Australia went to war in Iraq based on ‘oral reports’ to cabinet from John Howard

Despite hundreds of thousands of people protesting against the war in February 2003, a month later Australia joined the US-led invasion of Iraq based on ‘oral reports by the prime minister’. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

Australia joined the US-led invasion of Iraq, one of the most contentious decisions of John Howard’s prime ministership, without a formal cabinet submission setting out a full analysis of the risks.

Cabinet papers published by the National Archives on Monday show the full cabinet signed off on the decision on 18 March 2003 based on “oral reports by the prime minister”.