3.8 |
Development of UK strategy and options, 8 to 20 March
2003
594.
The FCO paper
was finalised on 15 March.200
It was
produced by officials in the
FCO but
drawn largely from official reports and statements by UN
inspectors. It drew
heavily on
UNMOVIC’s report, ‘Unresolved Disarmament Issues – Iraq’s
Proscribed
Weapons
Programmes’, the “clusters” document, which it characterised
as
“a 173
page-long catalogue of Iraqi intransigence since
1991”.
595.
The paper
examined the extent of Iraq’s non-compliance with the
obligations
placed upon
it by the UN Security Council in resolution 1441, which it stated
was
“unambiguous”.
Resolution 1441:
•
recognised
the threat which Iraq’s non-compliance “and proliferation of
weapons
of mass
destruction and long-range missiles” posed to international peace
and
security
(preambular paragraph (PP) 3);
•
decided
that Iraq had been and remained “in material breach of its
obligations
under
relevant resolutions” (OP1);
•
decided to
“afford Iraq … a final opportunity to comply” (OP2);
and
•
decided
that “false statements or omissions in the declarations submitted
by
Iraq … and
failure by Iraq at any time to comply with, and co-operate fully in
the
implementation
of, this resolution shall constitute a further material breach
of
Iraq’s
obligations” (OP4).
596.
Assessing
Iraq’s “progress in complying with relevant provisions of UNSCR
1441”,
the paper
stated that Iraq had “Not met” the requirement in five areas and
had only
“Partially
met” or “Not yet met” other demands.
597.
The FCO paper
stated:
•
Iraq had
“Not met” the requirement for a “currently accurate, full,
and
complete
declaration of all aspects of its programmes”. The Iraqi
declaration,
of 7
December, “did not contain any new information to answer any of
the
outstanding
questions”, and there were “significant falsehoods”.
•
Iraq had
not provided UNMOVIC and the IAEA with “immediate,
unimpeded,
unrestricted,
and private access to all officials and other persons
whom
UNMOVIC or
the IAEA wish to interview”. Only 16 interviews had
taken
place and
there was “reason to believe” that the Iraqi authorities
had
intimidated interviewees.
•
No
interviews had taken place outside Iraq. The paper cited “evidence
that
Iraqi
scientists have been intimidated into refusing interviews … They –
and
their
families – have been threatened with execution if they deviate from
the
official line.”
200
Paper FCO,
15 March 2003, ‘Iraqi Non-Compliance with UNSCR 1441’ attached to
Letter Straw
to Colleagues,
17 March 2003, [untitled].
501