The Syria air strike revelations show the MoD’s addiction to secrecy must end
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Version 0 of 1. The Ministry of Defence is incorrigible. It will never learn, it seems. This time it clearly hoped it could get away with yet another economy with the truth. Actually it is worse than a sin of omission. It suggests ministers deliberately acted behind parliament’s back despite a clear vote in the Commons – the vote in 2013 against Britain taking part in air strikes over Syria. Now, after a Freedom of Information Act request by the human rights group Reprieve, the MoD has effectively confirmed that British pilots have been engaged in such strikes. I say “effectively” as the MoD has not said this exactly, though it can be inferred. Related: British pilots took part in anti-Isis bombing campaign in Syria Reprieve asked: “Have any UK military personnel conducted air strikes in Syria or Iraq using non-UK equipment? If so, how many, where and using whose equipment?” The MoD replied: “UK military personnel embedded with the USA, French and Canadian armed forces have been authorised to deploy with their units to participate in coalition operations against Isil. UK embeds operate as if they were the host nation’s personnel, under that nation’s chain of command. These personnel include pilots flying … strike missions against Isil targets using the equipment of those units. Of these three nations only the USA and Canada are operating in Syrian airspace.” In other words, some RAF pilots have been engaged in air strikes over Syria, in either US or Canadian aircraft. The MoD effectively confirmed this by saying that British pilots were not “currently” taking part in those operations and ministers would have been aware of them. Britain was not “itself” conducting air strikes in Syria, a government official said, adding: “When embedded, UK personnel are effectively operating as foreign troops.” About 20 RAF personnel, including three pilots, have been embedded with other air forces in the region. MoD officials and ministers should have realised this would have emerged sooner or later, and that it would have been much better, less damaging, and less embarrassing, if they had explained the position in the first place. Maybe, in their cocoon, they thought it would never emerge. Unnecessary secrecy, coupled with an almost pathological fear of admitting mistakes, has never done the MoD any good Only on Thursday the defence secretary, Michael Fallon, told a major conference in London on air power how much the UK was contributing to the fight against Isis (or Isil as the government calls the jihadi group). The RAF was stepping up its spying missions over Iraq and Syria in operations against Isis fighters, Fallon said, in what he called “a new Battle of Britain”. Britain was the only country flying manned spying missions over Syria as well as Iraq, he stressed proudly. There was no mention of the RAF’s role in the embedded programme with the US and Canada, which emerged less than 24 hours later. Fallon added that the RAF was delivering “in total 30% of the ISR [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance] of the whole international operation”. What he did not say was that the US was carrying out over 90% of all the strikes against Isis, with the UK’s ageing Tornado jets responsible for only about 4%. Unnecessary secrecy, coupled with an almost pathological fear of admitting mistakes, has never done the MoD any good, as the unnecessary and expensive inquiries into the abuse of detainees in Iraq so amply demonstrated. David Cameron says more resources will now be devoted to Britain’s special forces and to unmanned drones – at the expense, it seems, of fast jets. Yet he insists the activities of the special forces must never be revealed, and the rules of engagement covering the use of the RAF’s Reaper drones equipped with weapons remain far from clear. It is time the cocoon was removed. |