The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
if diplomacy
fails … We have used all the diplomatic instruments at the
disposal
of the
United Nations, but, so far, Saddam has rendered them
unworkable.”
215.
Drawing
attention to the recent changes in Iraq’s position on the
admission
of inspectors,
Mr Straw stated:
“This is a
pretence at co‑operation, but even this has come about only
because
Saddam has
at last realised that he faces a clear choice …
“Some
assert that the policy of containment has worked. My answer is
that
containment,
backed by the potential use of force, was broadly working while
the
inspectors
were able to do their job and the Security Council’s resolve
remained
firm. But
all the evidence suggests that Saddam has used the past four years
…
to break
out of his containment and to seek to re‑establish his power. Only
free and
unfettered
inspections, backed by a Security Council united in its
determination
to disarm
Iraq, offer the prospect of dealing with the threat by peaceful
means.”
“We should
all be gravely exercised by the potential use of force … I hope and
pray
that it
will not come to a use of force. It there is military action, any
participation …
will be
strictly in accordance with our obligations in international law,
and its purpose
would be
the disarmament of the Iraqi regime’s weapons of mass destruction
and an
end to its
deliberate and persistent flouting of the will of the United
Nations.
“The choice
is Saddam’s … But if Saddam continues to defy the
international
community …
doing nothing – will be much worse …
“We faced
difficult choices over Kosovo, Afghanistan and Sierra Leone, but
does
anyone now
say that we should not have taken action in respect of those
countries?
…
“Abdication
of responsibility, and equivocation in the face of evil, led Europe
down
a desperate
path in the late 1930s. From the ashes was born the United Nations
…
But this
international order requires law, and law requires enforcement.
That is the
issue
before us today.”
A wide
variety of issues were raised, by MPs of all parties, in the course
of the debate, in
which 50
backbench MPs spoke. There was a broad consensus about the brutal
nature
of Saddam
Hussein’s regime, and the need for inspectors to return to Iraq and
complete
their task.
The points
raised included:
•
the level of
threat posed by Iraq; and whether that justified military
action.
•
the importance
of a UN resolution for the legal authorisation of military action
and
the need
for compliance with international law;
238