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Secretary
of State for Defence, Geoff Hoon:
Ladies and Gentlemen,
good afternoon. Having made a statement to Parliament
this morning, I do want to give the maximum opportunity
for Admiral Sir Michael Boyce, the Chief of the Defence
Staff, to give you details of the military operations.
We will then take questions. I do however want to begin
by expressing my condolences following the helicopter
accident which occurred in the early hours of this morning.
As I told the House of Commons earlier, a United States
CH-46 helicopter, carrying British and United States
personnel, crashed in Kuwait, close to the border with
Iraq. I can now confirm that there are eight British
dead. Clearly our urgent priority is the notification
of next of kin. The circumstances of the accident are
still being investigated, although it was not the result
of enemy action. Our thoughts are with the families
and friends of those who were killed.
As
the Prime Minister made clear in his address to the
nation last night, and as media reports of overnight
activity in theatre have confirmed, British forces from
all three Services are now engaged in substantial military
operations inside and outside Iraq. These operations
are set within the context of the Military Campaign
Objectives which the Government published yesterday.
I
would like briefly to take you through those objectives,
and to explain the logic that lies behind them. To quote
the objectives themselves, "The prime objective
remains to rid Iraq of its weapons of mass destruction
and their associated programmes and means of delivery,
including prohibited ballistic missiles, as set out
in relevant United Nations Security Council Resolutions
(UNSCRs)." The objectives then deal with the legal
base for military action which the Attorney General
has already set out to Parliament; the military tasks
which flow from our overall objectives, and our immediate
priorities following the start of conflict.
As
we were considering the military tasks, our guiding
principle has always been the minimum use of force.
The tasks we have identified include action to deny
Saddam Hussein use of his weapons of mass destruction,
and action to overcome the resistance of the Iraqi security
systems. But the tasks also explicitly include removal
of the Iraqi regime. We have identified the Iraqi regime
as the obstacle to Iraq's compliance with its international
obligations, and it is right therefore, and consistent
with the minimum use of force, that operations are aimed
directly the removal of Saddam Hussein and his supporters.
That is why UK forces took part in missile strikes last
night on Baghdad. These strikes are carefully targeted,
and are designed to destabilise the command and control
of the regime. They are not aimed at Iraqi civilians.
Our
focus on the minimum use of force makes sense militarily,
as well as being consistent with our obligations under
international law. In particular, for this campaign,
we not only have an eye to overcoming resistance to
our forces, but also to the very real need to enable
the rapid reconstruction of Iraq in the wake of hostilities.
We
made good progress overnight in securing the Al Faw
peninsula. The Royal Marines have confirmed that the
oil infrastructure on the peninsula has not been destroyed.
Any attempt by Saddam Hussein to release oil into the
Gulf to create an environmental disaster has been thwarted.
This is not just a matter of protecting the oil fields
from sabotage, but more widely make sure that, to the
greatest extent possible, the civilian infrastructure
of Iraq remains intact.
Our
Campaign Objectives are not simply about dismantling
weapons of mass destruction or removing the Iraqi leadership.
I look forward to a future Iraq as a nation at peace
with itself, and at peace with the International Community.
The Government is committed to rebuilding Iraq.
Admiral
Boyce will now brief you on some of the detail of the
military operations recently.
Chief
of the Defence Staff, Admiral Sir Michael Boyce:
Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. Well as the
Secretary of State has told you, and as you have gathered
yourselves, all our coalition forces have had a very
busy 48 hours or so, and I would like to talk a little
bit about some of the operations they have been engaged
on. But before I do though, I would just like to echo
the Secretary of State's words and also those of the
Prime Minister earlier on today concerning those people
that we so sadly lost last night, and as head of the
British Armed Forces, I would like to extend my deep
condolences to the families of both the British and
American personnel who were killed in that helicopter
crash. Whilst those of us in uniform really do understand
that these tragedies are sad, we also understand that
it is a feature of warfare, but it certainly never ever
gets easier to hear such news. And the thoughts of all
of us in the Armed Forces today are very much with the
families and the friends of those who died from both
sides of the Atlantic.
Well
as you know, our coalition forces were engaged overnight
last night in some attacks on regime positions and infrastructure
and a lot of details, especially with regard to the
attacks on regime targets in Baghdad, have already been
made available to you, so I don't intend to go over
those again. However, I can tell you that those operations
included the firing of several tomahawk missiles from
British submarines in the region, and these missiles
were targeted at regime command and control centres
in the Iraqi capital, and also that all their weapons
hit their targets as planned.
