Britain's Civil Service head to argue case

LONDON, Nov. 24 (UPI) -- Britain's Civil Service chief will argue the government's case against the forced release of the Cabinet's private Iraq invasion discussions, sources say.

Gus O'Donnell will argue personally before the country's Information Tribunal, the final court of appeal for freedom of information cases, against an order that Downing Street release the private March 2003 minutes of Britain's cabinet as members debated the looming invasion of Iraq, The Times of London, citing unnamed sources, reported Monday.

The order for the documents' release was issued by Information Minister Richard Thomas and is vehemently opposed by government ministers. They argue forcing the minutes' release will chill frank and open discussion among Cabinet ministers behind closed doors and would undermine their commitment to present united fronts in public on policies about which they disagreed in private, the newspaper said.

The decision to tap O'Donnell, who is also Britain's Cabinet secretary, to appear at Tuesday's hearing underlines the concern over the issue inside Downing Street, The Times' sources said.