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Program now in permanent archive (for access email members@davidgibbons.org)
Guest: Major General Tim
Cross Commander of the British Empire (Two Part Series)Radio
Streaming Broadcast: June 13 & 14, 2012
Major General Tim Cross
Major General Timothy Cross, CBE (born 19 April 1951)
is a retired British Army officer and military logistics expert. He was commissioned in 1971 into the Royal Army Ordnance
Corps and went on to serve in Germany, Northern Ireland and Cyprus, interspersed with staff duties and further education.
He was posted to Paris in 1984, where he was involved in the development of the MILAN anti-tank weapon, before returning
to his regiment as a company commander. He took command of 1 Ordnance Battalion in 1990 and was tasked with running logistics
for 1st Armoured Division during the Gulf War. He went on to serve as Commander, Logistic Support for 3rd Infantry Division
in 1992.
Cross served his first of three tours in the Balkans, attached to the Implementation Force (IFOR), in 1995–1996.
His second was in 1997, with the Stabilisation Force (SFOR), where he commanded 101 Logistic Brigade, and his third in 1999
with the Kosovo Force (KFOR). During his tour with KFOR, he was responsible for co-ordinating
multinational troops and civilian agencies in establishing refugee camps in the aftermath of the Kosovo War. He was later
appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his service with KFOR. Cross was promoted to major general
(two-star rank) in 2000 and served as Director General, Defence Supply Chain until 2002, when he became involved in planning
for the forthcoming invasion of Iraq. He was the most senior British officer involved in the planning and in the Coalition
Provisional Authority.
His last command was as General Officer Commanding Theatre Troops, Iraq. Since retiring from the Army in 2007, Cross
has been critical of the planning for Iraq after the removal of Saddam Hussein's government, giving evidence to the Iraq
Inquiry that he urged politicians to delay the invasion and calling the post-war planning "woefully thin". He
serves as an advisor to the House of Commons Defence Select Committee and to several private companies, and is a visiting
lecturer at several British universities. A convert to Chritianity, he is a licensed lay reader in the Church of England
and affiliated with several Christian organsiations. Cross is married, with three children.
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