A deep hostility prevailed between British and American military commanders in Iraq,classified government documents leaked to the media,have revealed. In the papers,the British chief of staff in Iraq,Colonel J.K.Tanner,described his US military counterparts as a group of Martians for whom dialogue is alien, saying: Despite our so-called special relationship, I reckon we were treated no differently to the Portuguese. The top British commander in the country,Major General Andrew Stewart,told how he spent a significant amount of my time evading and refusing orders from his US superiors. At least once,say the documents,General Stewarts refusal to obey an order resulted in Britains ambassador to Washington,Sir David Manning,being summoned to the State Department for a diplomatic reprimand - of the kind more often delivered to rogue states such as Zimbabwe or the Sudan. The frank statements were made in official interviews conducted by the Ministry of Defence with Army commanders who had just returned from Operations Telic 2 and 3 the first,crucial year of peacekeeping operations in Iraq,from May 2003 to May 2004. A set of classified transcripts of the interviews,along with post-operational reports by British commanders,has been leaked to the Daily Telegraph. The disclosures come the day before the Chilcot inquiry is due to begin public hearings into Britains involvement in Iraq. Among the issues it will investigate is the UK-US relationship.
