The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
203.
In his
diaries, Mr Campbell wrote that Mr Blair had “done the
statement pretty
204.
Mr Blair’s
statement was followed in the House of Commons by a
nine‑hour
debate.
205.
In his
speech, Mr Straw focused on the risk that, given his past
actions,
Saddam
Hussein might “easily” use weapons of mass destruction in the
future
and his
“deliberate and persistent flouting of the will of the United
Nations”.
206.
Mr Straw
stated that only free and unfettered inspections, backed by
a
Security
Council united in its determination to disarm Iraq, offered the
prospect
of dealing
with that threat by peaceful means. The paradox in respect of Iraq
was
that
diplomacy had a chance of success only if it was combined with the
clearest
possible
prospect that force would be used if diplomacy failed.
207.
In his speech
opening the debate, Mr Straw stated that it was “about the
case
we make
for effective action in respect of the threat posed by
Iraq”.60
208.
Mr Straw
addressed four issues:
•
Is the
Iraqi regime the threat that we say it is?
•
Are there
not other countries that have developed equally dangerous
arsenals
of weapons
of mass destruction?
•
Is not the
international community guilty of double standards?
•
Even if
Iraq is the danger that we claim, is the threat of force or its use
justified?
209.
Before dealing
with the threat posed by Saddam Hussein’s WMD, Mr Straw
said:
“… I want
to detain the House briefly on another aspect of the Iraqi regime –
its
record on
human rights. That record speaks volumes not only about the way in
which
the regime
deals directly with its own people, but with the way in which it
would seek
to operate
in respect of other countries and territories beyond its borders.
Taking
both the
threat from Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction and its human rights
record,
Iraq is in
a league of its own – uniquely evil and uniquely
dangerous.
“On human
rights, no other regime now in power anywhere in the world
has
Saddam’s
record for brutality, torture and execution as a routine way of
life and
as the
principal means by which the elite stays in power.”
59
Campbell A
& Hagerty B. The
Alastair Campbell Diaries. Volume 4. The Burden of Power: Countdown
to
Iraq.
Hutchinson,
2012.
60
House of
Commons, Official
Report, 24
September 2002, columns 26‑34.
236