Secret language speaks volumes for the fog of war

On the menu at the Iraq inquiry today: one Whitehall smooth operator and a Silver Fox.

Sir Kevin Tebbit, the MoD permanent secretary in the run-up to the war, told how the preparations were "a pol-mil matter at a high level".

"Pol-mil" turns out to be when politicians and the military hold secret talks on how to plan a war, without telling the rest of us.

He was followed by Admiral Lord Boyce, who (fortunately for the stenographers) is referred to as CDS, as in Chief of the Defence Staff.

CDS told the inquiry there were two plans for British participation in biffing Saddam Hussein: a really big war or something called "Package 2" , a mini-war. Being Britain, we went for the big one.

Silver Fox and Whitehall Man were agreed that there was a quandary about "outlying planning". Even the admiral wasn't allowed to speak to the head of defence logistics, CDS said plaintively, on the grounds that an intention to go to war might get out.

The degree to which the entire Whitehall machine is geared to keeping secrets is very obvious. "And you have to remember, Operation Fresco was still in force." Nurse, the Nurofen. Fresco and pol-mil came opaquely wrapped in Package 2.

"The Turkey option was still on the table," murmured Sir Kevin, for further confusion.

Please, somebody, speak English. But if they did that, the rest of us might understand what they were saying, and they have spent years avoiding that.

Still, mordant Sir Kevin can be clear enough when he wants. He looks like Jeremy Paxman's more saturnine cousin, and curled a lip when referring to the Pentagon, as if dealing with the special needs corner of international institutions.

"They had a deep faith in the democratic nature of man which perhaps proved to be a little over-optimistic," he said.

Naturally, he had warned that "euphoria would be short-lived". The stenographer at this point contrived to render the "neo-cons" as "knee-cons" but in the quagmire of obfuscation, it hardly stood out.

We heard about "bottom-up decision making," which sounds like a way to avoid any decisions. Asked about Tony Blair's sofa government, the admiral said he was quite happy with that, so long as he was allowed a place on the sofa.

Surely, pressed one of the inquirers, there had been inadequacies over the equipping of troops to learn from? Silver Fox and Whitehall man took half an hour to say: "No."

"People do get killed in wars," concluded the admiral. It was one of few unambiguous statements of the day.