Meanwhile
our ground forces have been making encouraging advances
in southern Iraq. Now one of the primary aims of the
operations has been to secure the oil infrastructure
in that part of the country before the Iraqis themselves
can sabotage it. And I think it is worth re-emphasising
this, although I know the Secretary of State has made
mention of it. It is important to take over this oil
infrastructure for three reasons. First of all, the
enemy believes that sabotaging oil wells, that the thick
black smoke such action might produce, can degrade our
ability on the battlefield; and secondly, the environmental
repercussions of such action, especially with regard
to oil being poured into the Gulf, are enormously damaging;
and finally, and this really goes to the heart of our
military planning in this operation as a whole, we are
trying to make sure that the economic infrastructure
of Iraq is left as intact as possible to benefit the
Iraqi people after the campaign. And all of our military
approach has been very conscious of this need to restructure
and rebuild the country after the fall of the regime,
and from the military point we have been tailoring all
our plans accordingly, and also by the way we are absolutely
determined not to allow Saddam to do yet more damage
to the lives of his people through some sort of scorched
earth policy.
On
to a bit more detail. Well last night our Royal Marines
from 40 Commando and 42 Commando launched an amphibious
and air delivered assault on the Al Faw peninsula in
order to secure the vital oil infrastructure which is
there. At the same time a United States Marine Corps
battalion launched its own attacks on the port of Umm
Qasr, and that port will be available to us as soon
as our British minesweepers are able to clear the waterway
up there to allow shipping to move in in safety. And
by the way, just in the last few hours or so, we have
seized some Iraqi vessels which were ready to lay mines
in that locality. This port is a vital objective because
once we have cleared the way into Umm Qasr it is going
to become one of our main ways of getting humanitarian
aid, hopefully within days, and with the help of our
Royal Fleet Auxiliary, into Iraq.
While
talking about ships, part of our co-ordination for this
amphibious operation of course was to be supported by
the Royal Navy, and indeed two of our Royal Navy frigates
in the area provided naval gunfire support from their
guns, and we also had guns from the Royal Artillery
attached to 3 Commando Brigade working off Bubiyan Island
which is just off the coast of Al Faw. Our Marines took
their objectives, despite sporadic fighting, and which
also included some stern resistance. There were some
enemy casualties, including some enemy dead. I can tell
you this afternoon that the men of 40 Commando are now
taking the surrender of Iraqi troops in very significant
numbers. Furthermore, just in the last hour or so, I
can tell you that Umm Qasr has been overwhelmed by the
US Marines and now is in coalition hands. So the operation
has been a remarkable success in co-ordination terms,
both as our ally, the United States, but also with our
units from the Navy, the Marines, the Army, and indeed
the GR7s, the Harrier aircraft which were providing
air support during the operation itself.
But
other things were going on last night as well. The United
States 3rd Infantry Division has made cracking progress
in its advance northward, and it has already penetrated
more than 150 kilometres on its way to Baghdad. Also
a United States regimental combat team, supported by
a number of specialist British units, set out during
the night to secure some of the southern oilfields down
to the south and east of Basra. And our elements there,
the British elements there, included Royal Engineers,
Explosive Ordnance Clearance Units and nuclear, biological
and chemical teams. Altogether in that particular mission
they have done very well. They encountered some determined
pockets of resistance along the way, but they have now
reached the Euphrates River. As a result of that operation,
all the key components of the southern oilfields are
now safe, and I am also pleased to be able to tell you
that the latest information I have had is that only
7 well heads have been fired, as opposed to some 30
or so that we suspected might have been on fire today,
and of course that is only 7 out of the many hundreds
that make up the oilfields.
Now
part of the reason for the confusion over the number
of burning wells is that the enemy regularly lights
trenches full of oil and the attendant smoke means that
it is extremely difficult to find out what is going
on until we get close enough to analyse it properly.
As for the oilwells which are burning, we have specialist
civilian contractors on their way and will be in the
area very shortly, in a day or two, to deal with the
oilwell fires.
Coalition
forces in the shape of another US regimental combat
team have also been pushing forward towards the strategically
important city of Basra, and this regimental combat
team's right flank is covered by two battle groups of
the United Kingdom's 7th Armoured Brigade. The two battle
groups were the Black Watch and the 1st Battalion of
the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers. They have moved quickly
and the leading elements of that formation are now on
the outskirts of Basra itself. And along the way they
have seen a lot of evidence of large-scale Iraqi capitulation,
evidenced by abandoned positions and items of equipment.
