defence minister told to ‘burn’ secret Iraq war memo – reports
Former UK defence secretary Geoff Hoon alleges Downing Street insiders ordered him ‘in no uncertain terms’ to burn legal opinion that doubted basis for 2003 invasion
© Getty Images / Scott Barbour
During Tony Blair’s time in office, Downing Street allegedly ordered former defence secretary Geoff Hoon to burn a secret memo that questioned the legality of the 2003 Iraq invasion. Hoon makes the bombshell claim in a new memoir.
In disclosures that have boosted ongoing attempts to strip the former prime minister of his recently conferred knighthood, Hoon reportedly revealed that Blair’s chief of staff Jonathan Powell had instructed him “in no uncertain terms” to destroy the legal document.
When reports of the allegation first surfaced in 2015, they were dismissed by Blair as “nonsense.” But Hoon has resurrected the claim in a tell-all book, titled ‘See How They Run’, according to the Daily Mail. The paper said Hoon has provided details of a “cover-up” at Downing Street.
The former Labour minister said he was sent a copy of the “very long and very detailed legal opinion,” written by then-Attorney General Peter Goldsmith, “under conditions of considerable secrecy” and told he should “not discuss its contents with anyone else.”
Describing it as “not an easy read,” Hoon said he “came to the view” after several readings that the memo was “not exactly the ringing endorsement” of the war effort that the British government and military chiefs had hoped for. Goldsmith had apparently written that the invasion would be lawful only if Blair believed it was in the UK’s national interest.
When my Principal Private Secretary, Peter Watkins, called Jonathan Powell in Downing St and asked what he should now do with the document, he was told in no uncertain terms that he should ‘burn it.’
However, Hoon said he and Watkins defied the order and decided to lock the memo in a safe at the Ministry of Defence instead. He noted that the document is “probably still there.”
While Blair has yet to comment, Powell has denied ordering Hoon to burn the memo, telling the Daily Mail that, at Goldsmith’s request, he had asked the former defence secretary to “destroy” a separate “minute” on the legality of the invasion that had been sent months earlier.
The explosive claims come as over 750,000 people have signed an online petition to strip Blair of his knighthood. Anti-war activists have long accused Blair of war crimes for sending British troops into Iraq and Afghanistan.
F-35 jets grounded after crash-landing
Seoul has halted all operations involving the problem-prone US-made fighter jet after a serious malfunction resulted in a belly landing
March 21, 2013. © Getty Images / Stocktrek Images
South Korea’s whole fleet of F-35 fighters has been grounded as its military investigates the cause of a landing gear glitch that forced a pilot to perform a risky crash-landing in the latest failure to plague the US-made craft.
An ill-fated training flight earlier this week has prompted a probe into what may have caused the malfunction, which affected a number of systems in addition to the plane’s landing gear, South Korean defense officials said on Wednesday.
“With the investigation underway, the entire [F-35] fleet is suspended from flying,” one official told AFP.
During a hearing on the incident on Wednesday, the vice chief of staff for the South Korean Air Force, Shin Ok-chul, said the F-35A was at low altitude near a base in the west of the country when its pilot heard “bangs” coming from somewhere on the jet, leading him to check the plane’s systems.
“All systems had stopped working except flight controls and the engine,” Shin continued, noting that the pilot chose to perform an emergency belly landing – in which a plane skids on its underside to land safely during a malfunction – rather than eject. Reportedly making the first belly landing ever attempted in an F-35, the airman fortunately emerged unscathed.
Ahead of the death-defying maneuver, special foam was quickly applied to the air base’s runway in order to stop the plane from exploding due to the friction and sparks created as it scraped the tarmac at high speeds.
While Washington and US-based arms dealer Lockheed Martin have touted the F-35 as one of the most advanced fighter jets ever developed, the project has been a costly one for US taxpayers, who’ve footed the bill for a long series of delays, malfunctions and cost overruns since the craft made its first official flight in 2006. Nonetheless, a number of American allies have lined up to buy the plane, with Seoul making its first order for 40 of the craft in 2014, receiving an initial shipment of around a dozen in 2019. It has since agreed to purchase more, hoping to obtain scores of additional F-35s for its air force and navy.
Tuesday’s dramatic belly landing and fleet-wide grounding in South Korea comes after another F-35 operated by the UK crashed into the Mediterranean Sea last November as it attempted takeoff from a British aircraft carrier, though its pilot was able to safely eject.
Petition demanding Sir Tony Blair be STRIPPED of his knighthood over Iraq war
reaches ONE MILLION signature target
By HENRY MARTIN FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 12:10 EST, 7 January 2022
A petition demanding that Tony Blair be stripped of his knighthood reached its goal of one million signatures today.
The petition, set up by former soldier Angus Scott at New Year, claims that the former Labour Prime Minister had been the cause of 'irreparable damage' to the constitution of the United Kingdom - and 'the very fabric of the nation's society'.
Sir Tony has been made a Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter – the most senior form of knighthood, which has been bestowed upon all bar one of his predecessors in the Queen's reign.
The Change.org petition, which accuses Sir Tony of being 'personally responsible' for the death of 'countless' civilians and servicemen, hit the one million signature benchmark just after 4.30pm today.
But unlike the New Year's Honours list, which is drawn up by the Government for the Queen's approval, the Order of the Garter is bestowed as a personal gift by the monarch herself.
The Honours Forfeiture Committee, which can remove honours for those involved in scandals, cannot recommend the removal of knighthoods handed out in this way.
Families torn apart by IRA attacks hit out at former prime minister Sir Tony Blair for 'providing effective amnesty to murderers and bombers' as part of the 1998 Northern Ireland peace deal. The criticism comes after Sir Tony was honoured with a knighthood
Among those to back the petition was the mother of a teenage soldier killed in Iraq.
Gordon Gentle, 19, was serving as a Royal Highland Fusilier in 2004 after Blair sent UK troops there the previous year.
His mother Rose Gentle, 58, slept in a tent outside Downing Street in a bid to get answers from Blair and believes she was snubbed by the then-PM.
Gordon, from Pollok, died when a bomb planted by the side of a road in Basra detonated as his Land Rover passed.
Four years later a Coroner ruled that an Army logistics failure meant that electronic jamming equipment which should have been fitted to Gordon's vehicle would probably have prevented the explosion.
Mrs Gentle said: 'I feel this is a slap in the face for me and all the families who lost someone in Iraq.
'What did our sons' lives mean? The families' sacrifices mean nothing to Blair.'
She added: 'This has got to be stopped. I don't see why he should have this honour - for what? Taking our boys? And now the current Labour leader has come out in support.
'I have added my name to the petition and will be contacting my local MPs and MSPs to have this raised at both parliaments.'
And victims of IRA atrocities condemned Mr Blair's knighthood over his secret deal to provide 'get out of jail free' cards to almost 200 suspected terrorists.
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