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The Report of the Iraq Inquiry
He hoped the issue could be “resolved peacefully”. “From the outset” he had
wanted the issue “resolved through the UN with the international community
acting together”: “We have made our choice: disarmament through the United
Nations, with force as a last resort.”
The message to Saddam Hussein was “disarm or you face force. There must be
no more games, no more deceit, no more prevarication, obstruction or defiance.”
863.  Mr Blair also stated that there was no quarrel with the Iraqi people; and that:
“Whatever happens, the territorial integrity of Iraq will be absolute.”
864.  Mr Blair concluded that he hoped “an Iraq free of WMD” and a “Government unable
to use them to oppress its people and its neighbours” was “a symbol of change … and
hope for the future”.
865.  President Bush emphasised that Iraq’s co‑operation would need to be
“prompt and unconditional” or it would “face the severest consequences”.
“Any act of delay or defiance” would be “a clear signal” that the Iraqi regime
had “abandoned the path of voluntary compliance”.
866.  The US had “agreed to discuss any material breach with the Security
Council, but without jeopardising” its “freedom of action to defend our country”.
867.  The US was determined not to allow anything in a new resolution which
would detract from the authorities to use force it believed it had.
868.  Reporting conversations with senior officials in the US Administration on
7 November, Mr Brenton wrote that the hawks in Washington saw the resolution
as a defeat and warned that they would be “looking for the least breach of its terms
as a justification for resuming the countdown to war”.293 They had also discussed
the issue of the supervision of the oil sector “post occupation”.
869.  In remarks to the press on the adoption of resolution 1441, President Bush stated
that Saddam Hussein had been “given clear and fair notice” that:
he “must fully disclose and destroy his weapons of mass destruction”;
he “must submit to any and all methods to verify his compliance”; and
co‑operation “must be prompt and unconditional or he will face the severest
consequences”.294
870.  President Bush added that the Iraqi regime had “treated its own pledge” to disarm
“with contempt” since 1991. Iraq was already in material breach of its obligations and
293 Minute Brenton to Gooderham, 7 November 2002, ‘Iraq’.
294 The White House, 8 November 2002, President Pleased with UN Vote.
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