Now
all this activity that has been going on during the
night has been prosecuted under air cover provided by
the US Air Force and by the Royal Air Force, and indeed
the Royal Air Force has been extremely active in providing
combat air support, surveillance, reconnaissance, tanking,
both day and night. For example, as I mentioned earlier,
the attack on Al Faw was supported by the Tornado GR4
aircraft which attacked enemy artillery in the area
with precision weapons, along with other military installations
as far north as Al Kut. And RAF Harrier GR7s provided
close air support to the ground operations throughout
the night, and they all in turn are being supported
by E-3Ds, Tristars, VC-10 tankers, Canberra reconnaissance
aircraft and so on, they have all had a very busy time.
Altogether
ladies and gentlemen, it is very early days, but I have
to say that I find the coalition progress so far has
been promising. I think that our people have performed
admirably on land, on sea and in the air, and I am very
encouraged by the start we have made.
Question:
Could I ask what your latest intelligence is on the
communications, the ability of the centre, Saddam or
the centre of the regime, to communicate with commanders
throughout the rest of Iraq?
Mr Hoon:
Clearly there is some evidence of difficulties from
the centre, communications particularly to the south
have been disrupted. It is difficult at this stage of
military operations to judge how successful the Iraqi
co-ordination is. It may well be that the operations
against us in the south are simply part of a pre-determined
plan that is being carried out by the Iraqi commander
in the southern area. We are still making judgments
about the extent to which there remains a co-ordinated
operation emanating from Baghdad.
Admiral Boyce:
There is ... evidence of central control, we are still
analysing just how effective our bombing campaign has
been.
Question:
Could I ask Sir Michael if you could tell us a little
bit more about the number of prisoners that have been
taken, and also about the balance between those who
have surrendered and those who have stood and fought,
whether you get an impression of how future battles
may turn out?
Admiral Boyce:
Well as far as the Marines' prisoner-taking is concerned,
I am told that there are several hundreds that we are
talking about. These figures of course can change, these
are the initial reports. I don't have a feel for how
many Iraqi soldiers have capitulated, and certainly
no feel for how many run away. As I have said, we have
got evidence that a number have run away by finding
abandoned sites and abandoned equipment, but really
no feel yet for just how many people we are talking
about.
Question:
This question I would like to direct to either or both
of you, I don't know which one would find it easiest
to answer. But Brian Burridge, the Commander of the
forces out there in the Gulf, has just told Sky News
that he believes the next 24 hours will be the most
difficult. I would like your assessment on that. And
when it comes to the decapitation strikes which were
launched on the first night on Baghdad, have you any
assessment on, if not Saddam Hussein, whether other
senior members of the regime may well have been taken
out or severely injured?
Mr Hoon:
Work is continuing to assess the results of the initial
strike in Baghdad, not least a determined analysis as
to whether or not the film that we all saw of Saddam
Hussein was or was not Saddam Hussein. But I am not
in a position at this stage to make that judgment. In
a sense it will not affect the determination of coalition
forces to continue to prosecute their campaign because
it is necessary that the efforts that Mike has described
continue to deliver success, and over those next 24
hours I think you will see a continuation of the efforts
that have been so far made.
Admiral Boyce:
And really ... too, the further we penetrate into Iraq,
the longer your lines of communication become, sustainability
becomes more of a problem, so inevitably the ground
campaign must become more difficult. And also the years
we have spent in flying the No Fly Zones over Iraq has
given us a pretty good appreciation of what is in those
particular zones. As we start to move north of the southern
Fly Zone, what was known as the southern Fly Zone, then
clearly our intelligence is not so good so we are slightly
more uncertain. We could find ourselves facing a tougher
time.
Question:
How does the speed of the allies' advance square with
the talk of Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction.
Is he simply not utilising them at this stage, or should
we be cautious about being too optimistic about the
progress so far?
Admiral Boyce:
I am absolutely certain that we should remain cautious
in case he is about to use them. I think that he is
probably hoping that we are not serious about this,
that what he has seen go on so far is a bit of a token
effort and we are not really serious about what we are
going to do, and if I was in his shoes I would be wisely
keeping my chemical weapons back because using them
will prove what we all know, that he has got them.
Question:
Admiral Boyce mentioned several hundreds of prisoners
already taken and we can presumably anticipate many
more hundreds in the next few days. Could you say something
first of all about what the plans are to deal with them,
where are they going to be kept, are there sufficient
logistics there to feed them and so on? And secondly
if you could comment please on the Iraqi comment that
they don't believe that any soldiers they take will
be prisoners of war and they will treat them as war
criminals?
Mr Hoon:
Well, I have set out in detail to the House in a written
Ministerial statement last week deployment of extra
forces specifically to deal with prisoners of war. We
obviously have the experience of dealing with those
prisoners in the last Gulf campaign and it will follow
along very similar lines.
