Andrew, a very good morning,
'I swear by Almighty God that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, her heirs and successors and that I will as in duty bound honestly and faithfully defend Her Majesty, her heirs and successors in person, crown and dignity against all enemies and will observe and obey all orders of Her Majesty, her heirs and successors and of the generals and officers set over me'.
Now I am of the opinion, I will not say that there is no doubt, that the above represents the oath of allegiance which our soldiers take when they join the military.
The problem which is not being addressed is that by any interpretation of what has been going on at the Chilcot Inquiry that we were at war in Iraq because of American Foreign Policy. That Bush and Blair connived at the war and subsequent occupation, and that accordingly, no British general or officer had to accept orders, neither did the soldiers. The orders were illegal, I think that it is the reason why a certain General, as was revealed in his book, took legal advice before accepting orders in respect of Iraq.
I think that Military Law has had to be changed to include orders from officers of other States, on the basis that American officers were giving orders to British, and Australian soldiers, to 'detain' individuals, who were then extra-ordinary renditioned, and treated severely by American guards, and suffered enhanced interrogation techniques, or tortured. As Hutton revealed in February previous holders of his post inadevertently misled parliament, over these issues. I look forward to the evidence of Geoff Hoon, and Jack Straw, and wish that Brown will be called to give his evidence before the general election.