London, Nov 23 (DPA) The tense relationship between US and British commanders following the 2003 invasion of Iraq was highlighted in British media reports Monday ahead of public hearings in a far-reaching inquiry into the war.
The Daily Telegraph newspaper, citing leaked government documents that have been made available to the inquiry, said British officers had been frustrated by the “minimal influence” they were able to exert on the US military whose leaders they described as “Martians”.

The Iraq War Inquiry, chaired by John Chilcot, a retired civil servant, is set to begin hearing witnesses Tuesday in a wide-ranging investigation that will cover the conflict itself, but also the political and military decisions that were taken in the run-up to the invasion.

The question of the legality of the war is expected to be at the heart of the inquiry, which is set to question former British prime minister Tony Blair early next year.

Chilcot said Monday he wants to produce a “full and insightful account” of the decision-making process that took Britain into the conflict. He rejected criticism that the outcome would be a “whitewash”.

According to the Daily Telegraph, the former British chief of staff in Iraq, Colonel J K. Tanner, branded his American military counterparts as “a group of Martians” for whom “dialogue is alien”.

Major General Andrew Stewart, the senior British commander in Iraq at the time, reported how he spent a significant amount of his time “evading and refusing orders” from US superiors, the paper said.

The frank comments are contained in internal Ministry of Defence interviews with army representatives who had returned from Iraq after the first year of peacekeeping operations in May, 2004.

According to the transcripts obtained by the Telegraph, Stewart stated that “our ability to influence US policy in Iraq seemed to be minimal.”

He said it was “incredible” that there was no secure communication link between his headquarters in Basra and the US commander, General Rick Sanchez, in Baghdad.

The report of tense relations between the two allies followed earlier revelations of blunders and shortcomings in Britain’s military planning and operations ahead of the invasion.

The documents criticized the lack of a post-invasion strategy for Iraq and alleged that Blair had plans for backing “regime change” in Iraq as early as 2002.

Relatives of Iraq victims - 179 British soldiers died in the conflict - have said they want to “confront” Blair when he appears as a witness.

Top government advisers, diplomats, military figures and past and present chiefs of the intelligence services will be called to give evidence to the inquiry.

The inquiry is expected to last for at least a year, and its result will not be known before the next general election next May or June.

“We need an element of catharsis to go through in this country for a wider national purpose,” Professor Peter Hennessy of the University of London said about the inquiry in a BBC interview.