Ministers kept Iraq war plan secret, Chilcot inquiry told

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/dec/03/iraq-war-plan-kept-secret
• Hoon held up logistic plans to avoid going public
• Boyce reveals frustration at 'dysfunctional' US
The head of the armed forces at the time of the Iraq invasion said today he had been unable to prepare British troops properly for war because the government did not want the plans to become public knowledge.

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The former chief of defence staff also described how, after expressing concern about the legality of the invasion, he finally received a "one-liner" from Lord Goldsmith, the attorney general, giving him the go-ahead.

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Boyce said Rumsfeld's unwillingness to commit more troops to Iraq contributed to the breakdown of order – particularly around Baghdad – following the invasion. "I was always extremely concerned about the anorexic nature of the American contribution. The Americans at that particular stage were very much, 'we're going to do the war fighting, not the peacekeeping,'" said Boyce.

He added: "Combine that with the obsession that Mr Rumsfeld had with his network-centric warfare and therefore to prove that you can minimise your number of troops because you had clever methods other than using boots on the ground, meant that, in my view, we were desperately under-resourced so far as those forces going towards Baghdad were concerned."

Boyce said "dysfunctionalism" in Washington led to poor communications between the Pentagon, the state department, and the White House.