The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
•
the
“stalemate” in the UN “should prompt a new look at the
international security
architecture
whose modernisation needed to be addressed”;
•
as
occupation forces would be “restricted” in the action they could
take, there
was a legal
necessity for a UN mandate for the reconstruction of
Iraq;
•
the “real
test of the Government’s credibility” would be the extent to which
the
MEPP was
driven forward “and the manner in which the Iraqi people were
cared
for after
the conflict”; and
•
the
Government “was motivated by a world view which promoted justice,
good
governance
and pluralism and this set it apart from other governments of
the
industrialised
world”.
807.
Mr Prescott
stated that Mr Blair:
“… had
played a major role in upholding the credibility of the United
Nations.
French intransigence
had thwarted success in taking the United Nations process
to
its logical
conclusion. Nevertheless, the use of force against Iraq was
authorised by
existing …
resolutions.”
808.
Mr Blair
concluded that:
“… the
diplomatic process was now at an end. Saddam Hussein would be
given
an ultimatum
to leave Iraq; and the House of Commons would be asked to
endorse
the use of
military action against Iraq to enforce compliance, if
necessary.”
809.
Cabinet: “Took
note.”
810.
Mr Cook’s
decision to resign from the Government was announced during
Cabinet,
which he
did not attend.287
811.
Cabinet was
provided with the text of Lord Goldsmith’s Written Answer
to
Baroness
Ramsey setting out the legal basis for military
action.
812.
That
document represented a statement of the Government’s legal
position –
it did not
explain the legal basis of the conclusion that Iraq had failed to
take
“the final
opportunity” to comply with its disarmament obligations offered
by
resolution
1441.
813.
Cabinet was
not provided with written advice which set out, as
Lord
Goldsmith’s
advice of 7 March had done, the conflicting arguments
regarding
the legal
effect of resolution 1441 and whether, in particular, it authorised
military
action
without a further resolution of the Security Council.
287
Campbell A
& Hagerty B. The
Alastair Campbell Diaries. Volume 4. The Burden of Power:
Countdown
to
Iraq. Hutchinson,
2012.
542