LONDON: Jack Straw, the foreign secretary, has been asked to explain the legality of Britain’s involvement in the American-run coalition provisional authority in Iraq.

Menzies Campbell, the Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman and a barrister, is questioning the status of the authority and the Britons working for it, notably Sir Jeremy Greenstock, the government’s special envoy.

In a letter to Mr Straw, Mr Campbell says that it appears that the coalition authority is, in effect, an American organisation for which the US government is ultimately responsible. To the extent that the Iraqi governing council is appointed by the coalition authority, it too has been appointed by the US government, he adds.

He has asked Mr Straw to clarify the status of the Britons, including senior diplomats and armed forces officers, seconded to the authority. The issue has serious political and legal implications, he says. It is unclear whether the officials are legally responsible for their actions to the US, the British government, the UN, or ultimately, the Iraqis themselves.

According to the UN, the Iraqi governing council is supposed to “embody the sovereignty of Iraq” until a democratic and popularly elected government takes over the responsibilities of the coalition authority.

Mr Campbell has specifically asked about Sir Jeremy’s legal status. Sir Jeremy had said he did not want to take the formal title of deputy to the head of the coalition authority — the American Paul Bremer — preferring to have a free hand. However, senior US and British officials say that Washington refused to give him an official role and title.

Mr Campbell has also raised questions about the legality of the coalition authority’s “order 39”, covering the promotion and protection of foreign investment in Iraq.

The 9,000 British troops in Iraq, concentrated in the southern port of Basra, are subject to the Geneva convention provisions covering occupying powers.

* The military police are conducting 17 investigations into incidents involving civilian fatalities allegedly caused by British troops in Iraq since the end of the war, the Ministry of Defence has told Adam Price, the Liberal Democrat MP, in a written parliamentary answer.—Dawn/The Guardian News Service.