The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
1.
In 2003, for
the first time since the Second World War, the United Kingdom
took part
in an
opposed invasion and full‑scale occupation of a sovereign State –
Iraq. Cabinet
decided on
17 March to join the US‑led invasion of Iraq, assuming there was
no
last‑minute
capitulation by Saddam Hussein. That decision was ratified by
Parliament
the next
day and implemented the night after that.
2.
Until 28 June
2004, the UK was a joint Occupying Power in Iraq. For the next
five
years, UK
forces remained in Iraq with responsibility for security in the
South‑East; and
the UK
sought to assist with stabilisation and
reconstruction.
3.
The
consequences of the invasion and of the conflict within Iraq which
followed are still
being felt
in Iraq and the wider Middle East, as well as in the UK. It left
families bereaved
and many
individuals wounded, mentally as well as physically. After harsh
deprivation
under
Saddam Hussein’s regime, the Iraqi people suffered further years of
violence.
4.
The decision
to use force – a very serious decision for any government to take
–
provoked
profound controversy in relation to Iraq and became even more
controversial
when it was
subsequently found that Iraq’s programmes to develop and
produce
chemical,
biological and nuclear weapons had been dismantled. It continues to
shape
debates on
national security policy and the circumstances in which to
intervene.
5.
Although the
Coalition had achieved the removal of a brutal regime which
had
defied the
United Nations and which was seen as a threat to peace and
security, it
failed to
achieve the goals it had set for a new Iraq. Faced with serious
disorder in Iraq,
aggravated
by sectarian differences, the US and UK struggled to contain the
situation.
The lack of
security impeded political, social and economic
reconstruction.
6.
The Inquiry’s
report sets out in detail decision‑making in the UK Government
covering
the period
from when the possibility of military action first arose in 2001 to
the departure
of UK
troops in 2009. It covers many different aspects of policy and its
delivery.
7.
In this
Executive Summary the Inquiry sets out its conclusions on a number
of issues
that have
been central to the controversies surrounding Iraq. In addition to
the factors
that shaped
the decision to take military action in March 2003 without support
for an
authorising
resolution in the UN Security Council, they are: the assessments of
Iraqi
WMD
capabilities by the intelligence community prior to the invasion
(including their
presentation
in the September 2002 dossier); advice on whether military action
would be
legal; the
lack of adequate preparation for the post‑conflict period and the
consequent
struggle to
cope with the deteriorating security situation in Iraq after the
invasion.
This Summary
also contains the Inquiry’s key findings and a compilation of
lessons, from
the
conclusions of individual Sections of the report.
8.
Other Sections
of the report contain detailed accounts of the relevant decisions
and
events, and
the Inquiry’s full conclusions and lessons.
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