The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
168.
The FCO sent
guidance on “key UN aspects” of the UK’s policy on
Iraq
to diplomatic
posts on 7 February.40
Extracts
from the guidance are summarised
in the
Box below.
Can anyone
launch military action without a further Security Council
resolution?
•
Mr Straw
had said that, if there was a material breach, the
Government’s
preference
was for a second resolution. So far the Security Council had
“faced
up to its
responsibilities”. The UK believed it would continue to do so, but
had to
“reserve
our position in the event it does not”.
•
Any failure by
Iraq to comply would have serious consequences. The
action
necessary
to bring Iraq into compliance would “depend on the
circumstances
at the time”.
Does Iraq’s
declaration of 7 December mean that Iraq is
co-operating?
•
The
declaration did not contain “any new evidence that would eliminate
the
outstanding
disarmament questions or reduce their number”; and it was “not
the
full and
complete declaration required by resolution 1441”.
•
Mr Straw
had published a list of “10 outstanding questions, identified by
Dr Blix,
that Iraq
must answer”.41
•
“Saddam and
his officials would do well to remember that concealment is
not
compliance.
Only declarations supported by evidence will give confidence
in
a country
with such a long history … of avoiding disclosures.”
Is Iraq
co-operating with inspectors?
•
Dr Blix’s
update of 27 January had “highlighted a number of instances of
Iraqi
non-co-operation
…: failing to answer outstanding issues, identified by
UNSCOM;
obstructing
U2 reconnaissance flights; hindering interviews; some instances
of
harassment
of the inspectors”.
Is Iraq in
material breach?
•
Resolution
1441 was clear: “false statements or omissions in the declaration
and
failure to
co-operate fully with the inspectors shall constitute a further
material
breach of
Iraq’s obligations”.
•
Mr Straw
had made clear “Iraq has failed both tests”. The
“inescapable
conclusion”
was that Iraq was “now in material breach”. War was “not
inevitable.
But the
responsibility to avoid conflict rests with Saddam
Hussein.”
40
Telegram 65
FCO London to Abidjan, 7 February 2003, ‘Iraq: UN
Aspects’.
41
The
National Archives, 28 January 2003, Iraq is in
Material Breach of Resolution 1441.
208