3.4 |
Development of UK strategy and options, late July to 14 September
2002
373.
Copies of the
letter were sent to the Private Offices of Mr Straw
and
Sir Andrew Turnbull,
who became Cabinet Secretary in September 2002, and to
Mr Desmond
Bowen, who succeeded Mr McKane as Deputy Head of OD
Sec.
374.
More detail
from the letter is provided in Section 6.1.
375.
President
Bush held a meeting of his National Security Council
at
Camp David
before his meeting with Mr Blair, during which he decided to
seek
a UN
resolution on Iraq.
376.
President Bush
described the meeting of the US National Security Council
at
Camp David
on 7 September as having been convened “to finalize my decision on
the
resolution”;
the US was “trying to find a way to remove the threat in Iraq
without war”.119
377.
The meeting
was given a briefing by Gen Franks, who introduced his concept
of
five
simultaneous “operational fronts” in Iraq.120
378.
Describing the
positions of senior members of the Administration, President
Bush
wrote
that:
•
Vice
President Cheney had recommended giving Saddam: “30‑60 days to
come
clean, and
then disarm him by force if he refused to comply … We can’t
delay
for another
year … An inspection regime does not solve our
problem.”
•
Secretary
Powell had pushed for a UN resolution: “If we take the case to the
UN,
we can get
allies to join. If not, it will be hard to act unilaterally. We
won’t have
the
international support we need to execute the military
plan.”121
379.
President Bush
also wrote:
“After
listening to the options one last time, I made a decision: We would
seek a
resolution.
‘There’s ambiguity in the international community’s view of Saddam
…
and we need
to clear it up. Either he will come clean about his weapons or
there will
be
war’.”
380.
President Bush
had told his team that he would deliver the message in his
speech
to the UN
the following week:
“Either the
words of the Security Council would be enforced, or the UN would
exist
only as a
useless international body …”
119
Bush
GW. Decision
Points. Virgin
Books, 2010.
120
Franks T
& McConnell M. American
Soldier. HarperCollins,
2004.
121
Bush
GW. Decision
Points. Virgin
Books, 2010.
159