By Chris Ship
The Head of the Armed forces has told the Iraq Inquiry that he believed British soldiers died for no purpose while locked down at their base in Basra.
Sir Jock Stirrup said a political logjam in the aftermath of the war fatally hemmed them in and that the resulting casualties were unjustifiable.
At the time of the war Sir Jock was responsible for equipping our forces. He has now admitted political and diplomatic delays resulted in crucial shortages on the frontline.
He said it would have made a "significant difference" if the military had been given six months, rather than four to prepare.
---
The assault on Iraq's second largest city was less than a day old when British challenger tanks rumbled through the gates of the presidential Palace in Basra.
In April 2003 the UK forces set up their base in the opulent building - once the seat of Saddam's power in southern Iraq. But Basra did not stay quiet for long.
By 2006 there was an urgent need to pull out of the base as British commanders could no longer justify the loss of British life.
Giving evidence to the Inquiry in central London, Britain's most senior military officer - the current Chief of the Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup - said getting out of Basra Palace had became an urgent military priority.
“The fact that we were having to run re-supply convoys to those locations that were being attacked - and on which we were suffering casualties - and politically our forces were not being allowed to do the job for which they were in the City - that's not a sustainable position,” stated Air Chief Marshal Sir Stirrup.
It was this line of thinking which led the defence chief to this conclusion about the British casualties:
"It’s a sad fact that on military operations one sustains casualties - that's the nature of the business - but those casualties must be producing something of a strategic benefit for them to be justifiable. And they certainly were not in the case of Basra City."
According to Sir Jock, ministers were also warned that the rush to war prevented soldiers from getting all the equipment they needed. The military had to do in four months what would normally take six. Subsequently, mistakes were made.
3 News / ITV