Iraq dates 'planned in advance'
Training UK troops for Iraq began late, the hearing heard
Top secret plans for attacking Iraq were drawn up five months before the war started, a court martial has heard.
US defence planners passed plans, with codenames such as P-Day, A-Day and G-Day, to UK army bosses in October 2002.
The war against Saddam Hussein was launched on 20 March, 2003, in a series of US air strikes.
The plans were revealed during the court martial of reservist Lance Corporal Ian Blaymire, charged with the manslaughter of a colleague in Iraq.
Reservist Sergeant John Nightingale, 32, from Guiseley, West Yorkshire, died after being hit in the chest at point-blank range by a bullet from an A2 rifle at Shaibah, near the southern city of Basra on 23 September last year.
Blaymire, 23, of Leeds, is appearing at a court martial at Catterick Garrison, North Yorkshire, charged with his manslaughter.
more:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3957791.stm
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