The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
606.
Leaving
Iraq to develop WMD in breach of its obligations to the
Security
Council was
“not an option”, although the moment for decision on how to act
had
not yet
been reached. Saddam Hussein had to let the weapons inspectors back
in
with
unrestricted access.
607.
Mr Blair used
his speech at the George Bush Senior Presidential Library at
College
Station,
Texas on 7 April to set out an internationalist approach drawing on
his speech in
608.
Mr Blair
identified two views of international affairs: one, which was
utilitarian,
where “each
nation maximises its own self interest”; the other was utopian,
where “we
tried to
create a better world”. In Mr Blair’s view those two views were
merging and he
advocated
an approach of “an enlightened self interest that put fighting for
our values at
the heart
of the policies necessary to protect Our nations”. “Engagement in
the world on
the basis
of these values, not isolationism from it, is the hard headed
pragmatism for the
21st
century.”
609.
Citing the
example of intervention in Kosovo, Mr Blair stated that it was
“still
costing us
time, effort and money, but it’s a lot less than if we had turned
our back and
let the
Balkans plunge into civil war”.
610.
Mr Blair
described instability as “contagious” and that “the surest way to
stability
is through
… values of freedom, democracy and justice”. Promotion of those
values was:
“… part of
our long-term security and prosperity. We can’t intervene in every
case.
Not all the
wrongs of the world can be put right, but where disorder threatens
us all,
we should
act.”
611.
Mr Blair
described the response to the terrorist attacks on 11 September as
one
where “the
world stood firm. America took the lead, but it led a coalition of
extraordinarily
wide
international proportions.” Mr Blair warned there was “a real
danger we forget the
lessons of
September 11”.
612.
In Mr Blair’s
view there was “no escape” from facing events and “dealing
with
them”. Four
“policy positions” should guide those responses.
“… the
world works better when the US and EU stand together …
“… The
international coalition matters. Where it operates the
unintended
consequences
of action are limited, the diplomatic parameters better fixed
…”
233
The
National Archives, 7 April 2002, Prime
Minister’s Speech at the George Bush Senior
Presidential Library.
498