The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
•
The focus
after hostilities “had to be on civil society which had suffered 35
years
of tyranny
that had reduced the country to the point where 60 percent of
the
population
relied on United Nations food programmes”.
•
The US
inter-agency process to address Iraq’s redevelopment after any
military
action
was being
led by the Pentagon.
•
It was
“essential” that the UN should be involved in Iraq’s redevelopment
after
any
military action “to avoid the military coalition being viewed as an
army of
occupation”.
•
The nature
of a further resolution “would depend on the circumstances at
the
time, but
it was likely that there would be a period between the adoption
of
a resolution
and the start of any military action so that a final ultimatum
could
be given
for the departure of the current Iraqi regime”.
•
International
consensus in support of military action would “encourage
public
support” in
the UK.
•
Some people
“did not recognise the lessons we had learned from not
confronting
tyranny in Kosovo, Afghanistan, and now Iraq”.
•
Briefing on
the Government’s position on Iraq “should be improved
and
disseminated
widely; it was clear that colleagues were operating at
different
levels of
knowledge, and it would be helpful if the best possible
information
about the
facts were available to enable them to advance the best
possible
arguments”.
•
Parliament
would need an opportunity to debate any further UN
resolution.
107.
Summing up the
discussion, Mr Blair said that:
“…
Ministers needed to be active with their supporters, both inside
and outside
Parliament,
to make the case. Briefing material had to be improved so that
the
facts were
drawn together in a coherent form under various headings: the
Iraqi
regime; the
United Nations’ involvement; non- compliance by Iraq with the
weapons
inspectors;
the humanitarian angle, all of which would need to be updated
regularly.”
108.
The UK would
continue to pursue the UN route. That was “important in
respect
of Iraq,
but it was also necessary in dealing with a dysfunctional world
where a broad
agenda had
to be addressed to deal with poverty, the Middle East Peace
Process,
terrorism
and weapons of mass destruction”.
109.
In his
diaries, Mr Campbell wrote that:
•
Mr Blair
had “put a pretty optimistic face” on the reports of his meetings
with
President
Bush and President Chirac.
•
Mr Robin
Cook, then Leader of the House of Commons, had quizzed on
the
Parliamentary
process.
198