The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
•
“Efforts to
counter the proliferation of WMD”; and
•
“The
elimination of terrorism as a force in international
affairs”.
440.
Mr Straw
also stated:
“To achieve
our objectives we will act in conformity with international law,
including
the United
Nations Charter and international humanitarian law.”
441.
Mr Straw
concluded that the Government was “working intensively with
our
allies and
partners to secure the peaceful disarmament of Iraq’s WMD by means
of
UNMOVIC/IAEA
inspections”. He also warned that if the Iraqi regime did not
comply,
it would,
as resolution 1441 made clear, “face serious
consequences”.
442.
On 7
January, Mr Hoon announced a decision to deploy additional
maritime
forces,
including an amphibious capability, and an order to enable the
call‑out of
Reservists.
443.
This was
presented as a necessary part of a policy of maintaining
the
pressure on
Saddam Hussein to persuade him to disarm. Mr Hoon stated
that
no decision
had been taken to commit UK forces to military action; and
no
“justification”
for military action had been identified.
444.
In an oral
statement on Iraq on 7 January, Mr Hoon commended the
policy
objectives
to the House of Commons.154
445.
Mr Hoon
also stated that the Government was “restating” its “full and
active
support”
for the UN inspections and was “looking to them to investigate
urgently the
gaps in
Iraq’s declaration” of its WMD programmes, which failed “to give a
satisfactory
account of
Iraq’s activities”.
446.
Mr Hoon
added that, while the Government wanted Iraq “to disarm
voluntarily”,
it was
“evident” that this would not be achieved unless Saddam Hussein was
presented
with “a
clear and credible threat of force”.
“None of
that means that the use of force is inevitable … no decision has
been taken
to commit
those forces to action … But … as long as Saddam’s compliance
with …
resolution
1441 is in doubt … the threat of force must remain and it must
be a
real one.”
448.
The details of
military deployments in the announcement are addressed
in
Section 6.1.
154
House of
Commons, Official
Report, 7 January
2003, columns 23‑39.
80