3.8 |
Development of UK strategy and options, 8 to 20 March
2003
•
The use of
force could only be “a last resort”.
•
A “peaceful
approach” was “supported by the immense majority of
the
international
community”.
659.
President
Chirac’s interview with CNN, which
was broadcast on 16 March, is
addressed
later in this Section.
660.
Mr Blair
and other Ministers continued on 16 March to insist that there
was
still time
for a peaceful solution. They also drew attention to difficulties
created
by
President Chirac’s stance on a veto and dismissed the tripartite
proposal to
extend the
inspections process.
661.
In his
interview on the BBC’s
Breakfast with Frost programme on
16 March,
Mr Brown
focused on the Government’s wish to avoid military
action.226
He
stated
that
“obviously we don’t want war, we want peace, we want the diplomatic
process to
work”. The
UK was not seeking military action: “Even now … Saddam Hussein
could
announce
that he would comply and he would co-operate …” The “purpose of
the
second
resolution was to put the maximum pressure on Saddam Hussein … that
he
had to
disarm immediately and that he could not get off the
hook”.
“My view …
and I think this is the view of Tony Blair, is that we should
continue to
try, even
now, even in these difficult times, to secure international
agreement … to a
resolution
that would involve international co-operation and force Saddam
Hussein
to disarm.
It is unfortunate that we have both got non-compliance on the
part
of Iraq …
“And of
course the other issue that makes it difficult is that at least one
country has
said that
although it has supported the resolutions that imply the use of
force, that
they would
not support a resolution now on the use of force, at this stage,
whatever
the
circumstances …
“… even
today the focus is on seeing if we can move the diplomatic
process
forward …
even at this stage there are initiatives that can be taken that
would move
it forward.
I would like every one of the Security Council members to be in a
position
to say that
they would support the disarmament of Saddam Hussein.”
“This is
about our national interests, this is our role in the international
community.
Tony Blair
has tried to bring Europe and America together. He’s trying to find
a
226
BBC
News, 16 March
2003, BBC
Breakfast with Frost Interview: Gordon Brown, MP, Chancellor of
the
Exchequer.
513