Admiral Boyce:
And they will be fed very well indeed and looked after
properly, and indeed I think some of you may have heard
Lt Colonel Collins addressing his troops a couple of
days ago, stressing on them the importance of treating
prisoners of war humanely, properly, with good manners,
and I mean that with good manners, and also making sure
that we look after their well-being, not just because
we are required to do so by the Geneva Conventions,
because actually that is the way that British soldiers
behave.
Question:
My question is directed at either of you. Could you
clarify for us the minimum use of force, how does that
interface with the American notion that overwhelming
force should be used, and indeed the shock and awe tactics
which have been announced will at some stage be deployed,
certainly is not a term that is based on minimum use
of force. So is there a discrepancy here and could you
help us clarify it.
Mr Hoon:
There is no discrepancy. What we are seeking to do is
to achieve our campaign objectives with the minimum
use of force, not least the minimum use of force directed
at civilians. And we have consistently made clear, and
this has been the case already in the strikes from the
air against targets in Baghdad, that they are carefully
targeted at the regime. And any Iraqi citizen in Baghdad
will see that as important elements of the regime are
taken out, whether they are Ministry buildings, whether
they are the headquarters of his secret and security
apparatus, they will be deliberately targeted at those
elements, those buildings in Baghdad and elsewhere,
that the civilian population will most closely associate
with Saddam Hussein.
Question:
We were told the other day that there were no Republican
Guard in the south by someone from DIS in a briefing
here. There are reports of British and American troops
coming up against Republican Guard units, is it possible
to clarify that? Also there are reports of 16 Air Assault
Brigade and US units securing the western oilfields,
do you know anything about that?
Admiral Boyce:
Certainly on encountering Republican Guards is concerned,
I haven't heard such reports, but that doesn't mean
to say they haven't been encountered, but I haven't
heard any such reports. Western oilfields, I am not
sure what you mean by western oilfields, I am not sure
that there are any in the west.
Question:
Air bases ...
Admiral Boyce:
Airfield? No, again I have got no comment to make about
that.
Question:
Can I just clarify, I did actually mean oilfields, the
oilfields west of Baghdad.
Admiral Boyce:
Again I have no news on that either.
Question:
Do you have any idea or any feeling for how well the
various psyops operations that we have been told about
are going, efforts to contact people in the regime,
or senior officers, and whether there is any sign of
fracturing at all within the regime?
Mr Hoon:
Certainly a determined effort has been made into demonstrating
at the simplest level, by dropping of large quantities
of leaflets that individual soldiers, individuals who
are not associated with the regime should abandon any
attempt to resist coalition forces, and certainly there
is a steady trickle of such people. But as I have said
on previous occasions and always believe, that unless
and until people in Iraq actually believe that this
regime is going to collapse, only then will they actually
lay down their arms and abandon resistance, and that
is not surprising given the level of terror and intimidation
that they have suffered from over so many years, and
we have had accounts very recently of commanding officers
being threatened with execution unless they carry out
the orders of the regime. And so until that threat is
removed, then clearly we cannot expect large numbers
of people to abandon their positions, but I have little
doubt that the message is getting through and is getting
through effectively.
Question:
Yesterday the Foreign Secretary confirmed that you have
been negotiating with Turkey over the use of air space.
Have you got any response from the Turkish government,
and how important is it for the British forces to use
Turkish air space? And is it true that the British and
American forces have stopped using the Incirlik air
base as far as the Operation Northern Comfort is concerned?
Mr Hoon:
I have just come from a meeting with the Foreign Secretary
at which that was discussed. All I can say to you at
this stage is that discussions with Turkey continue,
Turkey is a NATO ally, we are good friends, we work
together and I expect that we will continue to cooperate
together.
Question:
Can you tell us what the latest information is regarding
the situation in the far north? There were some reports
of Turkish troops on the move, and of Kurdish fighters
on the move in those northern areas, and of air strikes
around Mosul. Can you tell us what the latest is there
and are there any coalition operations aimed at the
northern oilfields?
Mr Hoon:
I think that is following on in a sense from the question
I just answered. We continue to be in close dialogue
with Turkey about the disposition of their forces and
about what is obviously a sensitive and delicate situation
in the north, and we will continue to ensure that there
is no action there that in any way destabilises that
sensitive situation.
Question:
Reports from the field suggest that the troops went
off earlier than they expected. Was this a premature
kick-off, was it planned about this time, was it intelligence
driven, can you help us with any clarification on this?
Mr Hoon:
I know it has disappointed a number of commentators
in the newspapers that the plan was not quite what they
had written, and I think that demonstrates its success.
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