Iraq invasion moved up two weeks to save oil fields
Tommy Franks accelerated his timetable for invading Iraq in order to get the southern oil fields intact.
"British defence sources said yesterday that the planning assumption was that UK and US troops would not invade Iraq until early April. Gen Franks took the decision to move early before the strike on the Dora Farms compound south of Baghdad on the night of March 19/20. That strike was promoted by a CIA report that Saddam Hussein and his family were at the fortified compound.
"Air Chief Marshal Pledger also said Switzerland had refused to supply grenades for British troops. In the event British soldiers did not need the batch blocked by the Swiss.
"He suggested that British military kit, especially hi-tech equipment, increasingly would be compatible with American equipment, a further indication that British troops would not fight wars without the US.
"Geoff Hoon, the defence secretary, said last week that it was 'highly unlikely that the United Kingdom would be engaged in large-scale combat operations without the United States, a judgment born of past experience, shared interest and our assessment of strategic trends.'"
Tommy Franks accelerated his timetable for invading Iraq in order to get the southern oil fields intact.
"British defence sources said yesterday that the planning assumption was that UK and US troops would not invade Iraq until early April. Gen Franks took the decision to move early before the strike on the Dora Farms compound south of Baghdad on the night of March 19/20. That strike was promoted by a CIA report that Saddam Hussein and his family were at the fortified compound.
"Air Chief Marshal Pledger also said Switzerland had refused to supply grenades for British troops. In the event British soldiers did not need the batch blocked by the Swiss.
"He suggested that British military kit, especially hi-tech equipment, increasingly would be compatible with American equipment, a further indication that British troops would not fight wars without the US.
"Geoff Hoon, the defence secretary, said last week that it was 'highly unlikely that the United Kingdom would be engaged in large-scale combat operations without the United States, a judgment born of past experience, shared interest and our assessment of strategic trends.'"
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