The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
442.
Mr Blair told
Cabinet on 21 March that he would be meeting President
Bush
in the first
week of April:
“Their
talks would focus on how to respond to the threat to international
security
represented
by the Iraqi regime, efforts to build on the success of the
Coalition’s
intervention
in Afghanistan, how to achieve progress in the Middle East
Peace
process and
gathering support for the New Economic Partnership for
Africa’s
443.
No further
discussion of the issues is recorded.
444.
Cabinet also
discussed the deployment of an infantry battlegroup based
on
45 Commando
Royal Marines to Afghanistan, and the nature of the task it
would
perform. Mr
Blair concluded that:
“… the
troops were supported by the majority of the people in Afghanistan
and would
not be
seeking to occupy territory, there was substantial United States
air cover and
there were
troops from several Coalition partners involved. There was no
parallel
with the
occupation of Afghanistan by the Soviet Union. The total number of
British
forces
engaged in operations related to Afghanistan was substantial, but
still only
one-tenth
of the number deployed during the 1991 Gulf War.”
445.
The deployment
of the battlegroup, which was the largest deployment of UK
forces
since 1991,
had been announced on 18 March.160
That is
addressed in Section 6.1.
446.
Mr Hoon
wrote to Mr Blair on 22 March emphasising the importance
of
a counter-proliferation
strategy in the Middle East.
447.
On Iraq, Mr
Hoon advised that the UK should support President Bush
and
be ready to
make a military contribution; and that UK involvement in
planning
would
improve the US process. One of Mr Blair’s objectives at Crawford
should,
therefore,
be to secure agreement to the UK’s participation in US
military
planning.
448.
Mr Hoon
also stated that a number of issues would need to be
addressed
before
forces were committed to military action, including the need for
a
comprehensive
public handling strategy convincingly to explain why such
drastic
action
against Iraq’s WMD was needed now.
159
Cabinet
Conclusions, 21 March 2002.
160
House of
Commons, Official
Report, 18 March
2002, columns 37-48.
466